What is Music Therapy
““Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions, to accomplish individualized goals, within a therapeutic relationship, by a credentialed professional, who has completed an approved music therapy program.””
Education
A music therapist is an allied health professional who has completed a minimum of a Bachelors degree from a credentialed college/university. Undergraduate coursework includes classes in music therapy, psychology, music, biological, social and behavioral sciences, disabilities and general studies. On to of all of the aforementioned classes, students must complete required fieldwork working in different populations. This is where students are able to learn how to assess the needs of clients, develop and implement treatment plans, and evaluate and document clinical changes. Following all coursework, a required and AMTA-approved internship must be completed within 2 years of course completion which is then followed by the passing of the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) exam. A student then becomes a professional and adds the credentials MT-BC to their name.
History of Music Therapy
- from the American Music Therapy Association
The idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior is as least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The 20th century profession formally began after World War I and World War II when community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, went to Veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars. The patients' notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals. It was soon evident that the hospital musicians needed some prior training before entering the facility and so the demand grew for a college curriculum. A very brief historical glimpse of this fascinating profession follows, below.
Earliest references
The earliest known reference to music therapy appeared in 1789 in an unsigned article in Columbian Magazine titled "Music Physically Considered." In the early 1800s, writings on the therapeutic value of music appeared in two medical dissertations, the first published by Edwin Atlee (1804) and the second by Samuel Mathews (1806). Atlee and Mathews were both students of Dr. Benjamin Rush, a physician and psychiatrist who was a strong proponent of using music to treat medical diseases. The 1800s also saw the first recorded music therapy intervention in an institutional setting (Blackwell’s Island in New York) as well as the first recorded systematic experiment in music therapy (Corning’s use of music to alter dream states during psychotherapy).
Early Associations
Interest in music therapy continued to gain support during the early 1900s leading to the formation of several short-lived associations. In 1903, Eva Augusta Vescelius founded the National Society of Musical Therapeutics. In 1926, Isa Maud Ilsen founded the National Association for Music in Hospitals. And in 1941, Harriet Ayer Seymour founded the National Foundation of Music Therapy. Although these organizations contributed the first journals, books, and educational courses on music therapy, they unfortunately were not able to develop an organized clinical profession.
Early Educational Programs and Advocates
In the 1940s, three persons began to emerge as innovators and key players in the development of music therapy as an organized clinical profession. Psychiatrist and music therapist Ira Altshuler, MD promoted music therapy in Michigan for three decades. Willem van de Wall pioneered the use of music therapy in state-funded facilities and wrote the first "how to" music therapy text, Music in Institutions (1936). E. Thayer Gaston, known as the "father of music therapy," was instrumental in moving the profession forward in terms of an organizational and educational standpoint. The first music therapy college training programs were also created in the 1940s. Michigan State University established the first academic program in music therapy (1944) and other universities followed suit, including the University of Kansas, Chicago Musical College, College of the Pacific, and Alverno College.
National Association for Music Therapy
The National Association for Music Therapy (NAMT) was founded at a meeting in New York City on June 2, 1950. NAMT succeeded where previous music therapy associations previously failed by creating a constitution and bylaws, developing standards for university-level educational and clinical training requirements, making research and clinical training a priority, creating a registry and, later, board-certification requirements, and publishing research and clinical journals. NAMT operated from 1950-1997 and saw the creation of a board-certification program (1985), a critically-acclaimed Senate Hearing on Aging (1991), and the growth of music therapy from a few dozen practitioners to thousands.
American Association for Music Therapy
Originally called the Urban Federation of Music Therapists, the American Association for Music Therapy (AAMT) was established in 1971. Many of the purposes of AAMT were similar to those of NAMT, but there were differences in philosophy, education and approach. Starting in 1980, AAMT published its own research and clinical journal, Music Therapy and by 1997, AAMT had grown to 700 members.