We are often asked “What does it take to become a music therapist?” and we are happy to answer! Emily Bevelaqua & Cassandra Muchahy share the details on the definition and education of a music therapist in this video.
To learn more, please visit the “Becoming A Music Therapist” section of the American Music Therapy Association website.
This post is from our staff music therapist, Cassandra Mulchahy. She is an AMTA technology committee member and has a blog dedicated to music technology tutorials and alternative music making at www.
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Technology is playing an increasing role in everyday life. It has great capabilities for developing connection, but also holds a strong risk toward isolation and disconnection. More and more, iPads are replacing televisions as an entertainment pacifier or as a reward. The American academy of pediatrics recommends that technology access should be limited to children, and relevant studies suggest that unmonitored technology use can result in decreased environmental stimuli, reduction in movement, sleep deprivation, obesity, delayed development etc. Some of this research has caught the attention of news agencies such as the HuffPost. While all of this research is certainly discouraging, please don’t lock away your iPads just yet.
What is less explored, is the use of technology to increase connection, and to provide an alternative to isolated leisure skills through interaction. Children are great imitators of our behaviors and actions. By modeling and exploring music technology with your child,you can help them learn to use technology in a collaborative way, and help them to develop healthy coping skills. In addition, this may result in a stronger the creative bond between you. Here are a few ways I use music technology to foster connection in my practice:
Happy music making!
When we invest money, it is because we want to get a return on our investment, to see compounded growth in our investment over time (return on investment or ROI) to fund future projects or to meet financial goals like retirement. In our profession of music therapy, we might also consider what we invest and what returns we hope to see.
Investments:
Returns on investment:
From the perspective of “returns” on our investment, really we are describing our brightest and best vision for music therapy:
As CTMTS approaches the 10th anniversary of it’s founding, we continue to invest the best of what we have to offer in our community. We are doing everything we can to provide the highest quality of service to our clients, in part by helping to grow a strong, stable and vibrant music therapy profession. To this end, we are happy to share that CBMT and AMTA have developed an updated Scope of Practice and we look forward to working with our colleagues in investing in our profession’s future.
From CBMT:
As the profession of music therapy has been moving forward with recognition at the state level it has been identified that a document was needed to reflect a similar format to other health care professional organizations Scopes of Practice. CBMT and AMTA worked together to create a Scope of Music Therapy Practice (2015) for the profession based on published documents from both organizations. This new document entitled Scope of Music Therapy Practice (2015) is available as an educational tool and legislative support document that broadly defines the range of responsibilities of a fully qualified music therapy professional with requisite education, clinical training, and board certification. Click here to read the Scope of Music Therapy Practice (2015).
Last month several members of the CTMTS team attended the annual conference of the American Music Therapy Association in Louisville, Kentucky. It was a wonderful time for learning about current trends in music therapy practice, for connecting with colleagues from around the country and world, for sharing information.
Jennifer Sokira presents at AMTA conference
Jennifer Sokira, along with Jim Borling, MA, MT-BC co-presented “Violent Community Trauma: Music Therapy, Resilience and Self-Care” which focused on the music therapy and community healing, and included her work in the Newtown/Sandy Hook community. In addition, she attended several meetings in her current position on the AMTA Ethics Board.
Emily Bevelaqua was busy as well, facilitating several meetings in her new role as Co-Chair of the AMTA Professional Advocacy committee. Matthew Philllps served as a representative on the Association Internship Approval Committee (AIAC), and Cassandra Mulcahy “skyped in” to a meeting of the AMTA Technology Committee.
We are feeling renewed and are excited to bring back everything we learned back to our clients in Connecticut!