The Music in Music Therapy
Last night, I had a chance to talk about one of my favorite music therapy topics to some of my favorite music therapists - interns! We talked about becoming more purposeful in how we use music in our therapy sessions. This is my favorite thing to ramble on and on and on about, and sometimes it leads to deep discussions about our therapeutic modality. Sometimes we just ponder what is going on as we think more deeply about what it is we do that makes us different from other musicians in our area, facility, or location.
I have an ulterior motive for talking like this to music therapy interns.
I think that many of us practiced veterans of the music therapy profession do not really know how to talk about music therapy to people who make funding decisions. I think this is why we are sometimes replaced by other music programs - we don't know how to delineate what we do that makes us different than the other musicians who interact with clients.
This is something that we seem to struggle with each and every day. I see lots of posts on social media sites about the fact that other people are doing things with music that we often seem to feel belong solely to us. Many times, the poster (person who posted the post) is outraged that someone else is using music for a therapeutic purpose. Now, I don't like when someone advertises a recording as "music therapy," but if someone else is talking about the benefits of music listening without the label, I think there is nothing wrong with that.
It is my job, as a representative of this fine profession, to promote the benefits of music in the world. It is also my job to explain why having a music therapist interact and engage with clients increases those same benefits for clients in ways that simply listening to a recording just cannot accomplish. I think this is where we often fail as an entire profession.
I often hear new therapists attempt to explain what happens with clients during music therapy sessions. Comments like "You just have to see what happens," or "No one knows why he/she responds to music like this" don't really inform others about what is going on in a music therapy session. I ask therapists to tell me what they were doing with their music during a particular time in a session. They often cannot tell me what they were doing with their music. This is where we fail.
We all know that music has effect on different body systems, functions, and responses. We have this background, but I have found that we don't link that background knowledge to what is happening in music therapy sessions. We can't explain that decreasing our tempo allows for clients to interact in ways that they simply cannot coordinate at faster tempi. There is lots of research out there that supports the use of music for all types of outcomes, but most of that research is not readily available to music therapists out in the world. We have to know what others are learning about the brain and how music is interpreted in order to discuss why music therapy should be part of every hospital, school, long term and short term treatment program, and wellness program.
When I discuss music therapy with other people, I find that they always have some sort of experience with the therapeutic benefits of music - often a personal experience of how they use music to help them do something or the other. When they state that they do music therapy, I start with what they think is music therapy and then try to demonstrate that music therapy goes so much more deeply than simply listening to music.
When I talk to folks who are making budget decisions about music therapy, I hear things like "Why should we hire a music therapist? We bought this listening program." (These tend to be the types of conversations that drive music therapists crazy.) I take a positive tack. I'll say things like "I am so glad that you know about the benefits of music for your clients. One of the important things to know is that music therapy is different from music listening. A music therapist can actively use both live and recorded music to further enhance the quality of life for your clients. Here's what I can do to make that program so much more beneficial and how I can use music to further client progress and interaction..."
This doesn't always lead to a job, but it does lead to a conversation about why music therapy is different from a music listening program. I then have to be prepared to demonstrate what music therapy can do with the clients right there.
That's where my thoughts about the active and purposeful use of music come into play.
I have to know how to use my therapeutic modality in ways that promote my clients' progress towards their goals and objectives. I have to be able to talk about what I am doing with that modality in order to let others know that there is so much more to what is happening in a music therapy session than just luck. There is a purposeful selection of musical elements and a purposeful application of those selected elements to engage clients.
Sorry for the soapbox - I am thinking this is going to be a personal crusade that I will NEVER relinquish. Okay... it's that already.
Spend some time thinking about how you are using music with your clients. Think about those that don't respond. What could you change musically to possibly get a response from them? Try it. See if the response changes. If it does, make a note of what element you changed and the response it got. If it doesn't, adapt the music again.
Many music therapists do these things without thinking about them. You notice that little Kirby is sitting on the fringes of the group, trying to move with the rest. but not quite getting there. Most therapists would slow down the tempo of the music or find other ways to assist little Kirby to complete the task. We just don't really know how to explain what we are doing (it's natural for us to do this, but not talk about it).
