Donald WetherickGuildhall School of Music and Drama · Music Therapy
Donald Wetherick
BMus, MPhil, Dip MTh (Nordoff Robbins)
About
12
Publications
4,070
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14
Citations
Introduction
I am a practising music therapist and also teach on the MA Music Therapy programme at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. I am currently completing a PhD researching the performance and assessment of musicianship in music therapy training.
I am also a co-editor for the British Journal of Music Therapy and a former Chair of Trustees of the British Association for Music Therapy (2012-15).
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
November 2016 - present
September 2008 - present
September 2004 - present
Position
- Clinical Tutor in Music Therapy
Description
- Module Coordinator and Music Therapy Techniques Tutor (Year 1) Module Coordinator, Research Tutor and Supervisor, Clinical Supervisor (Year 2)
Education
January 2011 - July 2012
September 1991 - July 1992
September 1987 - July 1988
Publications
Publications (12)
Children with a Language Impairment frequently experience additional difficulties with social interaction, emotional regulation and self-esteem. This article illustrates some ways in which music therapy addresses these secondary effects of language impairment, using examples from small group music therapy with two boys aged 5 years with Mixed Expre...
Songs and singing games are a healthy part of young children's social, emotional and cognitive development. Such shared music making can facilitate and strengthen relationships between parents and children. Family health workers can encourage carers' informal uses of music with their children. In cases of developmental delay, disability, severe ill...
This paper is a version of a talk originally given at the 3rd International Symposium of Nordoff Robbins
Music Therapists in 2006. It is a personal account of my own development as a music therapist over
more than 15 years working with children and adults. It describes how I became interested in
psychodynamic music therapy and how my understanding...
Ansdell’s ‘Winds of Change’ paper articulated a distinction in UK music therapy between established ‘consensus’ practice drawing
on psychotherapeutic principles and developing or previously hidden ‘community music therapy’ practices based on ecological or
social-psychological principles. Writing that addresses different theoretical positions in mus...
This poster summarises the musical audition requirements and musicianship expectations of the seven UK music therapy programmes approved by the HCPC (at 2016). It also offers a descriptive analysis of the language used by programmes to describe musical skills.
Findings show that all programmes expect high levels of musical skill at admission, and...
Poster presented at the Nordoff Robbins Symposium on Music and Communication, June 2014.
Reviewed by Donald Wetherick Ockelford is passionate about music for people with special needs. He is not passionate about music therapy. This reminds music therapists that there are plenty of (non-music therapy) professionals who believe in the value of music for profoundly disabled people, and who are willing to engage in evidence-based studies s...
Projects
Project (1)
This project aims to gain a better understanding of how musicianship is understood, performed and assessed in relation to music therapy training by investigating the audition process for one UK training.
UK music therapy trainings routinely audition applicants as part of their admissions process and a high standard of ‘musicianship’ is normally expected. Information from training programmes and prospectuses, however, suggests that the nature of musicianship involved, and the ways of assessing it, may differ from those conventionally shown and assessed at other kinds of musical auditions.
It is hoped that the study will contribute to improving the admission process for the MA Music Therapy programme at Guildhall School and to the wider understanding of music therapy training in the UK generally. It will also contribute to a better understanding of musicianship and its assesment more generally.
