I AM NEW TO MUSIC THERAPY
Believe me - I did not know the concept of music therapy even existed a year ago.
I had no idea what the profession entailed, I just loved everything about music. As a DJ, I enjoyed seeing how every song in a set meant something different for each listener and that there was a sort of psychology behind the effects my music had on the behaviors of the crowd. It’s as if I’m the puppet master and whatever music I play can create the mood for someone to fall in love at the club, forget about their toxic ex, or just create a getaway from the realities of being an adult. It was during quarantine that I got to thinking about what I wanted to do with my life besides working 40+ hours in a cubicle.
Before majoring in marketing, I was actually thinking of getting a degree in psychology because I like hearing my friends or strangers’ stories and helping them gain perspective on why things may be the way they are. And before that, back when I was a little girl, embarrassingly I admit I dreamt of being the female/asian version of Jay-Z and being this really cool music producer. It was after having multiple existential crises during my work days when I finally said:
“Dana - you’re not made for this corporate life. Why not combine two of your passions - psychology and music - and see what you can make out of that?”
I assumed that combining the benefits of listening to music and learning about the psychology behind how/why those benefits are present, is what music therapy is. But I knew that music does more than just make someone feel good, so I started doing more research.
And so began my journey of hopefully becoming a music therapist, how I got acquainted with Kim and Hayley through Synergy, and what I ultimately want to do with music therapy …
I’m in Southern California, and the concept of music therapy is still rather niche here. It’s not like I’m able to Yelp “Dentists in Los Angeles” and 5,000 search results come up. It’s more like I look up “Music Therapists in Los Angeles” and only 10 results come up, and when I called the studio asking to speak with a music therapist to get an internship with them - more than half of those search results said they did not have a music therapist in their studio. This pattern of not being able to find a music therapist continued for weeks, until finally I came across a music school in Irvine called Fresh Start Music Studio that actually got back to me to schedule a meeting in person, to see what I wanted to achieve with a music therapy internship. There I got acquainted with a music therapist Ellie, who was super sweet and provided me with resources and contacts to help me jumpstart my research on music therapy. Poor Ellie, I really bombarded her with questions before her next student! I had a whole notepad and asked her everything like what are the benefits to music therapy, how do you measure the benefits, how does a music teacher apply music therapy to their lessons, how does one become a music therapist, and why did she decide to make music therapy a profession? The entire conversation might have been only 30 minutes long, but it was super helpful and she gave me so many resources!
Now dear reader, I want to share those resources with you:
Books:
Introduction to Music Therapy - Theory & Practice by Michael Thaut
Music Therapy Handbook by Barbara Wheeler
The New Music Therapist’s Handbook by Suzanne Hanser
Websites:
American Music Therapy Association (AMTA)
British Association of Music Therapy (BAMT)
Canadian Association of Music Therapists (CAMT)
Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT)
World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT)
Where you might find a music therapist:
Neurology Centres
Children’s Hospitals
Nursing Homes
Psychiatric Hospitals
Counselors’ Office
As far as the books go, each describes the importance of music therapy, how to measure its success in practice, and what ways to use music therapy to help treat certain disorders. All three books are actually assigned readings for the music therapy curriculum, and I really like these books because they serve as an introduction to not only understanding what music therapy is, but it also goes over all the different groups of people music therapy can help.
Then the American Music Therapy Association website pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how to start a career in music therapy and/or if you wanted to seek treatment from a music therapist. I’m not at this stage in my career yet, but you may also sign up for a membership with AMTA to get access to up-to-date research, continuing education, advocacy programs, and networking opportunities.
What’s also helpful is that they include this little chart here that breaks down into detail what educational options are available for you to get your degree in music therapy, depending on your current academic status. So for example, since I already have my Bachelor Degree in Marketing - I would fall in Group B and I would take the educational path towards “Undergraduate Equivalency in Music Therapy.” Then for each degree, it gives you further details of the curriculum and what you will be learning with that particular degree. So I would say, definitely check out this website so you get an idea of how to start and which path you should take to get to where you want to go with music therapy.
Lastly, what are some institutions where you can experience music therapy being implemented first-hand? Covid made it a bit harder for all of us to assimilate back into normalcy and to be around other people; it definitely changed how a lot of companies/entities ran their business. So when I tried applying to the hospitals, nursery/senior homes, and schools to volunteer to get my foot in the door with music therapy - unfortunately a lot of music therapy volunteering programs halted due to Covid.
But do not fret!!
These volunteering programs will open back up again soon at the hospitals and centers; it’ll be very exciting to actually be working in-person with the patients and seeing how music therapy influences their health. But alas we will all have to wait and see. In the meantime, use social media to your advantage and just follow organizations and other music therapists within your own community and see if you can get an apprenticeship with them. *wink wink
*Cough Cough - that’s how I found Synergy MT!
