Website Wednesday: What Music Therapy Isn't

It's music therapy advocacy month, and I enjoy the process of looking at music therapy posts, websites, and blogs to see what else is out there for us music therapy-types. This is sometimes a silly idea, other times it's an exercise in tolerance, yet other times it is frustrating.

I was strolling around the internet this morning, and I thought I would see what was out there. I wasn't disappointed.

One blogger wrote about "music therapy. It's where you take three songs that have significance in your life and write about them on your blog."

Oh dear.

I have to decide if I go through the process of commenting on this random blogger's page or just let it go.

I tend to be a person who just lets it go. This random mommy (what she called herself on the blog) is not doing music therapy, but she was told this by another mommy blogger, so she is just spreading some misinformation. We've all done that at one time or another. The idea itself is sound, but the label is incorrect. What she did was NOT music therapy.

The problem with NOT music therapy is that music therapy itself is difficult to define. Music therapists often know what is not music therapy, but others don't really know those distinctions. It is difficult to define when music has a therapeutic benefit and when music therapy is actually occurring. What is the difference between listening to a song for lyric analysis in group treatment versus listening to that same song for the same purpose in a music therapy group treatment session? 

For every bad page, there are several good pages that talk about music therapy in the way that we music therapists like to experience - the defined, measured, and scientific basis that makes up our profession. Most of those pages go without comment - there isn't anything to argue about, so we just don't do it.

When I go on an internet stroll like this one, I try to comment on the websites that I think get our profession right. I like to thank folks for speaking about what I do. I am trying to be positive rather than critical.

Critical is easy, but it leaves a sometimes bitter experience behind. As someone who has been attacked by someone with an agenda that had nothing to do with what I wrote or thought, I know that I was left scarred by the experience and changed my behavior to decrease the likelihood of ever being the target of such vitriol ever again. I don't want the mommy blogger who got it wrong to have a horrible opinion of music therapists based on a comment that I make on her social media outlet.

Some people, when confronted, back down. Others become more vehement that they are right and critics are wrong. There are times to stand and fight and there are times to walk away.

Random Mommy out there - what you did was not music therapy. It was an interesting blog post, and I liked your personal music choices, but it was in no way music therapy. I hope that you find out what music therapy really is someday and realize that your use of the term was completely incorrect. You probably won't, but I hope that you do.

Thanks for thinking that music is an important part of life. I completely agree.