The Oxford Handbook of Queer and Trans Music Therapy

Abstract

Abstract The Oxford Handbook of Queer and Trans Music Therapy is a celebration of LGBTQIA+ identities and the spontaneous creativity that is at the heart of queer music-making. The chapters are written by both established and emerging scholars in the field. Queer and trans music therapy (QTMT) looks to expand the boundaries of music therapy, acknowledging the vital role of queer, trans, bisexual, and gender nonconforming therapists and their allies in the creation and promotion of relevant trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and social justice-based theories, and approaches. QTMT explores academic and artistic performances of therapy through text, images, video and audio illustrations that highlight the immediacy of music within these contexts. Further, the intersectional identities of authors create an authenticity that is at the heart of the book. Through case examples, theoretical meditations, research, and authors’ personal responses to their work, QTMT invites new ways of considering music therapy through the lens of LGBTQIA+ therapists and their allies. The book opens with Cantos Nuevos, a specially commissioned composition, performed and recorded by the internationally acclaimed choir VOCES8. This work presents a musical opening, an alternative to the norms of a written foreword. It can be seen as an example of fore-musicking, where music itself creates an opening context for words. The handbook is structured into six parts: Historical Contexts; Practice; Education and Supervision; Theory, Philosophy, and Musicology; Research; and Identity, Advocacy, and Activism.