Author/Editor

Barbara Wheeler has been active as an author and editor for decades, making important contributions to the music therapy canon that include edited books, book chapters, articles, and more. 

Music Therapy Research,

3rd Edition

Editors: Barbara L. Wheeler & Kathleen M. Murphy
ISBN: 9781937440886
E-ISBN: 9781937440893

A greatly expanded, updated, and detailed description of objectivist and interpretivist research in music therapy, guided by the recommendations of a diverse group of experienced music therapists. The book begins with an introduction to the nature of music therapy research and its relation to theory and practice. Steps in doing research are then detailed, and the foundations and principles of objectivist and interpretivist paradigms are outlined. After methodological issues inherent in each paradigm are examined, individual chapters are provided for every type, method, and design of research that has been used in music therapy, all using the same outline. Finally, guidelines are given for reading, writing, and evaluating research.

Clinical Training Guide for the Student Music Therapist,

2nd Edition

Authors: Donna W. Polen, Carol L. Shultis, Barbara L. Wheeler
ISBN: 1945411163

Designed for use by music therapy students at all levels of field training, the second edition also scaffolds the knowledge and skills needed as students advance through typical levels of involvement: observing sessions, participating and assisting, planning and co-leading, and ultimately leading sessions independently.

Building on the success of the first edition, the second edition provides even more information on education, clinical training, and music. New features include: additional and updated references, recommended readings incorporated into the text, three levels of assignments, and an entirely new chapter on the essential aspects of becoming a music therapist.

Full of clinical examples that focus on the process of music therapy for the client, this book explores the uses of music therapy specifically with children with special needs, adolescents and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, adults with psychiatric disorders, older adults with age-related needs, and people in medical settings. More general considerations are explored for group and individual session work. Modes of clinical work are explored as chapters delve into the use of improvising, re-creating, composing, and receptive experiences.

The final chapter urges students to consider self-reflection and self-assessment as a career-long commitment. This guide comes from the pens of three experienced music therapists, each with over 30 years in the field and with experience in supervising music therapy students from the perspectives of both faculty and clinicians.


Music Therapy Handbook 2nd Edition

Editors: Michael Viega, Andeline dos Santos, and Barbara L. Wheeler
ISBN: 9781462556922

Rich with case material, the second edition of this respected text has been thoroughly revised with many new contributing authors and 85% new material. The Handbook comprehensively explores music therapy theory, research, and practice. Chapters cover foundational concepts and therapeutic processes, major approaches to practice, and clinical applications with people of all ages. The second edition has a heightened focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and cultural humility. Expert contributors describe state-of-the-art practices for using music to foster clients’ well-being and recovery in a broad range of mental health, medical, and community settings.

New to This Edition

  • Expanded coverage of working with marginalized communities, including racially minoritized, refugee, LGBTQIA+, and neurodiverse clients, and an increased emphasis on therapist reflexivity.
  • Provides an integrated conceptual framework for understanding different music therapy approaches.
  • First edition editor Barbara L. Wheeler is joined by Michael Viega and Andeline dos Santos, who bring fresh perspectives and a more international scope.
Notes from Barbara about her writing

I have chosen writings beginning with my first published article, which was in 1981. I am presenting them by topic and in general chronological order from when I first explored the topic. Note that many line up with my clinical work. I have included information on reprinted articles; I am gratified when something that I have written is translated and published in another language.

As my music therapy interests and needs have evolved over the years, I have explored a variety of topics. Each of these has required me to delve into the literature for that topic. This is not the most efficient way of working—colleagues who focus on only a few areas can build on the literature that they already know, while I had to do a new literature search for each topic—it has given me a broad knowledge of music therapy, which I believe has helped me in my teaching and lecturing and has made my professional life interesting. The articles and chapters reflect this range of topics.

A Selection of Articles and Chapters

Theoretical Basis for Music Therapy

I was concerned from my early work as a music therapist that music therapists seemed to work with no theoretical backing—in general, we did what worked but were not able to provide a rationale for what we did. My initial thinking was that we should look to psychotherapeutic theories, thus this article. (My friend and fellow classmate at Florida State University, Norwegian Even Ruud, had done his master’s thesis on this topic. It was published as Music Therapy and Its Relationship to Current Treatment Theories and, of course, was more extensive than my article.) Later in my development, I evolved to thinking that music therapy should have its own theories. Although my thinking changed, I have never regretted putting down my ideas at the time—that is how others learned of my thinking, and perhaps my thoughts had an influence upon later development.

