ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book is written to the music therapist as well as to any student of music, health, and social life. It offers a range of case studies that may explore localized processes of health musicing and suggest concepts and perspectives that may clarify possibilities and limitations of musical community in the service of health. The book presents the main findings produced in a collaborative research project funded by The Research Council of Norway. It explores the projects and contexts where professional skills in tandem with lay initiatives make health-promoting musical collaboration possible. The book considers community music therapy as one voice in a broader multi-disciplinary dialogue on the relationships between the musical and the social in human life. Community music therapy is controversial in some music therapy circles, since it may involve some substantial rethinking of music therapy theory and practice.
