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Music therapy is an established healthcare profession that uses music to address cognitive, emotional, physical, and social needs of individuals of all ages. Music therapy differs from other music activities in that the therapist selects interventions that will influence functioning in a desired way to meet treatment goals.
The human ability and need to respond to music seems to be innate, does not depend on musical ability or training. Music has a unique power among the therapeutic media to engage and sustain the attention of patients and, in the hands of a trained therapist, accomplish a variety of therapeutic goals and objectives. A part of our lives, music is a powerful, unifying force that harmonizes people across lines of geography, language and culture. Music entertains, uplifts, opens the mind and awakens the senses to the complexity of human experiences.
Music therapists draw from an extensive array of music exercises, strategies and interventions, including the following:
Research proves that music therapy interventions can achieve all of the following:
Music therapists complete a baccalaureate and/or graduate program in music therapy, which includes courses in music, psychology, biology, and behavioral sciences. Next therapists complete a six-month clinical internship. Finally, after successfully sitting for a national board certification exam, music therapists earn the credentials, MT–BC, Music Therapist–Board Certified.
Compare music
therapy to recreational
music-making.»
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