Ep 18 Gary Ansdell

Music Therapy Conversations

Professor Gary Ansdell has been a music therapist for thirty years, working mostly in the area of adult mental health in the last decade, and currently in late-life care settings. He has been involved in a wide range of areas of music therapy practice, and in developing the Community Music Therapy movement. Gary has also been active in training and research, developing new Masters and PhD programmes for Nordoff Robbins, where he was Director of Education (2008-15). He has published widely in the areas of music therapy and music and health and is author/co-author of seven books on music therapy, the latest of which include How Music Helps: In Music Therapy & Everyday Life (2014) and with Tia DeNora Musical Pathways in Recovery: Community Music Therapy & Mental Wellbeing (2016). His longterm collaboration with the music sociologist Tia DeNora has led to their joint editorship of the new book series Music and Change for Ashgate Publishers.

Gary currently works as an independent music therapy practitioner, consultant and scholar, and is an Associate of Nordoff Robbins, UK, where he is Convenor of the MPhil/PhD programme. He is also an honorary Professor in the department of sociology, philosophy and anthropology at Exeter University and Adjunct Professor in Music Therapy at the University of Limerick.

Gary talks about Mercédès Pavlicevic in this interview. He also talks about different approaches to music therapy, and we address some controversies, including Gary’s much discussed concept of the ‘consensus model’ in music therapy, and the perceived dichotomy between music-centred and psychodynamic music therapy.