The 4th EMTC Conference took place in Leuven, Belgium in 1998.
In April 1997 there was a meeting of the EMTC in Lisbon, Portugal which included planning for the Leuven conference. Here are some extracts from the minutes of that meeting:
Jan van Camp is President of the next European Congress, and he opened the discussion with a short statement about the aims of the conference. He discussed the title they had chosen for the congress “Music and Therapy – a dialogue”, and their expectation to centre the orientation of the congress around the psychotherapeutic and psychodynamic approach in music therapy that is a central feature and philosophy of the University course in music therapy in Belgium. This is also a commonly found clinical and methodological approach in many European countries. This does not exclude papers reflecting other orientations.
Finance:
Belgium is a small country with a very young music therapy profession.
There is no reserve of money from the Belgium Music Therapy Association, and at this time no sponsorship.
The University and the Lemmens Institute are giving no money towards the congress. They will contribute facilities and meals at a reduced cost.
Jos de Backer is providing the initial start-up money (300,000 BF ≈ €7,440; ≈ €11,000–12,500 today), and is taking an obvious risk in committing his personal resources. This makes it very important that the congress is well-attended, and a success.
The tradition in European Congresses is that everyone pays registration and accommodation except for the invited keynote speakers. This includes the EMTC and the Scientific Committee.
It is the intention of the Congress to keep the costs as low as possible.
The costs at this time are proposed to be as follows:Registration: 13,000 BF (≈ €322; ≈ €500–550 today)
Students: 8,000 BF (≈ €198; ≈ €300–340 today)
Day Tickets: 4,500 BF (≈ €112; ≈ €170–190 today)Accommodation:
(average hotel) = 2,000 BF a day (≈ €50/day; ≈ €80–90 today)
very cheap accommodation is available for students (400 BF a night ≈ €10; ≈ €15–18 today)
At the time of the meeting, 110 abstracts had been received for consideration and it was decided to extend the deadline for submission to the 1st May. 60 papers and 25 rountables/workshops/seminars would be chosen from these submissions.
There was much intense discussion about the provision of translation. So much so, that Tony Wigram added an joke appendix to the minutes with recommendations for facilitating translation. Including all original spelling quirks and typos…
TRANSLATION FACILITIES:
ALL papers will be translated into Flemish and French.
German papers will be translated into Norwegian and Spanish
NO French papers will be translated, but a vocally improvised “interpretation” will be sung simultaneously.
People presenting papers written in English will be required to present their papers non-verbally. They can use Members of the audience for “mime role-play”
Italien presenters will be simultaneously translated into Italien, with consecutive translation into Serbo-Croat, Greek and Gaelic.
Southern European presenters will NOT be allowed the use of their hands while presenting, to avoid unnecessary confusion.
Middle and Northern European presenters WILL be encouraged to gesture, wave their arms and periodically kiss members of the audience to stimulate group discussion.
NOTE TO TRANSLATERS:
Translators are advised to be over the legal alcohol limit (circa 125 microgrammes) BEFORE translating papers, as research has found this to generally improve quality and humour in translation.
WARNING TO PRESENTERS:
Belgium translators OFTEN mispronounce the word “music” as “MURDER” – SO PLEASE don,t be put off if you hear them refer to your work as “murder therapy”, and talk about the “murderous relationship” between client and therapist.
Read the full minutes of the Lisbon meeting here.
We only have photographs of the cover of the programme and book of abstracts, but hope that one day someone will send us the actual contents…
And this is the only photograph we have…
