Advocacy
How do we let others know about the importance of music therapy?
We music therapists do not always do a very good job of letting people know why we are more qualified to use music as a therapeutic medium than the other folks out there. We aren't always articulate enough about what we can do that others cannot.
For me, as evidenced in my most recent post, this all comes down to an awareness of the therapeutic elements of our medium - music.
How can I be an appropriate advocate for music therapy in any environment if I do not understand my medium?
I hope that music therapy students have a chance to think about why it is important to change the tempo of a song to engage their clients' attention. In my experience, we often get out of our initial training as music therapists with very little opportunity to think about the crucial elements of our music. My interns often do not seem to be aware of the needs of their clients when presenting singing TMEs (therapeutic music experiences) - they are so focused on getting the song done that they are not even aware that they would have more client interaction if they slowed their tempo. How can that be??
Here is my current train of thought...
We need to constantly think about why we use the music that we use with our clients. We need to think about why we present the music the way we do in our sessions. We need to be able to identify all of the various ways that we can and do adapt all the music that we present to best assist our clients in reaching their therapeutic goals. Our choices of pitch, keys, tempo, rhythm, melody, lyrics, mode, harmony, timbre, instrumentation, and all the other elements of music must become conscious choices - we need to tell others that we chose the tempo of our TME specifically to allow our clients to sing with us - to provide them with the time to coordinate their oral motor function with their language centers and cognitive processing. We have to know that the value of us, as therapists, is that we can manipulate music in order to get our clients to their goals.
Now, I am fortunate to work in a facility that has had a music therapist on staff for the past 40 years. While I do not feel that my current supervisor has a good or even clear idea about what I do, the President of the facility and my supervisor's supervisors realize that there is so much more to music therapy than playing a CD or a guitar.
When I am asked, I fall back on the therapeutic effect of music on the behavior of my clients. I talk about changes in the music which seem to cause specific changes in observable behavior of my group members or my individuals. I try to demonstrate that there is so much more to what I do than what is seen on the surface.
Happy kids making happy sounds is just the tip of the iceberg...
We music therapists do not always do a very good job of letting people know why we are more qualified to use music as a therapeutic medium than the other folks out there. We aren't always articulate enough about what we can do that others cannot.
For me, as evidenced in my most recent post, this all comes down to an awareness of the therapeutic elements of our medium - music.
How can I be an appropriate advocate for music therapy in any environment if I do not understand my medium?
I hope that music therapy students have a chance to think about why it is important to change the tempo of a song to engage their clients' attention. In my experience, we often get out of our initial training as music therapists with very little opportunity to think about the crucial elements of our music. My interns often do not seem to be aware of the needs of their clients when presenting singing TMEs (therapeutic music experiences) - they are so focused on getting the song done that they are not even aware that they would have more client interaction if they slowed their tempo. How can that be??
Here is my current train of thought...
We need to constantly think about why we use the music that we use with our clients. We need to think about why we present the music the way we do in our sessions. We need to be able to identify all of the various ways that we can and do adapt all the music that we present to best assist our clients in reaching their therapeutic goals. Our choices of pitch, keys, tempo, rhythm, melody, lyrics, mode, harmony, timbre, instrumentation, and all the other elements of music must become conscious choices - we need to tell others that we chose the tempo of our TME specifically to allow our clients to sing with us - to provide them with the time to coordinate their oral motor function with their language centers and cognitive processing. We have to know that the value of us, as therapists, is that we can manipulate music in order to get our clients to their goals.
Now, I am fortunate to work in a facility that has had a music therapist on staff for the past 40 years. While I do not feel that my current supervisor has a good or even clear idea about what I do, the President of the facility and my supervisor's supervisors realize that there is so much more to music therapy than playing a CD or a guitar.
When I am asked, I fall back on the therapeutic effect of music on the behavior of my clients. I talk about changes in the music which seem to cause specific changes in observable behavior of my group members or my individuals. I try to demonstrate that there is so much more to what I do than what is seen on the surface.
Happy kids making happy sounds is just the tip of the iceberg...
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