The Music Therapy Studio
By: Rick Soshensky - Rowman & Littlefield, $37.95
Description: Rick Soshensky presents a groundbreaking introduction to music’s power to heal and transform, weaving a collection of uplifting case studies from his music therapy practice with ideas from spiritual traditions, philosophies, psychological theorists, and music therapy researchers.
Verdict: Going beyond just theoretical and clinical information, The Music Therapy Studio: Empowering the Soul’s Truth centers on the stories and experiences of people with disabilities—marginalized people for whom the world allows little time or place but whose extraordinary musical journeys teach us about the unseen depths and indomitability of the human spirit.
Furthermore, Soshensky investigates core concepts of a music-centered approach—the experience of music as a creative art with clients that has intrinsic value and supersedes diagnostic labeling and behavioral goal setting.
The result is unique and inspirational text that leads us towards a deeper understanding and appreciation of music therapy and music’s spiritual benefits.
As for the meat and potatoes of that very same result, well, from the off we learn how music therapy plays a key role in healing, whilst at the same time we follow along our graciously ordained textual path to further note how it also enriches the spiritual aspects out our lives too.
This is all learnt within the first chapter, The Music Therapy Studio: Foundation, where Soshensky tells us how it all began and importantly, what actually makes what he does actually therapy.
Now this is where my eye was caught the most as Soshensky explains that it is important to differentiate between the words Therapeutic and Therapy for a great concert or a camp-fire singalong will most assuredly lift the spirits, lighten the mood and therefore be classed as therapeutic but the effects would be short-term and the problematic mood or behavior problems would ultimately return.
However, successful therapy would require something more long-lasting, where positive developments obtained in therapy session transfer to everyday life.
Chock full of extraordinary tales of genuine love, devotion and heartfelt adoration for all that Soshensky does, The Music Therapy Studio is most beautifully, and artfully showcased here as an aid to perfectly illustrate the way music can sooth the soul and allow a person to reveal a whole other side of themselves that wasn’t there before.
In closing, Rick Soshensky has lovingly dedicated his life to shining a light on some of the most feared and expressively uncovered areas of the human condition.
Simply put, his desires for a better narrative on the subject have since created a compelling, and from beginning to end, most heartwarmingly genuine showcase in this book that perfectly outlines his undying dedication to freely showing what’s possible when we hold another person’s value as equal to our own.
About the Author - Rick Soshensky, MA, LCAT, MT-BC, NRMT, is a nationally known music therapist. His work has been featured in The New York Times, National Public Radio, and Fox Radio. He operates Hudson Valley Creative Arts Therapy Studio and teaches in the music therapy departments at SUNY New Paltz and Molloy College.
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