WHAT IS MUSIC THERAPY
Music therapy is the prescribed use of music, and the relationship that develops through shared music experiences, to help people address specific goals that are identified through consultation and assessment. Board-certified music therapists (MT-BCs) engage clients in music to improve and enhance physical, cognitive, communicative, emotional, social, and behavioral skills.
QUALIFICATIONS
Music Therapists have undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in music therapy from university programs approved by the American Music Therapy Association. They follow their degree with at least six months of full-time supervised clinical training. Music therapists must also be board-certified by the Certification Board for Music Therapists; they become "MT-BC's" by taking a national exam, and maintain their status through continuing education.
Music can provide support in health and education in a variety of ways, not all of which require the rigorous education and training for board-certified music therapists. Playing calming music at a patient's bedside, singing educational songs to classrooms, providing background music in waiting rooms...there are basic short-term training programs for people who want to help others with music in these ways. Music therapists (MT-BCs), on the other hand, (1) conduct an assessment to determine an individual's needs; (2) set long-term goals and short-term objectives in consultation with an individual and their health care or educational team; (3) create a strategic, individualized, treatment plans, and choose, compose, and improvise music for that plan; and (4) document and report progress, making adjustments to therapy as indicated.
10 Therapeutic Characteristics of Music
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Music captivates and maintains attention -- it stimulates & utilizes many parts of the brain. People often can respond to music even when other aspects of cognition are impaired.
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Music is success-oriented -- people of all ability levels can participate.
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Music structures time; it allows us to track various lengths of time, and can sometimes alter our perception of its passage.
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Music provides a meaningful, enjoyable context for repetition.
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Music provides a social context -- it sets up a safe, structured setting for verbal and nonverbal communication.
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Music is an effective memory aid.
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Music supports and encourages movement; in some cases, rhythm facilitates movement via synchrony in neuromotor & auditory pathways in the central nervous system.
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Music taps into memories and emotions.
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Music -- and the silences within it -- provide nonverbal, immediate feedback.
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Music can ebb and flow, changing moment to moment to reflect the reactions and needs of the people who are listening or participating.
Music Therapy Organizations:
American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) (301) 589-3300
AMTA was founded in 1998. Its purpose is the progressive development of the therapeutic use of music in rehabilitation, special education, and community settings. Predecessors to the American Music Therapy Association included the National Association for Music Therapy founded in 1950 and the American Association for Music Therapy founded in 1971. AMTA is committed to the advancement of education, training, professional standards, credentials, and research in support of the music therapy profession.
Certification Board for Music Therapists (800) 765-CBMT
Established in 1983 to bolster the profession’s sense of accountability to those it served, CBMT is proud of our longstanding heritage as a recognized leader in the credentialing field. We are equally proud to see how our mission has moved forward at the ground level over the years, with the number of new Certificants and Recertifiers steadily increasing each year. Today, over 9,000 music therapists in the United States and abroad hold the MT-BC credential from CBMT, a sign of growing professional commitment to excellence in music therapy among therapists, employers, payers, educators and many others.