Foreword by the president of the European Music Therapy Confederation

On behalf of the European Music Therapy Confederation, I want to address my sincere appreciation to the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy (NJMT) and to the Viennese EMTC2016 Organising Committee for this printed collection of scientific conference abstracts that you have in your hands (or the electronic version on your device). Thanks to the collaboration between the NJMT and the EMTC2016 Local Organising Committee it has been possible – for the first time in the history of European Music Therapy Congresses – to present refereed conference proceedings in affiliation with a well-established, high-quality international publisher. This is an important step in the quality assurance of the music therapy profession and an important step in developing the music therapy discipline.

There are several advantages in making accessible published conference proceedings. We have better possibilities for sharing clinical and scientific work in progress as well as final results and theoretical ideas. This is how we develop a rich field embracing a variety of perspectives in the understanding of the use of music in human life. In addition, this is how we open up to other fields and encourage interdisciplinarity.

I am impressed to see the high quality of abstracts and to see so many countries participating in sharing their work with colleagues. Without these valuable contributions, these proceedings would not have existed, and from the European Music Therapy Confederation, I therefore direct my sincere thanks to all contributors. It is a pleasure to celebrate the 10th European Music Therapy Conference with this publication supplement of the NJMT.