One of My Favorite Topics of ALL Times!!

The therapeutic function of music!!

This topic is one of my favorite things to talk and write about, and I recently found out that the person that I started talking to about this topic has her students do things in a more research-based context rather than the way I do things, so now I have even MORE ways to think about this topic!! Hooray!

If you are interested in reading more research about this particular topic, then please follow these links to some excellent writing.

• A Conceptual Methodology to Define the Therapeutic Function of Music - https://academic.oup.com/mtp/article-abstract/33/1/25/1140302?redirectedFrom=PDF
• AMTA.Pro Blog - https://amtapro.musictherapy.org/?p=1439 
• TFM Worksheet - pdf - https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=2ahUKEwi_pfaDtuviAhUOLKwKHTJ4AcUQFjAFegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcte.drupal.ku.edu%2Fsites%2Fcte.drupal.ku.edu%2Ffiles%2Fdocs%2Fportfolios%2Fhanson-abromeit%2FStudent%25201%2520Final%2520TFM%2520Autism.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1HdC29uyJVbbm3XHv79hAw
• Work by Kimberly Sena Moore and Deanna Hanson Abromeit - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00572/full

Now, this is not the way that I approach this idea. Mine is less research-based and more clinically applied. I take the stance of a clinician and how I can use the tool of music to affect client behavior within the music therapy session. I like the research focus of this model, and I will endeavor to figure out what I can realistically do in my life as a busy clinician and someone who has several other part-time jobs going. I think a database of research findings would help me out significantly, but that will take time.

My writings tend to be more along the idea of needing to identify the options that you available to you during therapy implementation to shape the music and the intervention (what I call "Therapeutic Music Experiences" or "TMEs") to assist the client in achieving goals and objectives. I tend to focus on the clinical aspect of life because I am a clinician. I also see that there is value in recognizing what part of music is affecting clients and being able to state that to folks who are not music therapists. (I've found that using this information and being able to state it with the research that I do know has kept me in music therapy positions when others wanted to do something cheaper. Everything comes back to advocacy, in my experience!!)

You may be wondering why this particular topic came up - social media!! Someone asked about a text about this subject. I answered. As far as I know, there is no text about this (yet), but I think that a text would be wonderful. I know I would purchase one written by Sena Moore and Hanson Abromeit in a second! As for my writings, they focus more on what to do and the options that are available to us every time we share a piece of music with someone than the biological functions caused. I think there is value in knowing both sides of the discussion.

Here is a list of some of what I've written over the many years of this blog. You can see my ideas change, but I still see value in identifying these elements of music when I am writing therapeutic music experiences and session strategies. I now have another way to think about it as well.

Here are some of my blog posts on this topic:

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2011/01/therapeutic-elements-of-music-how-many.html

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2012/09/advocacy.html

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2018/11/song-conversion-sunday-week-one-i-dont.html

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2013/09/talking-about-therapeutic-music.html

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2014/08/sing-song-sunday-thoughts-behind-posts.html

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2016/11/just-song-sunday-further-refining.html

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2010/02/therapeutic-function-of-music-so-why.html

http://musictxandme.blogspot.com/2016/10/just-song-sunday-elements-of-music-for.html

I welcome any and all discussions, comments, arguments, and questions about this topic. Let me know what you think about what I say, about what others say, and how we do this thing we call "Music Therapy."

Happy reading, all!!