What
EMTC presents:
8th European Music Therapy Day
Theme: share your e motion!
15th November is European Music Therapy Day! Music therapists, the specialists in the field of music and health, will hold open house events and organise workshops. Special, heart-warming performances will take place. Some activities will be organised in the week before or after the 15th of November.
Further information regarding above events can be found at: musictherapyday.eu and on Facebook @musictherapyday.
This year's European Music Therapy Day is titled SHARE YOUR EMOTION! In these challenging times, it is important to become aware of our feelings and share them with our closest, by listening or creating music. The essence of music therapy is for participants to express their feelings through musical experience with the help of a therapist. Music can also create and stir various emotions. The role of the therapist is to support the client in expressing and releasing his feelings, increasing his awareness. When we find it difficult to talk about our emotions, music is there to help us. Anyone can use music to express his feelings and music will withstand the hardest of emotions, even silence. By creating music jointly, we develop the sense of togetherness. In these challenging time of physical separation, music can be the force that pulls us together and enables us to express ourselves.
We’d like to send out a warm invitation to you, to join us for European Music Therapy Day. As music therapists we like to show everyone the power of connecting through music and the ways in which this can help people, who for whatever reasons are 'stuck', to make steps towards greater wellbeing.
Music plays an important role in our everyday lives. Music can stir memories and powerfully resonate with our feelings, helping us to express them and to communicate with others. Often we are not aware of how we are influenced by music. But research shows: music is good for our brains, it is wonderful for our bodies, it makes us move, and puts us in a good mood. Everybody can use the power of music by listening to music, playing a musical instrument or singing.
What is music therapy?
Music therapy is an established and research based health profession. In Europe more than 6000 certified music therapists are working in health institutions, schools, care homes or private practices. They provide music therapy for a wide range of client groups, including children with learning disabilities, autism or behavioural disorders, adults with depression or trauma and anxiety, and older adults with Parkinson’s or Dementia.
Music therapy is helping people through music. How does this work? In music therapy, clients can listen to music, play a wide range of instruments and use their voices. They create a musical language which reflects their emotional and physical conditions. This enables them to build connections with their inner selves and with others around them. A well trained music therapist supports the client in a musical way and stimulates development or change, as beneficial to the individual’s needs. Using music therapy for a wide range of health needs is effective, cost efficient and contributes towards a healthy and warm care environment.
EMTC
The EMTC is a confederation of professional music therapy associations in Europe. EMTC promotes music therapy as a profession and offers the possibility of exchanging experiences between music therapists/professionals in that field from various countries. The organisation was established on November 15th 1991 with 31 countries being active members at present. Since 2014, European Music Therapy Day has been celebrated every year, on the date of EMTC founding. After seven years organised by Dutch Association for Music Therapy (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Muziektherapie - NVvMT) for the first time, it is being organised by the Association of Croatian Music Therapists, established in 2002, with the aim of promoting and developing music therapy in Croatia.