  • Wheeler, B. (1981). The Relationship Between Music Therapy and Theories of Psychotherapy. Music Therapy, 1, 9-16.

Levels of Work

As I supervised undergraduate students doing practicums through Montclair State College, I struggled with how “deeply” they should be encouraged to work. Some colleagues and I developed an idea that music therapy could operate on three levels. We presented this in 1979 at an NAMT conference in Dallas, TX, and I wrote about it for Music Therapy Perspectives. I was helped in this concept by Barbara Hesser and a reference that she shared (The Technique of Psychotherapy by Wolberg). I found this three-level concept to be very useful, and people still tell me that they refer to it. Later, I sent a survey to music therapists, asking them which goals they typically used together. This provided empirical evidence for the three levels of therapy.

  • Wheeler, B. L. (1983). A Psychotherapeutic Classification of Music Therapy Practices: A Continuum of Procedures. Music Therapy Perspectives, 1, 8-12. (Translated into Polish 2009, Psychoterapeutyczna klasyfikacja praktyk muzykoterapeutycznych – kontinuum procedur. Terapia przez sztuk?. www.arteterapia.pl)
  • Wheeler, B. L. (1987). Levels of Therapy: The Classification of Music Therapy Goals. Music Therapy, 6(2), 39-49.

International Symposium on Music Therapy Training

I was invited to attend an international symposium on music therapy training in Herdecke, Germany, in 1978. This was a very important event for music therapy, as it may have been the first time that leaders from many countries were able to meet together in a setting that encouraged discussion. Among other things, it brought leaders from AAMT and NAMT in the U.S. together. I wrote an article about the symposium and tried to get it published, but was told that the journal to which I submitted it did not publish reports of conferences. (This rejection was one of what became a familiar situation in which I did not agree with the decision of a journal—but that is part of trying to get things published.) A number of years later, over lunch at a European Music Therapy Conference in Naples, Italy, Kenneth Aigen suggested that I retrieve the original submission and publish it as a retrospective examination. I contacted all of the original attendees and asked for their current perceptions of the impact of the symposium and published them. I think that this article presents information on an important event. I have some pictures from the symposium in Herdecke, a few of which are included here.

  • Wheeler, B. L. (2003). First International Symposium on Music Therapy Training: A Retrospective Examination. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 12, 54-66. (reprinted 2000 in J. Th. Eschen (Ed.), Mentorenkurs Musiktherapie Herdecke Rückblick und Ausblick. Wiesbaden, Germany: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag.)

Emotion and Music

I have had a long-term interest in how music therapists can understand some of the emotional aspects of music, with a concern that it has been very difficult to get to the what we really do, much of which deals with emotion. I did an early research study on this area—admirable in my intent, but not particularly good research. I have been impressed with Michael Thaut’s work with emotion and was glad to be asked to coauthor a chapter in a book on music and emotion with him. When I was working at the University of Louisville, I had an opportunity to collaborate with a physiological psychologist, Estate Sokhadze, who was interested in music. He had the expertise in physiological measures and we did a decent study together. I left UofL before we had more opportunities to collaborate.

  • Wheeler, B. L. (1985). Relationship of Personal Characteristics to Mood and Enjoyment after Hearing Live and Recorded Music. Psychology of Music, 13, 81-92.
  • Thaut, M. H., & Wheeler, B. L. (2010). Music Therapy. In P. Juslin & J. Sloboda, Handbook of Music and Emotion (pp. 819-848). London: Oxford University Press.
  • Wheeler, B. L., Sokhadze, E., Baruth, J., Behrens, G. A., & Quinn, C. (2011). Musically-Induced Emotions: Subjective Measures of Arousal and Valence. Music & Medicine, 3(4), 224-233.
  • Sokhadze, G., Wheeler, B., & Sokhadze, E. (2012). Physiological Measures and Subjective Rating of Emotions Induced by Music [abstract]. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 37, 304.

History of Mid-Atlantic Region of NAMT

I think it is important that we know the history of our profession – at all levels. I became interested in the history of the Mid-Atlantic Region and was fortunate to be able to acquire boxes of documents from some of the early leaders of the Region. This later became the basis of the MAR Archives, which provide important information about NAMT, MAR, and AMTA. My interviews for Voices that documented World Congresses of Music Therapy are also examples of my interest in the history of music therapy. See them under the Voices section late in this document.

  • Wheeler, B. L., & Golden. S. (1987). NAMT and Its Mid-Atlantic Region: Changing Together. Music Therapy Perspectives, 4, 56-63.

