Thinking about Music Therapy
What is music therapy?
When you really start to think about that question, you find that there are any number of answers to what appears to be an easy conversation starter. In the almost 19 years that I have proudly worn the title of Music Therapist-Board Certified, I have pondered this particular question many, MANY times.
I have never really come up with one answer to this question. Music therapy treatment is often only linked by the fact that there is a client, a therapist, and music present. A music therapy session led by me, using music common to many of my clients, will be completely changed by the client present. In addition, the therapeutic process is changed by things I bring into the session, things that the client brings into the session, and by the music itself.
It is interesting, isn't it?
How do you define something that exists in a moment? How do you define something that changes all the time?
I think this is one of the fundamental difficulties of music therapy as a therapeutic profession. Music therapy is not something that can be scripted into a predictable outcome every time. We can make some educated guesses, but the music itself is not a prescription. I think the difficulty that we have getting the recognition that we often want is that we cannot define ourselves in concrete facts or terms. It is apparent to most people who know a client and see the client in a music therapy session that music therapy is a valid treatment process that encourages engagement and interaction as well as growth toward targeted goals. It is not apparent to many others and is often not easily replicated, unfortunately.
So, music therapy with client "Q" is completely different from music therapy with client "Z."
Please don't feel that this is a criticism of music therapy - it really is not, in my humble opinion. It is one of the benefits. I am pleased to be in a profession where I can engage a client with a diagnosis of Asperger's in an Orff instrument improvisation for 30 minutes, and then move into a session with an adolescent centered around emotional expression and songwriting. I am also proud that I am equipped to work with many different people in many different settings on many different goals and objectives.
Every so often, folks on the music therapy listserv start a discussion about defining music therapy. We often end up in a heated exchange about what we should include in the definition. I think that the lack of ONE definition is one of the things that makes music therapy continue as a profession - we can be many things to many people, and we often are!
Bravo, fellow music therapists! Sing your song!
When you really start to think about that question, you find that there are any number of answers to what appears to be an easy conversation starter. In the almost 19 years that I have proudly worn the title of Music Therapist-Board Certified, I have pondered this particular question many, MANY times.
I have never really come up with one answer to this question. Music therapy treatment is often only linked by the fact that there is a client, a therapist, and music present. A music therapy session led by me, using music common to many of my clients, will be completely changed by the client present. In addition, the therapeutic process is changed by things I bring into the session, things that the client brings into the session, and by the music itself.
It is interesting, isn't it?
How do you define something that exists in a moment? How do you define something that changes all the time?
I think this is one of the fundamental difficulties of music therapy as a therapeutic profession. Music therapy is not something that can be scripted into a predictable outcome every time. We can make some educated guesses, but the music itself is not a prescription. I think the difficulty that we have getting the recognition that we often want is that we cannot define ourselves in concrete facts or terms. It is apparent to most people who know a client and see the client in a music therapy session that music therapy is a valid treatment process that encourages engagement and interaction as well as growth toward targeted goals. It is not apparent to many others and is often not easily replicated, unfortunately.
So, music therapy with client "Q" is completely different from music therapy with client "Z."
Please don't feel that this is a criticism of music therapy - it really is not, in my humble opinion. It is one of the benefits. I am pleased to be in a profession where I can engage a client with a diagnosis of Asperger's in an Orff instrument improvisation for 30 minutes, and then move into a session with an adolescent centered around emotional expression and songwriting. I am also proud that I am equipped to work with many different people in many different settings on many different goals and objectives.
Every so often, folks on the music therapy listserv start a discussion about defining music therapy. We often end up in a heated exchange about what we should include in the definition. I think that the lack of ONE definition is one of the things that makes music therapy continue as a profession - we can be many things to many people, and we often are!
Bravo, fellow music therapists! Sing your song!
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