Music Therapy Pet Peeves

Admit it, we all have them. We all have something or another that just plain old bugs us about music therapy, music therapists, and/or how our profession is viewed by others. Some of them are minor, others seem major, and yet others seem to be triggers for the types of behavior that we would never tolerate in others, but seem to feel comfortable with in ourselves...

Here are some of my pet peeves...in no particular order...and just the opinion of an over opinionated music therapist who strives to understand the world around her...

•  "Musical therapy" - This innocuous statement makes me outwardly cringe every time someone says it. I don't do therapy that is musical, I use music as the center of therapy. When someone uses the adjective rather than the noun to describe what I do, I feel like the person is focusing on the therapy more than the medium it is centered in. This is often just a misinterpretation about what it is I do and is often very innocent on the half of the person that is talking to me, but it puts my hackles up. I don't usually correct the person (that seems rude to me), but I do start to talk about how my therapeutic process is rooted in the music rather than adding music to the therapeutic process. Does that make sense to anyone other than me?
• "Volunteering" - I get really frustrated with job announcements that expect music therapists to volunteer in an organization. If you recognize that music therapy and a music therapist is important to the welfare and treatment of your clients/patients/consumers, then you need to pay for the services...not expect that people will flock to give their services away!
• "Do you want to do this? Okay, but I will only let you do that if you do this and this and this and this." - Seriously? If you ask someone to do something, then let them know about the requirements up front, before asking them to make a commitment. Don't ask for the commitment and then inform the person about the requirements that you have developed. When you act in a way that makes getting the first thing a condition of doing other things, you are bribing them or, worse, blackmailing them into doing what you want. 
• "If you use music in any way with any person, then you have to be a music therapist!" - This attitude frustrates me more than just about anything, and most of these reactions and responses come from music therapists! I am firmly in the camp that music, no matter who turns it on, can provide benefits and should be available to anyone who wants it. I have spoken to music therapists who get upset when the staff members who work with their clients turn on the radio. This seems beyond silly to me. I see nothing wrong with Music and Memory programs. I see nothing wrong with music for incidental learning. I see nothing wrong with tone music. Please don't call it music therapy (that's where it starts to be a problem for me), but feel free to use that music with people who want music to be a focus in their lives. There is a HUGE difference between what an iPod can do and what a competent music therapist can do with a piece of music and a client!
• "You aren't a TRUE music therapist unless you do music therapy the way I do music therapy." - Pllllllllbbbbbttttt! Music therapy should be focused on the client in the session, not the therapist providing the service. If I spend all of my time attempting to place my client into the mold of "client" that I've been taught about (rather than adjusting my own treatment model to accommodate that client), then I am doing the client a disservice. There isn't only one way to do music therapy. There is no perfect way to do music therapy, and my music therapy can be just as valid as your music therapy. What is most important is that the client receives benefit from the treatment, not that the treatment has a fancy name.
• And the biggie..."happy children making happy sounds in music therapy!" - Music therapy is an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is the "happy sounds." There is so much more that goes on within a music therapy session. I, as a music therapist, have a responsibility to educate others about what happens below the surface of things that can be seen within the session. It is difficult to convey, but if you try, you can start to educate those who cannot see. Don't get into a tilting windmills situation, but keep talking about what else is going on. Eventually people will listen and understand.

Highly opinionated, and very much my own list of music therapy pet peeves.