We have to be able to talk about it or we will be replaced.
Stepping down from this particular soapbox now...
I have an ulterior motive for talking like this to music therapy interns.
I think that many of us practiced veterans of the music therapy profession do not really know how to talk about music therapy to people who make funding decisions. I think this is why we are sometimes replaced by other music programs - we don't know how to delineate what we do that makes us different than the other musicians who interact with clients.
This is something that we seem to struggle with each and every day. I see lots of posts on social media sites about the fact that other people are doing things with music that we often seem to feel belong solely to us. Many times, the poster (person who posted the post) is outraged that someone else is using music for a therapeutic purpose. Now, I don't like when someone advertises a recording as "music therapy," but if someone else is talking about the benefits of music listening without the label, I think there is nothing wrong with that.
It is my job, as a representative of this fine profession, to promote the benefits of music in the world. It is also my job to explain why having a music therapist interact and engage with clients increases those same benefits for clients in ways that simply listening to a recording just cannot accomplish. I think this is where we often fail as an entire profession.
I often hear new therapists attempt to explain what happens with clients during music therapy sessions. Comments like "You just have to see what happens," or "No one knows why he/she responds to music like this" don't really inform others about what is going on in a music therapy session. I ask therapists to tell me what they were doing with their music during a particular time in a session. They often cannot tell me what they were doing with their music. This is where we fail.
We all know that music has effect on different body systems, functions, and responses. We have this background, but I have found that we don't link that background knowledge to what is happening in music therapy sessions. We can't explain that decreasing our tempo allows for clients to interact in ways that they simply cannot coordinate at faster tempi. There is lots of research out there that supports the use of music for all types of outcomes, but most of that research is not readily available to music therapists out in the world. We have to know what others are learning about the brain and how music is interpreted in order to discuss why music therapy should be part of every hospital, school, long term and short term treatment program, and wellness program.
When I discuss music therapy with other people, I find that they always have some sort of experience with the therapeutic benefits of music - often a personal experience of how they use music to help them do something or the other. When they state that they do music therapy, I start with what they think is music therapy and then try to demonstrate that music therapy goes so much more deeply than simply listening to music.
When I talk to folks who are making budget decisions about music therapy, I hear things like "Why should we hire a music therapist? We bought this listening program." (These tend to be the types of conversations that drive music therapists crazy.) I take a positive tack. I'll say things like "I am so glad that you know about the benefits of music for your clients. One of the important things to know is that music therapy is different from music listening. A music therapist can actively use both live and recorded music to further enhance the quality of life for your clients. Here's what I can do to make that program so much more beneficial and how I can use music to further client progress and interaction..."
This doesn't always lead to a job, but it does lead to a conversation about why music therapy is different from a music listening program. I then have to be prepared to demonstrate what music therapy can do with the clients right there.
That's where my thoughts about the active and purposeful use of music come into play.
I have to know how to use my therapeutic modality in ways that promote my clients' progress towards their goals and objectives. I have to be able to talk about what I am doing with that modality in order to let others know that there is so much more to what is happening in a music therapy session than just luck. There is a purposeful selection of musical elements and a purposeful application of those selected elements to engage clients.
Sorry for the soapbox - I am thinking this is going to be a personal crusade that I will NEVER relinquish. Okay... it's that already.
Spend some time thinking about how you are using music with your clients. Think about those that don't respond. What could you change musically to possibly get a response from them? Try it. See if the response changes. If it does, make a note of what element you changed and the response it got. If it doesn't, adapt the music again.
Many music therapists do these things without thinking about them. You notice that little Kirby is sitting on the fringes of the group, trying to move with the rest. but not quite getting there. Most therapists would slow down the tempo of the music or find other ways to assist little Kirby to complete the task. We just don't really know how to explain what we are doing (it's natural for us to do this, but not talk about it).
We have to be able to talk about it or we will be replaced.
Stepping down from this particular soapbox now...
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