Community Music Therapy — Is That Music Therapy?
How an ecological understanding of community, music, and therapy challenges the discipline of music therapy
“The concept of music therapy gained strong scientific credibility but lost its historically significant role as a field of knowledge that regards music as a primary source of information about how to live and relate to the universe.”
— Simon (2013, p. 72)
Community Music Therapy (CMT) is a fringe area of music therapy that emphasizes social aspects and raises the question of whether it can be considered part of the discipline. While CMT allows community, music, and therapy to be seen with new eyes, it often lacks the classical therapeutic setting considered essential in the Kasseler Theses (Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft, 1998/2010). This page examines the tension between the established understanding of music therapy and the challenges CMT poses to the discipline.
What Is Music Therapy? — Definitions Compared
Finding a single universal definition of music therapy has proven impossible (Schwaiblmair, n.d.). Bruscia analyzed over 100 different definitions and identified recurring building blocks: descriptors, agents, recipients, settings, and goals (Mainka & Weymann, 2023). The following four definitions illustrate the range of understanding.
DMtG
German Music Therapy Association (n.d.)
Music therapy is the targeted use of music within the therapeutic relationship for the restoration, maintenance, and promotion of mental, physical, and spiritual health.
Source →WfMT (2011)
World Federation of Music Therapy
Music therapy is the professional use of music and its elements as an intervention in medical, educational, and everyday environments with individuals, groups, families, or communities who seek to optimize their quality of life and improve their physical, social, communicative, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health and wellbeing.
Source →Mainka & Weymann (2023)
Music Therapy — Newly Defined
There is currently no definition of music therapy in Germany that fits well into the German health system. The emphasis on the psychotherapeutic character was a milestone, but new neurophysiologically based methods make the term ‘psychotherapeutic’ too narrow.
Source →The Kasseler Thesen — A Framework for Debate
The Kasseler Thesen were adopted in 1998 by eight music therapy associations in Germany and revised in 2010. Ten statements aim to unite the different music therapy traditions in Germany and define what qualifies as music therapy (Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft, 1998/2010). Three theses are particularly relevant for classifying CMT.
“Music therapy is a practice-oriented discipline whose scientific foundations stand in close interaction with various scientific fields, in particular medicine, social sciences, psychology, musicology, and education.”
The explicit mention of social sciences shows a recognized proximity between music therapy and social issues — which aligns well with CMT, since “community” can be translated as “Gesellschaft” (society) in German (Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft, 1998/2010).
“Psychotherapy is founded in the constitution of the therapeutic setting and is bound to the development of a therapeutic relationship. [...] No psychotherapeutic method or technique follows a monocausal principle of action.”
According to this thesis, CMT would rather not be considered music therapy, as it often proceeds monocausally and typically does not aim to build a therapeutic relationship (Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft, 1998/2010).
“A prerequisite for the application of music therapy is syndrome-related and therapy-process-related music therapy diagnostics. [...] The essence of music therapy diagnostics lies in the description of musical phenomena and their connection to physical, psychological, and social processes.”
The former is hardly found in CMT, as no fixed procedures or diagnostics take place. The latter, however — the connection of musical phenomena to social processes — sounds very much like one of CMT’s goals (Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft, 1998/2010).
Interim conclusion: Based on the Kasseler Thesen, there are arguments both for and against CMT as part of music therapy. This tension is productive: it forces a rethinking and expansion of the understanding of music therapy (Müllejans, 2025, p. 4).
What Is Community Music Therapy?
The term Community Music Therapy first appeared in Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, when professional and amateur musicians made music together in various social settings. What was decisive was that these “community musicians” always carefully considered local music-making traditions — they were concerned with the connecting and communicative, not the performative aspect of music (Simon, 2013, p. 21).
Christine Simon published the first German-language work on CMT in 2013: Community Music Therapy — Musik stiftet Gemeinschaft. She proposed the term “community-building music therapy” but primarily used the English term herself, in order to operate within the established international tradition (Simon, 2013, p. 21).
The common thread through all aspects of CMT is its ecological understanding: community, music, and therapy are viewed in their mutual interrelation (Ghetti, 2016, p. 161; Simon, 2013).
Community
From an ecological perspective, community is not merely a social practice but part of human life from the very beginning. The first experience of community occurs in the womb and profoundly shapes our social orientation (Hüther, 2008, p. 108; Simon, 2013, p. 33). The capacity for empathy is an essential component of being human and of the communal experience (Simon, 2013, p. 33).
Music
Music always occurs within a context and is therefore a communal and ecological practice. Becker describes music as “an articulation of human experience” (2009, p. 287). Neurobiologically, music cannot be located in a specific brain region but manifests as a totality of connections across multiple brain areas (Wood, 2006, p. 4). Every human being possesses the capacity for musicality, as it has to do with connectedness, not talent (Simon, 2013, p. 36).
