So, the flap on the listserv has gone from NAMT/AAMT to male/female. Interesting how email cannot always convey the intention of the authors. Sarcasm and snark often translates into personal attacks and hurt feelings. A very good reason not to participate, in my opinion.
There are many different ways of viewing the current issues and discussions that are happening on the music therapy listserv right now. I have come to the conclusion that the actual discussion is going on on many different levels. We are arguing apples and oranges. Some of it is a pity party - poor, poor, pitiful me. I am a member of the minority and feel like my opinions are right but ignored. Some of it is a mutual admiration society - poor us. We are the persecuted ones. Let's get together and secede from the Association. Some of it is like North Korea - nobody is actually paying attention to what is going on with us, so we will threaten something drastic so everyone will have to pay attention to us, by golly!
Music therapists are a strange lot. We spend lots of time trying to justify the importance of our form of therapy to administrators and consumers. We feel passionate about the power of music as a therapeutic agent and want others to recognize and feel the power for themselves. We have spent our entire professional history fighting for a place in different treatment modalities. Often considered frivolous, music therapy is generally the first form of therapy to be deleted from treatment. As a result, we have to constantly prove ourselves to the bean counters and the decision-makers.
As music therapists, our job is often defined by the persons we treat. My job as a pediatric therapist for clients with psychiatric and developmental concerns is much different from the job my friend has working with children in an acute care setting. The common ground that we have is music. That is really all. We may not use music the same way, may not view the effect of music on the brain of our clients the same, or even agree which musical forms are the "best" for our clients, but we agree that music is a powerful treatment modality.
There are just as many ways to practice music therapy as there are music therapy practitioners. There are about as many philosophical foundations for music therapy. Why do we need to have "one unifying theory" to unite us? I think it is good to have different ideas, different philosophies, and different songs to sing. The basic thing that we, as therapists, should agree upon is that music can be used as a tool to change people. There are ways to see what happens in the brain. This is a fact rather than a supposition. Does the power of music therapy decrease when we are unable to know exactly how the brain is reacting to the process? I don't think so, but there are some who do. I cannot feel that the power of music therapy is decreased because I am unable to see inside the brains of the children I work with, but I do find that knowledge of brain interaction increases my marketability with administrators. In addition, knowledge of improvisation techniques and psychodynamic interpretations of music production increase my repertoire when working with clients.
I guess, in all of this, I'm asking, what does it matter if I am a behavioral therapist or a psychodynamic therapist? I am a music therapist. This means that I use music to affect change for my clients. I am dedicated to the idea of using music to affect this change. I respect the ways that others use music to affect change.
I have always felt that dissatisfaction with the status quo indicates several things for me. If you are miserable in a particular situation, either leave the situation or stand up and fight for a change. Life is too short to feel disgruntled. Be the force of change if you are not happy. Establish a journal that offers information that you are interested in reading. Present at conference on the topics that interest you. If you are interested, others will be as well. You will rarely accomplish anything by bad-mouthing people who hold different ideas than you. You will only cause them to build up their arguments and entrench in their positions, insisting that you are wrong. So, be the force for positive change. Find a way that you can be the source of change. If you are complaining, then do something productive instead of wallowing in your self-pity party.
Here is my challenge for change - Find your passion and follow it. Be active. Stop wallowing and make a difference.
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