When I found out that I wasn’t allowed to volunteer in person, I literally spent a few days searching #MusicTherapy on Instagram and I came across music therapists from all across the world. I wasted no time and just slid into their DM’s real quick and basically just asked if they have any advice for someone who is thinking about getting into the industry. Everyone was super informative, so social media is just another way to network with people remotely and to build those connections for future opportunities.
The more that I got involved with my community, found music therapists who were open to giving me advice, and experienced music therapy being implemented first hand - the more I felt comfortable telling my friends that I wanted to do this career switch and I felt more confident that music therapy will be the more purposeful occupation. After having those conversations, my friends actually ended up referring me to businesses/nonprofits in my community that I had no idea existed.
Here are their Instagram handles below, please take a look at them when you can.
Instagram Accounts:
Through Synergy MT, and other groups in my community that I’ve been so blessed to have worked with, I have learned so much about music therapy. But this is just the beginning! It’s like peeling back an onion (I know, strange analogy) but music therapy is not the type of science like chemistry or physics where you can be able to test a hypothesis and there is only one answer. In music therapy, E does not equal MC ^2 and there are benefits to music that we are still trying to understand and discover; and the solution is specific to each individual. Responses to music therapy are diverse because humans are diverse and complex. When you have an evidence-based therapy that deals with both the pragmatic elements of rehabilitation AND human emotions/social connection, there are many possible outcomes. However, the basic formula always remains the same... music (and its elements) + therapeutic relationship (certified therapist and client/s) = impact and response. All of these moving parts make this field of science/psychology so fascinating to me.
Here are just some of the topics and subtopics I’ve been learning about:
How Music Can Influence the Body
Music can elicit physiological responses that counteract pain, for example, the release of endorphins (Beaulieu-Boire et al. 2013).
Music can induce relaxation through entrainment effects to slow breathing and heartbeat (Bradt, 2010).
Music reduces pain perception by reducing stress (Linnemann et al., 2015).
Music Therapy and Neuroscience
For a neuro-chemistry perspective of this field, Chanda and Levitan’s (2013) review outlined how music can modulate established biological traces, or biomarkers of reward, motivation and pleasure (dopamine), stress and arousal (cortisol), immunity (serotonin), even social affiliation (oxytocin). A further review of these ‘psychoneuroimmunological’ effects of music (Fancourt, Ockelford, & Belai 2014) points to musical activities modulating the behaviour of a host of neurochemical/biological agents: neurotransmitters, hormones, cytokines, lymphocytes, vital signs, and immunoglobulins that are implicated in our stress response and immune levels, although the authors highlight a range of methodological flaws in this field of research.
The Impact of Actively Making Music on The Intellectual, Social and Personal Development of Children and Young People: A Summary
The evidence from correlation studies suggests that children who experience musical training have advantages in their attainment at school across all school subjects, except sport, even after general intelligence is controlled for (Wetter et al., 2009).
Cohesion in school classrooms can be enhanced through extending music making activities leading to better social adjustment and more positive attitudes. These effects seem to be particularly marked for low ability, disaffected pupils (e.g. Spychiger et al., 1993).
Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Benefits of Having Music in Schools
Since then, the perceived benefits of school music have expanded to include everything from physical development to imparting family morals and instilling nationalistic spirit (Stevens, 2003). However, the push for school music departments to justify their existence in the wake of neoliberal education reform (Fowler, 2002; Vitale, 2011) has crystallized arguments into three main areas: intrinsic benefits, as well as extrinsic benefits related to both cognitive and academic development, and psychosocial wellbeing.
How Music Can Build Community
Stige and Aarø (2011) have proposed the acronym PREPARE (participatory, resource-oriented, ecological, performative, activist, reflective, and ethics driven) as a useful means of outlining seven of the key qualities of community music therapy, and each of these will now be introduced with reference to examples from across the literature.
Now in this blog post it may look like I know everything and anything about music therapy - trust me I do not. However, I know that the impact music therapy has on different communities and individuals is so great. Eventually I would like to create my own non-profit that encompasses music therapy; I believe in the impact that much. Literally, my mission is to provide a versatile and safe space for musicians/creatives to share their work, connect with others, and build their brand all while giving back to the community. I won’t say too much now because it’s a work in progress, but music has a way of bringing people together and communicating in ways that words can’t. Becoming a certified music therapist will definitely help me to educate others about the benefits of music therapy and bring people from all sorts of backgrounds and get them to work together. Since I’m in Los Angeles, CA I would love to start a studio here that helps provide backing and support for musicians that may not have the means or mediums to “make it big” on their own. In turn these musicians can give back to the community by for example: implementing therapeutic music techniques in lower-income schools to help further the students’ education, creating musicking programs in senior homes for those battling dementia or Alzheimer’s, and creating a safe space for children with autism to socialize in their own way.
Again, this is just the beginning of my journey and where this path will take me - I don’t know - but my mission is to help musicians and the community using music therapy. Hopefully writing this in a blog post will help manifest and/or speak my dreams into existence.
So if you reached the end of this blog post, thank you for taking the time to read about lil o’l me and also hopefully learning more about music therapy.
xoxo Dana Miller