Music Therapy Treatment for Breast Cancer

While I was at the University of Louisville, I hoped to do some funded research. Music therapy colleagues were doing this, and the ability for funding has had a huge impact on the quality of music therapy research. We received a Susan G. Komen grant for music therapy for women with breast cancer. We used this for both treatment and to gather some information that might later be used for a larger grant. I think we had a decent study, the first publication below. Unfortunately, the journal that we submitted it to had a very small readership, and I feel that the study was never read by as many people as it could have been (my error). The second article here, of research done with Paige Elwafi, the music therapist for our study, was a qualitative study.

  • Wheeler, B. L., Weissbecker, I., Elwafi, P. R., & Salvador, C. (2010). The Susan G. Komen Music Therapy Initiative: Music Therapy for Women with Breast Cancer. International Journal of Integrative Oncology, 3(1), 7-17.
  • Elwafi, P. R., & Wheeler, B. L. (2016). Listening to Music as Part of Treatment for Breast Cancer: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Patients’ Listening Logs. Arts in Psychotherapy, 48, 38-45.

Worldviews of Music Therapists

As part of my development as a qualitative researcher, I intentionally did several studies using various qualitative methods. This study, done with Felicity Baker, allowed me to use grounded theory methods. It also provided an opportunity to spend a month in Brisbane, Australia, funded by a grant that encouraged collaboration with other universities. This was a unique experience, and I think that our research was worthwhile.

  • Wheeler, B. L., & Baker, F. (2010). Influences of Music Therapists’ Worldviews on Work in Different Countries. Arts in Psychotherapy, 37, 215-227. (translated into Polish and reprinted as: Wheeler, B., & Baker, F. (2014). Wpływy światopoglądów muzykoterapeutów na praktykę kliniczną w różnych krajach. Polskie Pismo Muzykoterapeutyczne, 1, 25-64.)

Music Therapy and Neurologic Disorders

In the late 1990s, the National Institutes of Health made grants available for research on alternative therapies. I worked with psychologists from Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation on a research project to investigate the effects of music therapy on people who had had strokes or traumatic brain injuries. Although Kessler Institute had many patients, we had a very difficult time getting people to participate—they were exhausted after a full day of therapy, visitors came during the evening, etc. These problems led to us making a number of changes in our original design, the primary differences being moving from an RCT that would have compared music therapy, art therapy, and treatment as usual to a much less stringent design. We published the main article in a psychology journal, and this has had implications for its availability and, I assume has helped people outside of music therapy learn about music therapy. It was listed recently as having been cited 304 times, and I have received a number of inquiries over the years from people who saw my name associated with this article. This was the first time that I worked with adults with neurological disorders (other than dementia). A few years later, most of my part-time clinical work was with people in rehabilitation. As part of this focus, I did the Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) training, became an NMT Fellow, worked on a Cochrane Review for people with acquired brain injuries, and did some other writing about people with neurologic disorders.

  • Wheeler, B. L., Shiflet, S. C., & Nayak, S. (2003). Effects of Number of Sessions and Group or Individual Music Therapy on the Mood and Behavior of People Who Have Had Strokes or Traumatic Brain Injuries. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 12, 139-151.
  • Nayak, S., Wheeler, B. L., Shiflett, S. C., & Agostinelli, S. (2000). The Effect of Music Therapy on Mood and Social Interaction Among Individuals with Acute Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke. Rehabilitation Psychology, 45, 274-283.
  • Bradt, J., Magee, W. L., Dileo, C., Wheeler, B. L., & McGilloway, E. Music Therapy for Adults with Acquired Brain Injury. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD006787. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006787.pub2
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2014). Music in Psychosocial Training and Counseling (MPC). In M. H. Thaut & V. Hoemberg (Eds.), Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy (pp. 331-360). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Magee, W., & Wheeler, B. L. (2006). Music Therapy for Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury. In G. J. Murrey (Ed.), Alternative Therapies in the Treatment of Brain Injury and Neuro-Behavioral Disorders: A Practical Guide (pp. 51-73). Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. (also an additional publication)
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2005). Untersuchungen der Wirkung von Musiktherapie auf soziale Interaktionen bei Patienten mit Schlaganfall oder Schädel-Hirn-Trauma (Researching the Effect of Music Therapy on Social Interaction in People with Stroke or TBI). In S. Jochims (Ed.), Musiktherapie in der Neurorehabiliation: Internationale konzepte, forschung und praxis. (Music Therapy and Neurology/Neurorehabilitation for Adults: Worldwide Concepts, Current Research and Clinical Outcomes) (pp. 295-303). Bad Honnef, Germany: Hippocampus Verlag. (also an additional similar publication

Relative Perspectives in Evidence-Based Reviews

Barbara Else served as a consultant for AMTA for a number of years. She knows many things, and many of her ideas were very stimulating. In one presentation to the AMTA Board, she prompted some questions about the various ways that people might look at information and how the perspective that they took would influence their findings. From this, Barb and I did what I thought was a very informative research study—informative to me as well as, I hope, readers.