Therapy
The etymology of the Greek term θεραπεία (therapeía) encompasses “service,” “care,” “attentiveness” (Rothschuh, 2007). Simon connects this to CMT: the emphasis lies on care and respect (Simon, 2013, p. 51). CMT’s health concept is salutogenic, recognizing the complex relationships between individual and contextual systems (Ghetti, 2016, p. 167; Bischof, 2010). The key distinction: “cure” (acute treatment) vs. “care” (nurturing) — CMT represents the latter (Stige, 2002, p. 183; Simon, 2013, p. 53).
The PREPARE Model — CMT’s Value Framework
Ghetti (2016, p. 161) describes CMT as “a family of practices” — not a fixed method but a bundle of value orientations. The PREPARE model (Stige & Aarø, 2012) summarizes these qualities.
Inclusive, low-threshold participation — everyone can join regardless of musical background.
Strengths-based, not deficit-focused — emphasis on capabilities and competencies.
Person-in-context — the individual is always viewed in relation to community and environment.
Music as social action — not just a clinical tool but expression and participation in public space.
Social justice — CMT addresses oppressive structures within society and the self.
Critical self-reflection — the therapist questions their own role and impact within the system.
Ethical practice as core commitment — responsible action in all contexts.
After Stige, B. & Aarø, L. E. (2012). Invitation to Community Music Therapy. Routledge. Cited in Ghetti (2016, p. 167).
Historical Roots of Music Therapy
The connection between music and healing is as old as humanity itself. Today’s music therapy emerged from various historical currents, all of which resonate in CMT.
Music as cosmic force
Musical magic as “the achievement of extraordinary effects through artistic means” — music as participation in the primal substance of the universe (Rohde, Peters & Sonntag, n.d., pp. 3–4). This idea has a direct parallel in CMT: Simon’s ecological understanding, whereby every human being carries the capacity for musicality — not as talent but as connectedness (Simon, 2013, p. 36).
Music as medicine and cosmology
Apollo was god of both medicine and music (Rohde et al., n.d., p. 10). Pythagoras’ teaching that the essence of the universe is number and music its audible manifestation laid the foundation for a centuries-long tradition in which music served as remedy for body and soul. Hippocrates prescribed melodies to balance bodily humors.
Institutionalization as post-war phenomenon
Music therapy crystallized as a discipline only in the 20th century (Schwaiblmair, n.d.) — born from the need to treat traumatized soldiers (USA) and from rebuilding humane medicine in Europe. Simon diagnoses: MT gained scientific credibility but lost its “historically significant role” (Simon, 2013, p. 72).
Regulative Music Therapy (Christian Schwabe)
Schwabe developed a distinctive approach in the GDR in an ideological context that rejected psychoanalytic concepts and insisted on materialist provability. Music as a physiological and behavioral regulator — Regulative MT demonstrates how political and scientific context shapes theory formation (Schwabe & Röhrborn, 1996).
Nordoff-Robbins: the music-centered paradigm
Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins developed their approach from a music-centered conviction: music is not a means to an end but the primary therapeutic medium. Leading CMT pioneers such as Gary Ansdell and Mercédès Pavlicevic trained in the Nordoff-Robbins tradition — NRMT is a seedbed from which CMT partly emerged (Ghetti, 2016, p. 163).
Connections to Other Approaches
CMT does not exist in isolation — it shares DNA with multiple music therapy traditions. Ghetti (2016, p. 161) aptly describes CMT as “an evolving idea, discourse and umbrella to characterise a wide-ranging set of practices.”
Ansdell and Pavlicevic trained in the Nordoff-Robbins tradition (Ghetti, 2016, p. 163). Shared core: music as primary therapeutic medium, not as accompaniment to talk therapy. CMT is an ecological extension of the NRMT fundamental idea.
Both share the conviction that the individual can never be understood apart from their relational field. Systemic MT emphasizes multigenerational perspectives and circular questioning (Schmidts & Abushi, 2025); CMT views the entire community as the client.
Psychodynamic MT emphasizes the therapeutic dyad, transference, and the unconscious — CMT does not require a classical therapeutic relationship. Yet both take subjective experience seriously and use music to access pre-verbal content. Trauma work shows that psychodynamic sensitivity and community orientation complement each other (Ghetti, 2016, p. 164).
Both share the conviction that music acts directly on the body — without the detour through cognitive processing. Orff: phenomenological-creative. Regulative MT: behavioral-physiological. CMT adds the communal and social dimension.
Summary: CMT shares music-centrism with Nordoff-Robbins, the ecological perspective with Systemic MT, attention to the unconscious with Psychodynamic MT, and embodied experience with Orff/Regulative MT. What makes CMT unique: it is the only approach that explicitly thinks in socio-critical and political terms and views the community as client (Pavlicevic & Ansdell, 2004).
CMT in Practice — Exemplary Forms
CMT is not a single method but an attitude. Practice forms range from singing groups and drum circles to music projects with marginalized communities.
