The Music Therapy Handshake

I am a deceiver of children. I freely admit it, and I get some enjoyment from this fact as well. I have created a myth around my facility that allows me to remind students of who is in charge and to remind them that it is not them, it is me. Are you ready for the secret?

The music therapy handshake.

My students fully believe that there is a secret music therapy handshake that allows all music therapists to recognize one another. It is a secret, handed down from music therapist to music therapist, and is a complex series of movements. That's the myth, and it has helped me navigate lots of issues in a way that is less confrontational and more matter of fact. "You want to decide what we do in music therapy group? Do you know the music therapy handshake? No? Oh. That means that it is my job to choose what we do in group. When you have gone to school to be a music therapist, then you'll know the handshake as well. Until then, it's my job." This conversation is often accompanied by several attempts to guess the handshake routine.

There is a problem with this deception, though. I have to remember to clue music therapy visitors into the joke before specific clients enter the music therapy room. One in particular is very good at sidling up to visitors and asking them if they know the music therapy handshake. They often look at him in confusion and I have to cover that confusion very quickly. So far, I've managed to get ahead of it, but I know that one day I'll be busted!

I've been in societies and fraternities and the like that have secret handshakes. I've never had an opportunity to use them and find them to be funny but a useful concept in my program. 

So, what is the music therapy handshake? That's for us music therapists to know and for others to find out!

Happy Friday!