OCMT 2016

Dr. Pavlicevic is a music therapist of international stature. Trained in Nordoff Robbins music Therapy in London, UK, she completed her doctoral studies at the University of Edinburgh, working with Colwyn Trevarthen at the Department of Psychology. Her doctoral studies developed the Music Interaction Rating Scales (Schizophrenia), underpinned by her theory of Dynamic Form, based on therapist-client co-improvisation.  Her best known books are Music Therapy in Context, Groups in Music, and Music Therapy: Intimate Notes; and, together with Gary Ansdell,Beginning Research in the Arts Therapies, and Community Music Therapy. Her books and articles have been translated into several languages, and have contributed to the development of music therapy theory and research; and have opened doors to a broader conceptualising of music therapy – especially as a result of her work in South Africa.  Professor Pavlicevic has been Director of Research at the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Centre in London for the past 10 years, and before this, was director of the Master’s in Music Therapy programme at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa. She continues to work in South Africa as well as in the UK, and has more recently been developing work in the Lebanon. She is also Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, where she has taught on the Masters’ Programme in Music and International Development. Mercédès is passionate about music’s power to change lives; and has an ongoing fascination with the interminable complexities around ‘telling the story’ about music therapy – especially where dominant discourses and local practices do not sit comfortably alongside one another.