Follow-Up to Five Music Therapy Advocacy Conversations... My responses!!!

So, in light of Music Therapy Advocacy Month, here are the ways I answer the questions posed by others just looking to get a bit of knowledge about our wonderful profession. Just so you can tell, my answers are italicized.

1. Look, it's the music lady/man! Easily recognized by bags full of instruments that jingle, shake, and thump, your persona becomes completely linked with your job. "I know. You can probably hear me coming from two hallways away. I always say you can hear a good music therapist coming from a mile away!! Here comes the MUSIC THERAPIST. (I often add a musical hit right here with the jingle bells!) Brrrring!" Why do I say it like this? It's good to have an identity and to be associated with what you do, but it's a casual way to emphasize that there is much more than just making noise to what I do. It also puts my official title in front of the remarker. They may never use the title officially, but it will sink in. One day, they will be speaking to another music therapist and will remember that they once knew a music therapist who made good music.
2. You are so good at making people happy. My favorite variation on this particular theme? I kid you not! "Happy children making happy sounds!" "I'm glad that it looks like my clients are enjoying this therapeutic process. That's part of the process. We are actually working on many different goals and experiences simultaneously. Isn't it amazing how you can address motor goals, social goals, cognitive goals, and all types of things during a music therapy session? What else do you see or hear the clients doing during this time?" Education is the key to most of what we have to do as advocates for music therapy. Many of the people that I work with do not know that what I do is therapy, even though I talk about music THERAPY all of the time. In fact, I have a meeting with someone tomorrow who constantly refers to what I do as "music class." I will take the opportunity to, once again, re-educate him to the fact that I am a music therapist and my clients (also his clients) are actually engaging in therapeutic experiences when they are in the music THERAPY room! Reframe what is said into something that accurately reflects what is happening during the session - education, education, education!
3. What is it that you do? Followed by three seconds of stunned silence and then the follow-up question, "So, what is musical therapy, anyway?" This one always makes me giggle. First question - "I'm a music therapist." Second question - "Using music and musical experiences as a medium to assist clients in achieving their personal goals." Then, I often start to see what they already have experience with in their own lives. "We all use music in our lives to help us do different things. Exercising, for example." Most of the time, by the first example, they start to offer their own examples. "Oh yeah. I learned all the state capitols when I was in fifth grade when we learned a song about it." "That's a GREAT example of using music to accomplish a goal. We music therapists use music to help others reach all sorts of goals. For one client, we might use music to prompt memory of a topic or a procedure, kinda like what you did in the fifth grade. For another client, music is used to stimulate their walking, similar to how we use music to motivate us to exercise. For yet another client, we might use music to express emotions about life situations. For someone else, music might be used to help them relax in stressful situations. In all these cases, a trained (and certified) music therapist knows how to use music to make things happen for the clients that need music therapy." Almost always, the response is, "That is really interesting." I heartily agree!
4. Oh, I know what that is. My niece plays music to the elderly. Well. There's a bit more to it that that... "I am glad to hear that your niece enjoys sharing music with others. Is she a trained and certified music therapist? No? You may want to encourage her to examine the profession. There is so much value in what she does, but there is also so much more to what music therapists do with clients. Here's my card. Please let her know that I would love to know more about what she does and that I would also love to talk to her about becoming a music therapist." This has to be a genuine offer, one that does not have any hints of trying to kick out this poor niece from her music gig, but one that is aimed towards education and possibly recruiting another person into the profession.
5. I do music therapy with my clients/students/pets/children/etc. We have an iPod. Bahahahahaha! This one is a doozy to address!! "iPods are great for targeted music listening, but there is so much more to music therapy than just listening. In music therapy, a trained and certified music therapist is able to change the music in the moment to support what a client is doing. For me, the best example of the difference between listening to the iPod and live music is when I am trying to exercise. (NOTE: I use exercise as an entry-example often because it is rare to find someone who doesn't listen to something while exercising.) Now, I'm not the best athlete in the world, and there are times when I just can't keep up with the exercises at the speed of the music. That's when a live musician comes in handy. They can slow down so I can keep up. My iPod doesn't do that. Music therapists are trained musicians who know how to change and adapt the music to support their clients' progress towards their goals. Also, one of the best things about being a trained and certified music therapist is that I know how to use music for so much more than listening."

I am a music therapy advocate. I advocate for my profession one day at a time, one stranger at a time, and one client at a time.

Happy Music Therapy Advocacy Month!!

Go out there and do great things, therapists!!