Just a Song Sunday: What Music Therapy Isn't (In My Opinion, At Least!)

I love talking to interns about various topics in music therapy that I think are important. I run an intern seminar series on an occasional basis that allows us to talk about things like their rights and responsibilities. I offer this series for free to interns and take advantage of the two month schedule to put in two topics that I think are important to talk about and to discuss, but that are completely based on my own opinion. Those two topics are Understanding Music as Our Tool and The Therapeutic Triad.

During these topic presentations, I spend lots of time talking about some of the things I write about in my blog - for example, we talk about the idea of changing musical elements to support client skill development - using the same song to accommodate client preferences, needs, and concerns. Then, I start the discussion about the therapeutic triad.

That discussion is the one that elicits the most challenges from music therapy interns (which I LOVE, by the way!). Comments include, "So, you think that ____ isn't music therapy?" My answer is "That's right. I don't think that ____ is music therapy. I am not uniquely qualified to do ____, so it is not music therapy."

That answer often includes stunned silence from the chat box. Many times this is because of the information that goes into the ____. (It often happens after a discussion about lyric analysis which I do NOT believe is music therapy - anyone can read and talk about song lyrics. There is nothing in my music therapy education or training that would qualify reading lyrics and discussing them as something that only an MT can do.) Now, I think that lyric analysis is an important part of a therapeutic interaction with some clients, but I don't think that doing lyric analysis alone justifies the need for a music therapist to lead the group. Does that make sense? It's what I do further with the client and the music that makes lyric analysis a part of music therapy.

As I stated last week, I feel that music therapy isn't something that a client can do on their own - that's not music THERAPY. Putting headphones on a client so they can hear music is not music therapy - it's wonderful, but not music therapy. Therapy requires interaction between at least two people who are connected through the mutual understanding of the desired outcomes of the interaction. Talking about music does not make an interaction "music therapy." If that were the case, any person who discusses the meter in poetry could say that they are doing "music therapy." Taking the lyric analysis back into the realm of music making, music shaping, and mutual music experience is what makes reading song lyrics a form of music therapy. It's what makes us unique out of all the people out there who read song lyrics - we put those lyrics back inside our medium and work from there.

Is it music therapy when someone walks into a patient's room and starts to sing? Maybe. Maybe it's only entertainment.

There are times when it's important for a client to be entertained. There are times when a client needs to be the performer without interference from the therapist. There are times when the therapist and client need to leave the music experience behind and simply talk to each other. These are all important interactions, but I don't see them as music therapy. Yet, as a music therapist, I have participated in all of these activities and more that I don't consider to be "music therapy." 

This is due to the fact that I think a good "therapist" should offer the client what he or she needs in the moment. I also understand that when my sessions morph into something that isn't what I consider to be music therapy, then there really isn't a reason why a music therapist has to complete the role. I could be replaced by an iPod if all I do in the session is turn on the stereo. Why not? I need to be able to do more than just turn on the stereo to justify my title and education!

I think this is the foundation for most of my frustrations when it comes to requests for "a song to sing with my clients who are ____." Anyone can sing a song to clients. 

Anyone. 

I'm serious! 

It's not the song that matters, it's what the therapist and client are doing within the framework of the song that matters. The song itself is less important than the process that the client and therapist share within the song. The client brings the interest and the need. The therapist brings the expertise in music performance and knowledge of the music elements to shape the music in ways that support the client's interests and needs within the musical piece. Together, they engage in mutual music making towards a therapeutic end.

That's what music therapy is!