Music therapy trios with child, parent and therapist: A preliminary qualitative single case study

There is an increasing body of literature within music therapy that describes the possible benefits of parental involvement in music therapy sessions with a child. This article describes a preliminary study into existing music therapy practice in this area within an NHS Child Development Service. The qualitative study, using video elicitation interviews, investigates a single music therapy trio of child, parent and therapist, exploring the ways in which the parent and therapist describe their experiences of music therapy. A thematic analysis of the interview data demonstrates that the music therapy trio of child, parent, and therapist, is experienced by the parent and therapist as a fluid, dynamic web of musical and interpersonal relationships, rather than a fixed entity. Within this emergent network, individuals, pairs and the triad itself assume greater or lesser significance at different points.