5 Things About Music Therapy I Wish Everyone In The World Knew

Ah. Music Therapy Advocacy. One of those things that every music therapist has to do as a regular part of his/her job on an almost daily basis. It is an important part of our profession, but that doesn't keep me from wanting to make things a bit easier for us all.

I wish that other people knew some facts (and my opinions) about music therapy to make the job of all music therapists just a bit easier.

1. Music therapy is more than just listening to music. Anyone can make music. Anyone can turn on an iPod for someone to listen to. Anyone can sing or dance or play a drum, but simply doing these things does not mean that just anyone is doing music therapy. Music therapy requires more than just listening to music. Music therapists have education and training in how to apply music and elements of music to support and assist clients in making progress towards specific, targeted personal goals. How we do this is centered in our education in psychology, physiology, anatomy, sociology, pedagogy, and music theory.
2. Music therapy clients use this therapeutic modality for all types of things. The goals of clients vary from person to person. One client might want to use music to assist in pain modulation. Another client might use music therapy to learn patterns for daily living tasks. Yet another client might use music therapy for sensory integration development. There is no such thing as a "typical" music therapy client. This is one of the challenges that we music therapists have when we are trying to explain what we do to others. I use music as a therapeutic modality with children and adolescents with developmental and psychiatric concerns. What I do with my clients varies from what another music therapist does with a different client population.
3. Music therapy is difficult to define. There is an official definition, of course, but it is not really all that easy to understand or to explain to others. (Check out the official definition of music therapy here.) Since music therapy clients use music to accomplish many different types of goals and objectives, it is difficult to find a description of what music therapy is for every person. As a result, we often spend lots of time describing what we do with our particular client populations rather than something that all music therapists have in common.
4. Music therapy treatment often looks like it's just plain old fun, (It is) but there is much more going on than just plain old fun. One of the best things about music is that it enriches experiences and makes work seem less difficult. A music therapist, however, doesn't simply turn music on and see if anything happens. Music therapists use music as their therapeutic modality and tool. Music therapists make decisions about how to present the music present in a session. All of those decisions are made through consideration of the client or clients present in the session and the basics of the effect of music on human systems.
5. There is no such thing as a magical tone or song. There is no universal thing in music that will get every person to a specific outcome. If someone states that their tone programs will cure anything, they are not offering anything more than music. Research has not shown that these things actually exist. We know, music therapists and music psychologist and music neurologists have researched these claims and have not found anything to support the claims.

At this point right now, anyone out in the world can make a claim to do music therapy. Music therapists, however, have education, training, and board certification as their foundation. If you are ever wondering if someone is a music therapist, ask to see copies of their board certification, education, and membership in professional associations or communities.

Keep moving forward, fellow music therapists. Advocate calmly, professionally, and in a way that accepts the contributions of all who are interested in the use of music for non-musical goal attainment. It is better than it was before (believe me, I know!), and it will continue to get better, but the end goal has not been achieved yet. Keep going.