Music therapy as multiplicity: Implications for music therapy philosophy and theory

Introduction: The field of music therapy is diverse and complex. Authors have navigated such complexity in myriad ways, often to locate the field’s unique values and purposes. Ensuing orientations and models have been valuable, but do not encompass the entirety of current and future practices/practitioners. I introduce the multiplicity concept to highlight intricacies and promote opportunities.Method I re-envision Bruscia’s construction of music therapy as a multiplicity – an interactive relationship between art, science, and humanity – through the rigor of Gilles Deleuze’s multiplicity concept: (a) difference between and within, (b) the extensive and intensive, and (c) the actual and virtual through a range of examples and illustrations. I also note how the multiplicity of music engages with context (client, therapist, and environment), seeking to illustrate the potential for multiplicity to address our uniqueness in a more nuanced and dynamic fashion than is commonly presented.Results In order to show resonance and variation, I dialogue with historical and current concepts and perspectives employed in music therapy. A resultant conceptual edifice includes: processes that are multiple, outcomes that multiply, and options that allow one to decenter and pivot as needed in context. The unique dynamism of multiplicity allows us to engage in between the components of creativity, organization, and human relationship in new ways.Discussion The ideas I present here are not entirely new, but have rarely if ever been highlighted in this fashion. This re-envisioning of Bruscia’s multiplicity offers a unique, dynamic metatheoretical frame for the field to (re)consider current perspectives.