Mary Priestley
Mary Priestley | |
---|---|
Born | (1925-03-04)4 March 1925 London, England |
Died | 11 June 2017(2017-06-11) (aged 92) London, England |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Music therapist |
Known for | Development of Analytic Music Therapy |
Notable work | Music Therapy in Action |
Mary Priestley (4 March 1925 – 11 June 2017) was a British music therapist. She was credited for development of Analytical Music Therapy, a synthesis of psychoanalytic theory and music therapy. Drawing on the theories of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Melanie Klein, analytic music therapy involves the use of musical improvisation to interpret unconscious processes.[1][2][3]
Life
Born 4 March 1925 in England, she was the premarital child of English playwright and author, J. B. Priestley, and mother Jane Wyndham-Lewis. Her father was a vocalist skilled at playing by ear while her mother was a trained pianist. Priestley studied piano, violin, and composition in her youth. Her battle with bipolar disorder resulted in psychiatric hospitalizations throughout her life and may be said[by whom?] to have given her insights into psychoanalysis through the combination of verbal processing and nonverbal expression found in improvised music with a structured, purposeful framework. Her interest in music therapy was sparked upon hearing a lecture by music therapist Juliette Alvin.
In the early 1970s, Priestley met weekly with colleagues Marjorie Wardle and Peter Wright to experiment with therapeutic techniques using improvised music. They practiced the experimental techniques on one another, basing the work on their own emotional issues and on the issues of institutionalized adult psychiatric patients they were working with at St Bernard's Hospital, Hanwell. Their aim was to better understand and meet the therapeutic needs of patients by experiencing music therapy themselves. Their sessions led to the development of the improvisational approach to music psychotherapy called Analytical Music Therapy.[4]
Priestley continued to refine and develop her approach. In 1975 she published Music Therapy in Action, subsequently lecturing and educating others in her method. Temple University (Philadelphia) has created an archive of Priestley's published writings, along with those of others on the topic of Analytical Music Therapy. Also included are her personal/clinical diaries and audiotapes of clinical work with approximately 75 clients, spanning the period of 1971 to 1990.
Publications
- Music therapy in action. London: Constable, 1975; new ed. St. Louis, MO: MMB Music, 1985. ISBN 0-918-81232-1.
- The meaning of music. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 4(1). 1983/1995
- Essays on analytical music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona.5, 1994. ISBN 0-962-40802-6
- with Eschen, J. T. (2002). Analytical music therapy: Origin and development. In J. T. Eschen (Ed.), Analytical music therapy (pp. 11–16). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
About
- Bunt, L. (2004). Mary Priestley interviewed by Leslie Bunt. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 4(2). doi:10.15845/voices.v4i2.180
References
- ^ Nordic Journal of Music Therapy: Exploring Relationships Between Mary Priestley's Life and Work (Abstract) Archived March 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Priestley, Mary (1985). Music therapy in action. St. Louis, MO: MMB Music.
- ^ Priestley, Mary (1994). Essays on analytical music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
- ^ Cooper, Michelle L. (2011). A Musical Analysis of How Mary Priestley Implemented the Techniques She Developed for Analytical Music Therapy (Temple University), pp. 2–3
External links
- Interview in Voices Magazine
- v
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- Adam in Moonshine (1927)
- Benighted (1927)
- Farthing Hall (1929 with Hugh Walpole)
- The Good Companions (1929)
- Angel Pavement (1930)
- Faraway (1932)
- I'll Tell You Everything (1932 with Gerald Bullett)
- Wonder Hero (1933)
- They Walk in the City: The Lovers in the Stone Forest (1936)
- The Doomsday Men (1938)
- Let the People Sing (1939)
- Blackout in Gretley (1942)
- Daylight on Saturday (1943)
- Three Men in New Suits (1945)
- Bright Day (1946)
- Jenny Villiers (1947)
- Festival at Farbridge (1951)
- Low Notes on a High Level (1954)
- The Magicians (1954)
- Saturn Over the Water (1961)
- The Shapes of Sleep (1962)
- Sir Michael & Sir George (1964)
- Lost Empires (1965)
- Salt Is Leaving (1966)
- It's an Old Country (1967)
- London End (1968)
- Out Of Town (1968)
- Snoggle (1971)
- Found, Lost, Found (1976)
- "The Town Major of Miracourt" (1930)
- The Other Place (1953)
- The Carfitt Crisis (1974)
- Time Plays series
- The Good Companions (1931)
- Dangerous Corner (1932)
- The Roundabout (1932)
- Eden End (1934)
- Laburnum Grove (1934)
- Cornelius (1935)
- Duet in Floodlight (1935)
- Bees on the Boat Deck (1936)
- Time and the Conways (1937)
- I Have Been Here Before (1937)
- People at Sea (1937)
- Mystery of Greenfingers (1937)
- Music at Night (1938)
- When We Are Married (1938)
- Johnson Over Jordan (1939)
- The Long Mirror (1940)
- Goodnight Children (1942)
- They Came to a City (1943)
- Desert Highway (1944)
- An Inspector Calls (1945)
- Ever Since Paradise (1946)
- The Long Mirror (1947)
- The Rose and Crown (1947)
- The Linden Tree (1947)
- Home Is Tomorrow (1949)
- Summer Day's Dream (1949)
- Bright Shadow (1950)
- Dragon's Mouth (1952)
- Mother's Day (1953)
- Private Rooms (1953)
- Treasure on Pelican (1953)
- The White Countess (1954)
- Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon (1955)
- The Glass Cage (1957)
- The Chapman of Rhymes (1918)
- Sing As We Go (1934)
- Jamaica Inn (1939)
- Britain at Bay (1940)
- Last Holiday (1950)
- Brief Diversions (1922)
- Papers from Lilliput (1922)
- Open House (1927)
- Self-selected Essays (1932)
- English Journey (1934)
- Midnight on the Desert (1937 autobiography)
- We Live In Two Worlds (1937 documentary)
- Rain Upon Godshill (1939 autobiography)
- British Women Go To War (1943)
- Margin Released (1962 autobiography)
- Man and Time (1964)
- The Edwardians (1970)
- Over The Long High Wall (1972)
- Particular Pleasures (1975)
- Instead Of The Trees (1977 autobiography)
- The Old Dark House (1932 film)
- The Good Companions (1933 film)
- An Inspector Calls (1954 film)
- Angel Pavement (1957 TV series)
- The Good Companions (1957 film)
- The Old Dark House (1963 film)
- Out of the Unknown: "Level Seven" (1966 sci-fi series)
- Angel Pavement (1967 TV series)
- An Inspector Calls (1982 film)
- Lost Empires (1986)
- An Inspector Calls (2015 film)
- Jacquetta Hawkes (third wife)
- Mary Priestley (daughter)