The possibilities for music therapy seem endless!

This week I learned something from everything I experienced in the music therapy classes. Overall, this week has taught me to view music therapy in a new way.

The discussions provided different perspectives of music therapy, and different ways to break down what we do, such as the definition, the sessions, the levels of experience, and our goals as music therapists. Breaking down the definition day to day helps me better structure my definition, and be prepared for the different ways to explain music therapy to others. Viewing a music therapy session through the lens of levels of experience helps me analyze all the contributions to a musical experience, what is or is not musical.

In the classes with the German students and professors, I learned new ideas for future sessions, such as using the singing bowl and thinking about the structure of a music therapy session in a new way. In the mock sessions, I appreciated the use of a singing bowl to feel the vibrations of the instrument. It was a very creative activity. Although we do not know the exact intentions of the therapy students, there were many possibilities that would benefit this population. The singing bowl activity seemed to also prepare the clients musically for the second activity, which I thought was very well planned out. I appreciate the order of the music therapy sessions here and being aware of this as a possibility could benefit populations I work with in the future. I plan on trying it out when I get home. In the percussion class, I learned new possibilities for future activities with clients using only rhythms. This exact activity could be used for different clients with slight modification. I also worked on complex rhythms, which I hardly ever do, but helps me improve as a musician.

I am sure there are many more things that I learned, but it is hard to think of all of it. It was a great week and I am looking forward to these last two weeks.