What is Music Therapy?

Posted Mar 5 2012 by with 1 Comment

Although my family, friends and community are extremely supportive of music therapy many of them still stop to ask, “so…what is music therapy?” According to the Canadian Association for Music Therapy they define music therapy as:

…the skillful use of music and musical elements by an accredited music therapist to promote, maintain, and restore mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Music has nonverbal, creative, structural, and emotional qualities. These are used in the therapeutic relationship to facilitate contact, interaction, self-awareness, learning, self-expression, communication, and personal development.

Canadian Association for Music Therapy / Association de Musicothérapie du Canada Annual General Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, May 6, 1994

Music Therapy is a type of therapy that focuses on accomplishing non-musical goals through the use of music. I have included a few examples to show you how music can be used to accomplish non-musical goals.
Example #1:
A child may have characteristics of Apraxia. Music Therapy can be a great opportunity to practice pre-verbal sounds such as /p/, /b/, /m/, and /d/ in a pressure free environment through familiar or improvised songs. The motor planning involved in creating music can also aid in more opportunities to successfully practice various speech sounds or words.
Example #2:
A child with Cerebral Palsy may experience Hypertonia (extreme muscle tension). In order to increase the range of motion a child may have to do physiotherapy exercises each day in order to stretch out rigid muscles. Music therapy can provide another opportunity to motivate a child to practice their range of motion physio exercises by placing a mallet in their hand and a drum just a little out of reach to motivate them to stretch to reach the drum while singing fun songs or playing with instruments.
Music Therapy may be used with many different populations including those with:Anxiety, Isolation, Brain Injuries, Visual Impairment, Mental Challenges, Physical Challenges, Learning difficulties, Sensory Impairments, Hearing Impairments, Behavioural Disorders, Alzheimer’s/ Dementia, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Difficult diagnoses: HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Mental Health Diagnoses: Substance, Abuse, Personality Disorders, OCD, and Difficult Life Transitions: Death and Palliative Care, Divorce, and At Risk Youth.
If you have any additional questions please feel free to leave a comment!

 

 

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Julie Lowry - Using music to communicate, learn, empower, adapt and realize our full potential.

One comment on “What is Music Therapy?”

  1. Christine on said:

    great article. id like to be a musical therapist someday.

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