The Music Business Section -

Could You Become A Music Therapist?

By: Gail Cavanagh

Music Therapy is the use of music to transform lives. Through music intervention, even the most profoundly damaged and troubled people can live more fully. No matter how deep the clinical or psychological trauma, it has been shown that patients respond to Music Therapy.

Music Therapists are more than just music teachers. They use music to reach into troubled souls, and those with no other way to communicate their feelings. A trained music therapist builds a trusting relation with the client, and helps them find self esteem, confidence and a voice in the world.

Do you have what it takes to be a Music Therapist? You must love music of course, but even more you must love its power to communicate through a universal language that leaves no one untouched. A passion for helping others discover their full potential is essential. A Music Therapist works with a wide range of clients, from children with disabilities to adults with psychiatric disorders.

The musician in you will find plenty of stimulating challenges – but it is the humanitarian in you that will find the most fulfillment through this career. You can study Music Therapy at many colleges and universities. A Bachelor of Arts in Music or a related field is required, to study for a Bachelor of Music Therapy degree.

Music Therapists are trained in Music Therapy techniques to work in a team with other disciplines dedicated supporting the goals of the client. A degree in Music Therapy requires you to have the ability to play guitar and piano, as well as proficiency in voice, music history, reading music, improvisation and a range of counseling and health worker skills.  When you have completed 1200 hours of clinical training, along with coursework and research, and have passed a nationally accredited exam, you will be board certified to work as a music therapist. You will also need to satisfy the board you can work with children and adults who have a range of disabilities.

As a Music Therapist, you will find a range of options. You may choose to work with children at schools, care or nursing centers or private homes. Music Therapists are also engaged at hospices, universities, institutions and hospitals, where you could be working with the elderly, with stroke victims, or with adults with special needs. Music Therapists are required to be professional and trained in an accredited program.

Music Therapy has grown from the simple practice of playing music to victims of both world wars, to a respected profession. In the 60s, French Cellist Juliette Alvin pioneered Music Therapy as we know it today. She believed passionately that anyone, no matter how profoundly disabled, can respond to music. But before then, Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins were working on developing Music Therapy programs based on the same passionate premise – and long before that, Greek philosophers were writing of the power of music to heal the mind, body and soul.