Music therapy is still a pretty “new” profession, which means not a lot of people know much about it. It also means that those of us in the field have a HUGE desire to educate and share about how amazing it is! I have only been a board-certified music therapist for 3 years, but you wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve heard statements like these: “Oh, I do music therapy for myself in the car after work when I listen to the radio.” “Have you seen that video of the doctor doing music therapy for his patients when he was dancing in the hospital hallway?” While these things are great, they aren’t technically music therapy. I thought I’d share a few of the most common misconceptions of what music therapy is!
- Clients must have prior experience with music to participate
- Lots of people believe that the best, or only, candidates for music therapy are clients who have a background in music or a special interest in it. This could not be further from the truth! A music therapy client does not need to know anything about music to participate in and benefit from music therapy. It doesn’t matter at all if the client can’t sing, doesn’t know how to play any instruments, or can’t read sheet music. Music therapy is all about accomplishing goals through the therapeutic medium of music, rather than learning musical skills.
- One particular style of music is more therapeutic than other styles
- There is a lot of research out there to prove benefits of some specific types of music, but the truth is that no one type of music is more or less “therapeutic” than another. Client preference is one of the highest priorities at Valotta Music Therapy. This means that incorporating a client’s favorite song or style of music in the right activity can boost motivation during sessions, and in turn lead to faster success!
- Anyone can play music for someone else and call it music therapy
- Music is incredibly therapeutic by nature. However, not just anyone can play or use music and call it music therapy, even if they are a credentialed professional. In order to call your interventions music therapy or call yourself a music therapist, there are steps you have to take. First, you must attend a college with a music therapy program accredited by the AMTA (American Music Therapy Association – www.musictherapy.org). Following college, you must complete a clinical internship of 1200 hours, and then pass the music therapy board exam. Once you are board-certified, you can begin practicing music therapy! It’s important to remember that music therapists go through this rigorous training to provide high quality services to their clients, both musically and therapeutically. Yes music is therapeutic with or without a music therapist present, but it is only music therapy when provided by a board-certified music therapist.
- Music therapy is only for children
- A lot of people hear the term “music therapy” and assume it is only for children. Music therapy is incredibly versatile and can actually assist people across the spectrum of age. Some music therapists are trained in labor and delivery and NICU techniques; on the other hand, some music therapists administer music therapy to the elderly in assisted living facilities or on hospice care. So from the beginning of life to the end of life, music therapy can be of benefit. There are certainly different types of music therapy intervention used with young children as opposed to older adults, but that just proves the versatility of the profession even further!
- Music therapists are just musicians who like to help people (include a hyperlink to the Goal Domains)
- It’s true – music therapists are musicians who like to help people, but there’s so much more to it than that! When a music therapist goes through school, internship, and training, they learn about how music can help a person across a variety of “domains”. These domains are non-musical goal areas that span different parts of life and functioning, whether it’s emotional, physical, mental/cognitive, social, academic, and more! Music therapists definitely like to help people, but they are trained specifically in how to use music itself as the tool to do the helping. Want to read more about the non-musical goal areas of music therapy? Click HERE.