Music Creation as a Tool for Postpartum Mothers

Abstract

This dissertation uses Artistic Practice as Research to investigate the potential use of music creation as a tool for mothers with postpartum depression (PPD), incorporating my own experiences as a composer and mother with PPD through retrospective autoethnography, and culminating in the creation of a new music composition. To inform this work, I conducted an analysis of research into music-based therapies for postpartum depression, which revealed gaps, as well as inconsistent use of terms and practices. This dissertation argues that active music creation deserves further study as a distinct form of music-based intervention and identifies maternal self-efficacy and functional connectivity as pathways for further investigation. I developed a method of teaching music creation to postpartum mothers, combining principles of Neurologic Music Therapy, music pedagogy, and compositional practices, and conducted an exploratory case study with one mother. Using the same method, I created a new musical piece to process and artistically communicate my own past experiences with PPD. By investigating interdisciplinary connections between neuroscience, pedagogy, and artistic practice, this dissertation explores a music creation-based therapeutic approach centered on maternal lived experience, and identifies directions for future empirical research.