🎵
Singing
Choirs, singing circles, open sing-alongs
🥁
Drum Circles
Open rhythm groups — no prior experience needed
🎸
Music Workshops
Free improvisation in social institutions
🎭
Music Projects
With refugees, in care homes, in psychiatry
Singing — an Example and Its Research
Singing is frequently used in CMT because it is accessible without prior musical training, promotes a sense of belonging, and has measurable neurobiological effects.
Oxytocin
Trust and belonging
Communal singing increases oxytocin and reduces cortisol — a robust finding from primary literature (Keeler et al., 2015).
Serotonin
Mood
Bossinger (2006) describes a markedly elevated release of serotonin through communal singing, contributing to positive mood and wellbeing.
Cortisol ↓
Stress reduction
Group singing has been shown to lower cortisol levels, supporting emotional regulation and resilience (Keeler et al., 2015).
Coping
Emotional resilience
Music-making and singing create “the chemical-hormonal basis for strengthening love, care, and social bonding” (Bossinger, 2006, p. 66).
These findings support CMT’s fundamental assumption that communal music-making can produce therapeutic effects at both the individual and community level.
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References
- Ansdell, G. (2002). Community music therapy and the winds of change. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v2i2.83
- Becker, M. (2021). Musikbegriff. In H. Decker-Voigt & E. Weymann (Eds.), Lexikon Musiktherapie (3rd ed.). Hogrefe. https://doi.org/10.1026/02836-000
- Bischof, M. (2010). Salutogenese. Unterwegs zur Gesundheit. Drachen Verlag.
- Bossinger, W. (2006). Die heilende Kraft des Singens (2nd rev. ed.). Traumzeit-Verlag.
- Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft. (1998/2010). Kasseler Thesen zur Musiktherapie. https://www.musiktherapie.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Kasseler-Thesen-zur-Musiktherapie.pdf
- Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft. (n.d.). Was ist Musiktherapie? https://www.musiktherapie.de/musiktherapie/was-ist-musiktherapie/
- Ghetti, C. M. (2016). Performing a family of practices: Developments in community music therapy across international contexts. Music Therapy Perspectives, 34(2), 161–170. https://doi.org/10.1093/mtp/miv047
- Hüther, G. (2008). Schwingung und Neurobiologie. In W. Bossinger & R. Eckle (Eds.), Schwingung und Gesundheit. Traumzeit-Verlag.
- Keeler, J. R., Roth, E. A., Neuser, B. L., Spitsbergen, J. M., Waters, D. J. M., & Vianney, J.-M. (2015). The neurochemistry and social flow of singing: Bonding and oxytocin. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 518. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00518
- Mainka, S., & Weymann, E. (2023). Musiktherapie – neu definiert. GMS Journal of Arts Therapies, 5. https://doi.org/10.3205/jat000030
- Müllejans, L. (2025). Musik als politisches Handeln – Kann das Therapie sein? [Study paper, MSH Medical School Hamburg].
- Pavlicevic, M., & Ansdell, G. (Eds.). (2004). Community music therapy. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
- Rohde, J., Peters, V., & Sonntag, J. (n.d.). Historische Betrachtung musiktherapeutischer Ansätze: Magie – Mystik – Affekte. Altertum bis Renaissance [Lecture presentation].
- Rothschuh, K. E. (2007). Therapie, Therapeutik. In J. Ritter et al. (Eds.), Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie. Schwabe AG Verlag. https://doi.org/10.24894/HWPh.5491
- Schmidts, M., & Abushi, C. (2025). Systemische Musiktherapie [Seminar paper].
- Schwabe, C., & Röhrborn, H. (Eds.). (1996). Regulative Musiktherapie. Gustav Fischer.
- Schwaiblmair, F. (n.d.). Geschichte der Musiktherapie. https://www.musiktherapie.de/musiktherapie/was-ist-musiktherapie/
- Simon, C. (2013). Community Music Therapy – Musik stiftet Gemeinschaft. Drachen Verlag.
- World Federation of Music Therapy. (2011). Definition of music therapy. https://www.wfmt.info/about
- Stige, B. (2002). Culture-Centered Music Therapy. Barcelona Publishers.
- Stige, B., & Aarø, L. E. (2012). Invitation to Community Music Therapy. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203803547
- Wood, S. (2006). The Matrix: A model for community music therapy processes. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v6i3.279
Further Reading
Ansdell, G. (2002). Community Music Therapy & The Winds of Change. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 2(2).
https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v2i2.83Ghetti, C. M. (2016). Performing a Family of Practices. Music Therapy Perspectives, 34(2), 161–170.
https://doi.org/10.1093/mtp/miv047Pavlicevic, M., & Ansdell, G. (Eds.). (2004). Community Music Therapy. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Mainka, S., & Weymann, E. (2023). Musiktherapie – neu definiert. GMS Journal of Arts Therapies, 5.
https://doi.org/10.3205/jat000030Stige, B., & Aarø, L. E. (2012). Invitation to Community Music Therapy. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203803547
Authors
Mark Schmidts
Laura Müllejans
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