Bulgaria

For thousands of years, the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria have preserved Thracian heritage and as a part of it, the legend of Orpheus. He was a mythical ancient hero whose voice and mastery of the lyre touched all creatures and could heal through the power of music.

The history of music therapy in Bulgaria began with the establishment of the Bulgarian Association for Music Therapy (BAM) in the spring of 1995. The inspiration came to a group of specialists from different fields, convinced of the possibilities of psychological and rehabilitation work through music during American music therapist and psychodramatist Joseph Moreno’s macro-seminar in Sofia in December of 1994. The very beginning was set in the Daytime Outpatient Unit of the First Psychiatric Clinic at Medical Academy (Sofia). Moreno visited Bulgaria again in 2003 and 2009 for workshops.

In 1997 two members of the association, Liliya Ahtarova and Ljudmila Kraeva, took a training course at Nordoff and Robbins Music Therapy Centre in London, UK with the kind support of British Council. Later on one of the founders of the association, Irina Schlezinger, organized a training course in Music and Imagery (MI) and Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) designed and conducted by Frances Goldberg of San Francisco Art Therapy Institute between 1999 and 2004. Faculty comprised Frances Goldberg, Virginia Clarkson, Dag Körlin, Edith Maria Geiger and Irina Schlezinger (the latter on behalf of the Bulgarian side). Lecturers visited Bulgaria two or three times a year to provide seminars, individual sessions and supervision for the trainees. Four of their students, pioneers of the music therapy profession in the country graduated in June of 2004.     

BAM has organized five national conferences in music therapy between 2005 and 2022, and the sixth one is scheduled for the autumn of 2025. Through the years we had the honour to welcome international lecturers like Heidi Fausch-Pfister, Beate Roelcke and Corinne Galli (Switzerland), Dr. Elena Fitzthum (Austria), Stefano Navone (Italy), Angelica Postu (Romania) and others. These workshops have had major impact on the development of music therapy in Bulgaria.

The first Bulgarian graduates in music therapy abroad who returned home through the years to give workshops were: Sofia Russinova (Austria) in 1996, Lubka Müller (Germany) in 2007 аnd 2008, Milena Lascano (France) in 2010 and 2012.

„Music therapy is a scientific discipline in which music is being used for the achievement of non-musical goals. The main characteristics and qualities of music or musical pieces are being used in clinical rehabilitation or in psychological work for therapeutic goals.“ (Liliya Ahtarova)

The theoretical foundations of music therapy in Bulgaria are mostly psychotherapeutic within the frame of Jungian psychology and systemic schools. Nordoff and Robbins approach is the foundation of music therapy in clinical work. Most of the main theoretical approaches (psychodynamic, Jungian, behavioural, humanistic, existential-phenomenological and systemic) are represented in the training program at Music Therapy Institute-Sofia (MTI-Sofia).

There is no state recognition or any sort of legal regulation of music therapy as a profession in Bulgaria. So far the path of the recognition process has followed that of the recognition of psychotherapy. The project for a law of psychotherapy was created, refined and agreed upon amongst psychotherapy associations several years ago. Due to the complex and ever-changing political situation in Bulgaria, it still has not found its way to the parliament. Members of the association represent it in various forums, promoting music therapy as a new scientific discipline, and a profession established across Europe and the world. Fields of work for music therapists in Bulgaria include private practice, NGO-supported or daycare centres for children with special educational needs run by the state, schools and kindergartens, psychiatric care (mental health units) and elderly care.

The first music therapy training program in Bulgaria was officially approved by BAM in 2009 and administered by the association until the Music Therapy Institute-Sofia (MTI-Sofia) was established as an independent entity in 2013, after supervision on an organizational level by Swiss music therapist Heidi Fausch-Pfister, on behalf of the Schweizerischer Fachverband für Musiktherapie/Association Suisse de Musicothérapie (SFMT/ASMT).

The training is structured in three distinctive levels: Introductory, Basic and Specialized (primarily practical work under supervision). A full description of the program is available at: mtisbg.com

A complete list of publications (both original books and translations, articles and records) by BAM and its members in chronological order:

Books:

Moreno, Joseph. Acting Your Inner Music, 2005.  (Морено, Джоузеф. Да изиграеш музиката в теб, 2005).

