MU-BEING: MUSIC THERAPY WITH YOUNG PEOPLE FROM MULTICULTURAL BACKGROUNDS IN SOUTH KOREA

Abstract

This study began with reflective questions regarding the fundamental meaning of music therapy in a multicultural context. The purpose of this study is to explore how music therapy can support the well-being of young people from multicultural backgrounds, how young people and their communities experience music therapy, and what role the therapist’s beliefs, values, and attitudes play in the process. Five young people participated in ‘Mu-Being,’ a music therapy programme developed from the values of Person-Centred Practice and an understanding of the unique contexts of young people and their community. A multimethod based on a multi-paradigmatic approach, consistent with the project’s motivating values and ideas evolved: it included measuring multidimensional well-being, interpretive phenomenological process guided by lifeworld existentials, and arts-based work. The improvement in the social aspects of well-being highlights the role of music therapy practice in challenging and unprecedented contexts. Young people’s music, histories, and the ways in which they participated played a key role in collaboratively developing the conditions for flourishing. Mu-Being facilitated a safe, creative space for young people to experiment and integrate their identities and needs, a transcendent time to cross various existential boundaries, and transformative relationships through shared musical experiences with the local community. Reflective music composition as a way of knowing demonstrated the potential of music to explore aspects of experience that are difficult to identify through numbers and text. The project places music therapy practice at the intersection of well-being theory, personcentred practice framework, and arts-based inquiry, and its transdisciplinary nature fosters multifaceted discussions and resources that can contribute to the development of programmes encompassing the authentic voices of young people and their context; offers an understanding of how person-centredness can be realised in practice; demonstrates how data from various sources can be used together to explore music therapy experiences and their impact.