The Relationship Between Research and Practice: An Exploration Into How Music Therapy Students’ Personal and Research Interests Can Shape Their Practitioner Identity

All UK MA Music Therapy courses contain elements of study that ensure their students engage in research and evidence-based practice. This element of the training ensures students meet the HCPC Standards of Proficiency (SOPs) (HCPC 2013). On successful completion of the programme, students may then apply for registration as arts therapists. It is clear, therefore, that research is an important element not just of music therapy training, but of the profession itself. Bruscia (1995) has given the following definition of research: “a systematic, self-monitored inquiry which leads to a discovery or new insight, which, when documented and disseminated, contributes to or modifies existing knowledge or practice” (p. 21). To add to this definition, Ansdell and Pavlicevic (2000) suggest that practitioners would do well to select an area of personal interest for their enquiry, as personal interest may prove a motivation to this endeavour. Areas of research interests amongst students and professionals are diverse and are often those which arouse a personal as well as professional interest. As music therapy students begin to develop their own therapeutic personas, it can be important for them to recognise and work with those areas of practice which stimulate interest for them personally (Burns and Meadows 2017). This poster demonstrates the variety of interests that were developed as research projects for the dissertation assignment by 4 students at the University of South Wales. Students utilised relevant methodologies to investigate diverse areas of practice and client populations, covering music technology, sound-healing, folk music and working with silence. These projects demonstrated a scope beyond the traditional boundaries of music therapy, while also supporting the development of the students as they worked towards becoming music therapists in their final year of study.