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!
Judy Simpson, MT-BC
Director of Government Relations, American Music Therapy Association
When I started my career as a music therapist in 1983, it was not uncommon for me to describe my profession by comparing it to other professions which were more well-known. If people gave me a puzzled look after I proudly stated, “I use music to change behaviors,” I would add, “Music therapy is like physical therapy and occupational therapy, but we use music as the tool to help our patients.” Over the years as I gained more knowledge and experience, I obviously made changes and improvements to my response when asked, “What is music therapy?” My enhanced explanations took into consideration not only the audience but also growth of the profession and progress made in a variety of research and clinical practice areas.
The best revisions to my description of music therapy, however, have grown out of government relations and advocacy work. The need to clearly define the profession for state legislators and state agency officials as part of the AMTA and CBMT State Recognition Operational Plan has forced a serious review of the language we use to describe music therapy. The process of seeking legislative and regulatory recognition of the profession and national credential provides an exceptional opportunity to finally be specific about who we are and what we do as music therapists.
For far too long we have tried to fit music therapy into a pre-existing description of professions that address similar treatment needs. What we need to do is provide a clear, distinct, and very specific narrative of music therapy so that all stakeholders and decision-makers “get it.” Included below are a few initial examples that support our efforts in defining music therapy separate from our peers that work in other healthcare and education professions.
As we “celebrate” 2014’s Social Media Advocacy Month, I invite you to join us in the acknowledgement of music therapy as a unique profession. Focused on the ultimate goal of improved state recognition with increased awareness of benefits and increased access to services, we have an exciting adventure ahead of us. Please join us on this advocacy journey as we proudly declare, “We are Music Therapists!”
About the Author: Judy Simpson is the Director of Government Relations for the American Music Therapy Association. She can be reached at simpson@musictherapy.org
The staff of CTMTS offers our most sincere condolences to the people of Newtown, CT in light of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. As people who work with children, alongside teachers, and as parents and neighbors, we have been personally and professionally touched by this event and share in your heartbreak. We stand ready to help in any way that we can, and will be maintaining contact with resources in the community to offer our services and assistance when they are needed or to make appropriate referrals.
Since 2005, the American Music Therapy Association and the Certification Board for Music Therapists have collaborated on a State Recognition Operational Plan. The primary purpose of this Plan is to get music therapy and our MT-BC credential recognized by individual states so that citizens can more easily access our services. The AMTA Government Relations staff and CBMT Regulatory Affairs staff provide guidance and technical support to state task forces throughout the country as they work towards state recognition. To date, their work has resulted in 35 active state task forces, 2 licensure bills passed in 2011, and an estimated 10 bills being filed in 2012 that seek to create either a music therapy registry or license for music therapy. This month, our focus is on YOU and on getting you excited about advocacy.
Many typical jobs and professions are relatively self-evident- mechanic, teacher, doctor, lawyer, chef, accountant, singer. Others are a little less obvious but don’t raise eyebrows: project manager, consultant… When your profession is “music therapist” you get raised eyebrows and questions. The responses we get can be both exciting (“I really believe in that, how wonderful”) to insulting (“so, you didn’t have to go to college for that, did you?”)
Part of the life of a music therapist is knowing an adaptable “elevator pitch” that can satisfy the most skeptical and the most excited asker of the question “So, what is this music therapy thing”. If we are lucky, we get 60 seconds to turn someone into a believer with our elevator pitch. If we are really lucky, we get a few more minutes than that with the promise of a phone call or meeting to come. AND if we are off the charts lucky we get a year like 2011.
2011, was the year that “our time has come” according to the AMTA Executive Director Andrea Farbman. I am inclined to believe her too- this past year has seen a NY Times Bestseller featuring a MT-BC as a main character, and another very popular novel doing the same—and the promise of feature films in the future. Then there was the movie “The Music Never Stopped” based on a true story, again prominently featuring music therapy. Two states (Nevada and North Dakota) passed legislation licensing music therapists and recognizing our credential MT-BC. Ben Folds attended our AMTA national conference so he could learn more about music therapy. Finally, the recovery and continued rehabilitation of Rep. Gabby Giffords included music therapy as an important part of her treatment.
By the very nature of our profession we are advocates for the profession. At Connecticut Music Therapy Services, practice we do this
-by providing the best possible clinical services to every client we work with
-by being generous with our time in educating the public about music therapy
-by creating quality jobs for excellent music therapists
-by working with AMTA on the Connecticut Task Force for State Recognition
-by volunteering our time contributing to our regional and national organizations
We are doing all of these things to provide access to music therapy to more people who need it! We advocate for music therapy because our clinical experiences and the research all say it works- we know it deep down. And when you know music therapy can help someone live a better life, heal, communicate, become more independent, and achieve health, why wouldn’t you want to remove every obstacle that stands in their way?
Advocacy goes far beyond our feelings over the “general public” not knowing what it is that we do. Advocacy is about people who need music therapy being able to access music therapy, provided by qualified professionals, easily, with as few barriers as possible. So we advocate and will keep on advocating.
And a funny thing happens- advocacy is contagious. We music therapists believe it and act on it every day…then suddenly our co-workers, colleagues, administrators, clients….they become advocates too, with an equal level of passion
Our “time” may have come in 2011 but I think in 2012 the best is yet to come.
Autism Families Connecticut is sponsoring another round of music therapy groups, called “Songs on the Spectrum” this time in South Windsor CT. Groups begin on 11/19. For more information, check out their events here.
Connecticut Music Therapy Services is proud to partner with Autism Families CONNECTicut to provide affordable, community-based music therapy groups! A 3-week group in Simsbury, CT begins this Saturday, 10/22!
Beginning in my music therapy internship and continuing into my professional work with Connecticut Music Therapy Services, I have witnessed firsthand the benefits of music therapy in working with persons with dementia. The DSM-IV states that the essential feature of a dementia is the development of multiple cognitive deficits that include memory impairment and at least one of the following cognitive disturbances: aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, or a disturbance in executive functioning. It can be said that the majority of the goals addressed in music therapy with persons with dementia would fall under the cognitive domain. If we consider that many persons with dementia reside in assisted living or hospital settings it would be appropriate to also address goals that fall under the social, communication, and emotional domains in order to improve overall quality of life. In my experience I have found that these four domain areas could be addressed within one interactive vocal experience utilizing a 4-step process.
First, the therapist will address the cognitive needs of the client by playing only the melody of a chosen song. The therapist will then observe the client’s response (Is he/she humming or singing the melody?). I have found that songs which are short in length and have a simple melody (i.e. “You Are My Sunshine,” “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”) are most effective. If a song is too long, or its melody is too complex, the more difficult it would be for the client to recall the melody and/or lyrics. The next step would be for the therapist to sing the song with a simple chordal accompaniment providing the client with an opportunity to recall the song’s lyrics.
In order to provide the client with an emotional outlet, the therapist would then replay the song encouraging the client to sing on his/her own. It may be necessary to provide the client with vocal support by singing only the first words of each line and allowing him/her to complete the vocal line. Finally, to address the social and communicative needs of the client, the therapist and the client will sing the song together one last time. At this point the client has had the opportunity to recall the melody, lyrics, and rhythm of the song. The cooperative singing between the client and therapist provides a strong sense of accomplishment for the client and brings closure to the experience.