  • Else, B. A., & Wheeler, B. L. (2010). Music Therapy Practice: Relative Perspectives in Evidence-Based Reviews. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 19, 29-50.

Music Therapy Research

I think most people would say that my most important contribution to music therapy has been (and is) my work with three editions of Music Therapy Research, beginning in 1995, then in 2005, and (with Kathleen Murphy as Associate Editor) in 2016. I will always be grateful to Kenneth Bruscia who, in about 1990, in his role as owner of Barcelona Publishers, called and told me that he thought that music therapy needed a research textbook and that I was the person to edit it. I am pleased with all three versions of the book and believe that they have had an important effect on music therapy research. I believe that my contribution to music therapy research is primarily in helping people think about music therapy research, not in my actual research. In addition to the books, the articles below give a sense of some of the countries that have solicited my thoughts and writing about music therapy research.

  • Wheeler, B. L. (1998). La Ricerca in Musicoterapia (Music Therapy Research). In G. Perilli & F. Russo (Eds.), La Medicina dei Suoni. L’esperienza Sonoro-Relazionale Come Cura Del Se (pp. 72-93). Rome, Italy: Borla.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2006). Music Therapy Research: Connecting Clinical Practice and Research. Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 27, 368-374. (invited article, refereed)
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2008). Music Therapy Research: Contributions from Canada. Canadian Journal of Music Therapy, 13(2), 10-36. (invited article, refereed)
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2013). Badania w Muzykoterapii (Music Therapy Research). In K. Stachyra (Ed.), Podstawy muzykoterapii. Podrcznik (Music Therapy Basics Handbook). Lublin, Poland: UMCS University Publisher.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2014). The Importance of Research in Educating About Music Therapy. Voices: A World Forum of Music Therapy. https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/2231/1986
With David Hargreaves
With Jean Eisler

World Federation Guidelines on Education and Training

I was active in the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) for a number of years. I was part of a symposium at the 1999 World Congress that brought representatives from various countries to establish standards for education and training. The goal was to provide guidance for programs that were starting, especially those in new countries. I was gratified recently to learn that these standards still provide guidance and are being used.

  • Wheeler, B. L., & Grocke, D. E. (2001). Report of the World Federation of Music Therapy Commission on Education, Training, and Accreditation Symposium. Music Therapy Perspectives, 19, 63-67. Also: https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/634d7a53dfc2f92c79fe22f5/65dcbee94cd380c5755fd6d6_WFMT%20Education%20Guidelines%202021%20(Final)_edited.pdf

Music Therapy Practicums

The primary focus of my music therapy has been educating students, so of course I have been concerned about students’ clinical work. I investigated two aspects of music therapy practicums. The research in the first article below was done to gather information that my department chair had requested about how aspects of the supervision and administration of music therapy practicums were handled; the next two were to learn more about students’ experiences of music therapy practicum. The 2002 article was my first phenomenological study.

  • Wheeler, B. L. (2000). Music Therapy Practicum Practices: A Survey of Music Therapy Educators. Journal of Music Therapy, 37, 286-311.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2002). Experiences and Concerns of Students during Music Therapy Practica. Journal of Music Therapy, 39, 274-304. Reprinted in K. H. Phillips (2008), Exploring Research in Music Education and Music Therapy. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Wheeler, B. L., & Williams, C. (2012). Students’ Thoughts and Feelings about Music Therapy Practicum Supervision. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 21(2), 111–132.

Children with Multiple Severe Disabilities

In the mid-1990s, I worked one day a week at a school for children with multiple severe disabilities. This work was meaningful to me and led me to explore some aspects of work with children with severe disabilities. The most important was the study about experiencing pleasure, which was my first qualitative research study and also provided me with important insights about my own work; I still enjoy presenting this work, including videos. Another avenue of research related to these children was comparing normal development with that of children who were not developing normally; I relied on insights about child development from my psychologist friend and colleague Sylvia Stultz.

