Prof. Dr. Gunter Kreutz
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Institute of Music | Administration
International Office
Institute of Music | Professor, Instructor
Prof. Dr. Gunter Kreutz
Music, health and wellbeing in the 21st century - prospects and challenges
The current stream of multiple crises has created a climate of uncertainties in the light of deteriorating living conditions in nearly all parts of the world. The increasing levels of anxiety and depression that has been noted in many countries calls for strategies that enable individuals to enhance their levels of wellbeing and resilience in the light of seemingly ever-increasing exogenous pressures. Self-efficacy, for example, has been identified as one key psychological mechanism for health and wellbeing. In my talk, I will discuss some of the issues that have emerged during the recent pandemic, which has had and still has profound negative consequences across the creative sector. I will also highlight the important role of structured leisure activities in childhood and adolescence and their association with individual self-efficacy. I conclude that arts education, in general, and music education, in particular, may significantly improve life perspectives for generations and enable them to pursue their goals within and beyond the realm of music.
Instructor
Prof. Dr. Gunter Kreutz
University of Oldenburg // Germany
Prof. Dr. Gunter Kreutz studied in Marburg, Berlin, and San Francisco, received his doctorate from the University of Bremen, habilitated at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, and has taught systematic musicology at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg since 2008. Psychological, physical, and social meanings of music-making, singing, and dancing among laypeople are at the forefront of his research interests. He is the author and editor of numerous professional publications as well as two non-fiction books. Finally, he is a member of various associations, e.g., German Society for Music Psychology (DGM), European Society for Music Perception and Cognition (ESCOM), reviewer for numerous journals, and founding editor of the online journal Music Performance Research. His research has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).