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With the advent of video conferencing and emailing, it is important to remember the importance of physically being in a space; of observing, listening, and feeling what is happening in a situation. This was paramount in understanding the work that Note-Able Music Therapy Services is doing.
In order to learn about music therapy in general, Impact reviewed relevant literature, Note-Able Music Therapy Services' internal documents and webpage, and interviewed the director and staff. This provided a general idea of what impacts music therapy is intended to have.
However, as has been addressed in previous Impact newsletters, the perspective of our work is "Studying Up" (Laura Nader). We can't know the success or failure of a project if we don't understand how it is impacting the unit of study. In this case, the unit of study was individuals who are receiving music therapy. It was therefore imperative that we observe music therapy sessions in real time. This allowed us to better understand the nuances of the interactions between participants with peers and interactions between participants and therapists. We were able to observe expressions of frustration or joy, self-directed action or control, etc.
Margo, Impact's principal, is an Applied Cultural Anthropologist. Anthropologists employ several methods of fieldwork, some of which include:
Participant Observation involves the anthropologist imbedding themselves in the event taking place as though they were just like any other participant. In the case of Note-Ables Music Therapy, this would involve singing, dancing or playing an instrument just like all of the other participants. This provides an etic, or insider's, perspective.
Non-Participant Observation involves entering the event or social situation but acting more as a "fly on the wall" rather than as an active participant. This provides an emic, or outsider's, perspective.
Ethnography is the gold standard in anthropological research and involves full immersion in a culture for a sustained period of time (usually a year or longer). Unfortunately, due to time and financial constraints, a full ethnography is not typically a viable method outside of academic settings.
As with all research methods, there are benefits and drawbacks to each of these. And this is not an exhaustive list.
Impact utilized a hybrid of participant and non-participant observation for their work with Note-Able Music Therapy. This was primarily non-participation observation, but when participants were asked to describe how they felt that day using one word, Margo contributed her own relatively neutral word. She did not dance or sing or play an instrument. In this way the participants felt more comfortable and less "observed" but the trajectory of the therapy session was not noticeably altered by Margo's presence.
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