  • Wheeler, B. L. (1999). Experiencing Pleasure in Working with Severely Disabled Children. Journal of Music Therapy, 36, 56-80. (reprinted 2000 with an introduction, Reflections on ‘Experiencing Pleasure in Working with Severely Disabled Children,’ in J. Z. Robarts (Ed.), Music Therapy Research: Growing Perspectives in Theory and Practice. London: British Society of Music Therapy.)
  • Wheeler, B. L., & Stultz, S. (2008). Using Typical Infant Development to Inform Music Therapy with Children with Disabilities. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35, 585-591.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (1999). Lisa: The Experience of a Child with Multiple Disabilities. In J. Hibbin (Ed.), Music Therapy: From a Client’s Perspective (pp. 237-246). Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2013). Individuals with Severe and Multiple Disabilities. In M. Hintz (Ed.), Guidelines for Music Therapy Practice in Developmental Health (pp. 399-440). University Park, IL: Barcelona Publishers.

Assessment

Assessment is important in music therapy, but I have never felt that we covered it adequately. (Some of this has changed in recent years.) I was asked to write a chapter on assessment and felt that I managed to present the issues in a coherent manner. The chapter is, of course, more than a decade old now, but I think that it still presents things well.

  • Wheeler, B. L. (2013). Music Therapy Assessment. In R. Cruz & B. Feder, Feder’s The Art and Science of Evaluation in the Arts Therapies (2nd ed.) (pp. 344-382). Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.

Relevance of Research

I have been gratified often to have had people tell me that my writing and research has been influential to them. This has occurred more with my early writing about music therapy and psychotherapy (especially the three levels of music therapy) and qualitative research. How to help clinicians utilize the findings of research is a frequent concern of researchers. Eric Waldon and I investigated this problem through a survey of music therapists.

  • Waldon, E. G., & Wheeler, B. L. (2017). Perceived Research Relevance: A Worldwide Survey of Music Therapists. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 26(5), 395-410.

Comparison of Music and Medicine Studies

Although I made the decision to retire in 2011, the process of actually retiring has not been straightforward. Part of this process was not to do any more research or major writing. These articles are the product of my final research. It was a project that I began in 2013 with a conference presentation. I maintained an interest in the topic, but did not manage to complete my research. Finally, it grew into a project that involved a number of colleagues in a Delta process. I am happy with these two articles as my final contribution to music therapy research.

  • Wheeler, B. L., Lesiuk, T. L., Rossetti, A., Burns, D. S., Hanser, S. B., & Cassity, M. D. (2019). Music Therapy and Music Medicine Studies in Oncology: Part I: A Comparison. Music & Medicine, 11(3), 145-159.
  • Wheeler, B. L., Cassity, M. D., Lesiuk, T. L., Burns, D. S., Hanser, S. B., & Rossetti, A. (2019). Music Therapy and Music Medicine Studies: Part II: The Use of the Delphi Technique. Music & Medicine, 11(3). 160-165.

Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy

I was involved with the on-line journal, Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, for more than a decade–from early in its inception until 2011. I was committed to Voices and its aims, which included being accessible to people who would not otherwise be able to read some of the literature and representing diverse cultures and views.

 

Fortnightly Columns

As part of our involvement in Voices, the editors were to write a fortnightly column. This could address any topic that we wanted. I explored a variety of topics in these columns, most of which are listed below. They can be accessed through this link: https://voices.no/community

  • Wheeler, B. (2012, December 10). Changes—Sometimes Planned, Sometimes Unplanned. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. (2011). Reflections on 9/11/01 – 10 Years Later. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. (2010, November 1). Dreams, Plans, and Transitions.
  • Wheeler, B. (2009, December 28). The Honor of Sharing Our History. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2008, December 29). Paying Attention to the Past. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2008, March 10). Choices. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2007, June 18). “I Heard It through the Grapevine”: Professional Gossip and Music Therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2006, September 25). Experiencing and Sharing the Joy of Our Work. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2005, December). On Powerlessness. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2005, April 25). Our Language and Our Attitudes. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2004, November 8). Exchanging Ideas in Music Therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. L. (2004, May 10). How Do We Hear All of the Voices? Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. (2002, February 25). Reflections on the Importance of Music in Dealing with the Tragedies of September 11. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. (2001, September 24). The Various Problems with Language and Terminology. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
  • Wheeler, B. (2001, June 18). Expanding My Horizons. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.

 

World Congresses

In my later years of work with Voices, I was Interview Co-Editor. One of the things that I worked on was a series of interviews/articles about the World Congresses of Music Therapy, which were first held in 1974. I am pleased that this series is available. It provides some of the historical information that I think is so important. The last World Congress that I reported on was in 2002.

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As my music therapy interests and needs have evolved over the years, I have explored a variety of topics.

Dr. Barbara Wheeler