Combining Our Voices

The paper explores professional research collaboration through the shared experiences of two music therapists. The authors describe their individual journeys and also discuss how their partnership affected their professional growth and identities. They emphasize how clinical research is driven by observations and questions, and discuss the elements of a successful partnership. The narrative weaves together the authors’ ideas through short segments in which each author addresses the evolution of their working relationship. This format is, in itself, an example of the collaborative process. The authors present their research, as it unfolded, based on the first author’s clinical experience as a music therapist in cardiac rehabilitation and the second author’s research expertise. Their collaboration resulted in a feasibility trial of music therapy in cardiac rehabilitation and launched a rich research agenda, as exemplified by numerous publications. They share how their identities as clinical researchers developed and fed their career trajectories. The paper offers guidelines related to the intersection of music therapy practice and clinical research, as well as a model of successful and fruitful collaboration.