Here's a note I wrote to a youngster interested in music therapy:
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Back in the early 70’s I worked as an attendant and group therapist on locked psychiatric units - and at one of them there was this guy that came and did “music therapy” even though there was no credential then - and I was amazed at what I saw. People I worked with on a daily basis showed sides of themselves doing music that I’d never imagined were there. That’s when the seed was planted, and then in the late 70’s I went to Shenandoah in Winchester to get a B.A. in music therapy, and then did a six month internship at a state mental hospital and got the credential “Registered Music Therapist” - and that was what I needed to work in the public school system in San Antonio, where in one district I went to all the closed classrooms with “emotionally disturbed” children - this was long before mainstreaming kids became the norm. Since then that credential has gone away and now it’s "Board Certified” and you have to take a test to get the credential.
What I saw working with closed classrooms:
* a lot of the children had trouble simply socializing with others - playing music as a group let them have fun being with others without having to talk - and over time that built self confidence and social skills.
* you never know who’ll have extra musicality - and those kids were always better thought of by the others when they could show off those skills in the group - and that could be generalized in that everyone has sort of a different personality when doing music.
* making music offers a chance for self expression of feelings and moods that help both the music maker and those around him/her better understand themselves.
* I always stressed the sessions were meant to be fun - but if someone didn’t feel like behaving, I was sure their teacher had other stuff they could do if they didn’t want to participate - so never had behavior problems with kids who were in the class because of behavior problems ;-)
I also went to nursing homes and gave residents an hour of good times with singing and dancing.
I was also a hospice volunteer for ten years, visiting people at end of life and doing whatever music they liked - and they and their families really appreciated that.
From its inception, the Music Room has been attempting to do music therapy on the community level - and I’m guessing you’d agree that that dance was a lot of fun for everyone there - and simply having fun together brings people closer.
If you want to pursue being a music therapist I strongly suggest learning guitar - a very versatile instrument - and importantly, you can play it while looking at and talking to some one - pianos get in the way, and with wind instruments you have something in your mouth all the time ;-)
