Abstract

This study begins from the observation that there is almost a complete absence of research studies in Music Therapy that address the salient elements of creative clinical practice. The most important questions to the practicing clinician--such as the source of the Music Therapist's clinical music and the interaction between the meaning of this music and therapeutic growth--are ones that the prevailing, traditional research philosophy is not prepared to illuminate. The result is a schism between research and practice that renders this research irrelevant to the majority of working clinicians. ;Since, it is argued, research exists to serve clinical practice, the present author advocates for the establishment of a new conceptual foundation for research that will ensure its relevancy to actual clinical practice. There are four components to this task addressed in this study: the philosophy of science guiding traditional research is explicated; next, a theory-neutral portrait of creative clinical practice is presented; the traditional philosophy is then critiqued in terms of its adequacy for investigating clinical practice; and lastly, a new conceptual foundation is offered that will support research efforts geared to uncovering the inner mechanisms of creative clinical practice