A Compendium of Papers from the Second National Conference in Music Therapy, ed. by N.Vitanova, A.Tomov and M.Gorinova, 2007. (Сборник доклади от Втората национална конференция по музикотерапия, под редакцията на Н.Витанова, А. Томов и М. Горинова, 2007).

Fausch, Heidi. Music Therapy and Psychodrama: The Benefits of Integrating the Two Methods, 2011.

(Фауш-Пфистер, Хайди. Тъгата в сърцето: Музикотерапия и психодрама, 2011).

Petrova, Detelina. I – The Child in the Psychotherapeutic Space of Music Psychodrama, 2017.

(Петрова, Детелина. Аз – детето в психотерапевтичното пространство на музикалната психодрама, 2017).

Vitanova, Nadezhda. Psychotherapeutic Approaches in Music Therapy. Global Edit, 2019.

(Витанова, Надежда. Психотерапевтични подходи в музикотерапията. Global Edit, 2019).

Ahtarova, Liliya. Music Therapy – A Means for Depth Psychological Work (What is music therapy?). Global Edit, 2020.

(Ахтарова, Лилия. Музикотерапията – средство в психотерапията. Global Edit, 2020).

Music Therapy – Theory and Practice (a collection of articles), ed. by Liliya Ahtarova, 2021. (Музикотерапия – теория и практика (сборник), съставител Лилия Ахтарова, 2021.)

Articles:

Ahtarova, Liliya. Music Therapy After the 1960s and Dance and Movement in Depth Psychotherapy Psychotherapy: two articles from the collection Psychotherapy – Methods and Directions, ed. by prof. Hr. Hristozov, 2001.

(Музикотерапия след шейсетте години и Танц и движение в дълбинната психотерапия, две статии в Психотерапия – Методи и направления, под редакцията на проф. д-р Христо Христозов, 2001)

Ahtarova, Liliya. Bulgaria, an article in Approaches Special Issue Vol.7 (No.1): Music Therapy in Europe: Paths of Professional Development, ed. by Hanne Mette Ridder & Giorgos Tsiris in partnership with the European Music Therapy Confederation (EMTC), 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.56883/aijmt.2015.390

Ahtarova, Liliya. Music Therapy – An Overview and Main Approaches, an article from the collection Psychotherapeutic Approaches and Practices. Bulgarian Association for Psychotherapy, 2016.

(Ахтарова, Лилия. Музикотерапията – общ пoглед и основни подходи, cборник Психотерапевтични подходи и практики. Българска асоциация по психотерапия, 2016).

Music Releases:

A collection of songs designed for personal assistants of children with special educational needs and elderly people suffering from  dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Rainbow (CD1): Music for Interactive Work with Children   (Дъга 1: Помагало за интерактивна работа с деца)

Rainbow (CD2): Music for Interactive Work in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (Дъга 2: Помагало за интерактивна работа с хора с деменция и болест на Алцхаймер)

BAM was founded in 1995 and is the sole music therapy association in the country. It brings together professionals from various fields who are trained in music therapy: musicians, music educators, and various experts from the helping professions – psychologists, social workers, speech therapists, and medical practitioners. BAM has been a member association of the European Music Therapy Confederation (EMTC) since 2003 and the Bulgarian Association of Psychotherapy (BAP) since 2007. Currently, BAM has its fifth chairman in charge. One element of the association is Come Ye Sons Of Art, a chamber ensemble founded among BAM members in 2011, conductor – Jousef Gerdjikov. By performing concerts for various communities it is focused on the cultural engagement of a broad audience, including young, elderly (also by visiting their care homes) and handicapped people. So far the ensemble has won funding several times through Ministry of Culture projects and has been awarded diplomas for taking part in festivals for children with special needs.

Contact:

Bulgarian Association for Music Therapy

52 General Gurko Street

Sofia, Bulgaria

Tel: +359 2 9801387

E-Mail: bam@bulgarianmusictherapy.com

Website: bulgarianmusictherapy.com