Understanding Humanistic Dimensions of Music Therapy: Editorial Introduction

With rare exception, the motive for becoming a music therapist is some combination of a personal relationship with music and a certain regard for humanity. To practice music therapy is to be vocationally centered in the arts, in the service of human wellbeing. Thus, while there are numerous theoretical orientations that inform music therapy models and methods, it is arguable that every form and expression of music therapy is, in some sense, humanistic. Music therapy, in all of its various manifestations, is informed by a fundamental relationship to other persons, within humanity. But what is a person, and what is humanity? There are questions of considerable importance for the music therapy field. The tradition of humanism, and the more recent, twentieth-century establishment of humanistic psychology, have sought to address questions about the nature of persons and humanity. Although there have been numerous variations in the ways humanism has manifested throughout its history, the core principles of humanism consist of (a) the uniqueness of the human and those disciplines that are uniquely human (i.e., the humanities); (b) the significance of individual identity; (c) the principles of logic, reason, and scientific realism; and (d) the pursuit and development of human virtue and benevolence (“Humanism,” 2016).