If you’re passionate about music and passionate about working with others, the perfect career for you would be one that allows you to harness the power of music to improve the lives of others, i.e., a career in music therapy. This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of the profession of music therapy. This includes a history of the profession, education and training requirements of music therapists, levels of practice, and music therapy methods with various clinical populations. You will be introduced to the music therapy treatment process and approaches to research within the profession, including foundations of designing music based experiences to address physical, emotional, social, behavioral, and/or spiritual needs of a wide variety of individuals. across clinical and community-based settings.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Understand music therapy as a profession, including historical background, current state of the profession, professional organizations, clinical settings served, client populations, and education and training requirements
- Compare existing music therapy approaches, methods, techniques, and orientations within the field of music therapy
- Understand and describe the treatment planning process including assessment, treatment implementation, evaluation, and documentation.
- Explore the research evidence for clinical practice in music therapy
Syllabus
Lesson 1 Music Therapy: Historical Perspectives
Lesson 2 Music Therapy Defined
Lesson 3 Education and Training Requirements
Lesson 4 Types of Music Experiences
Lesson 5 Music Therapy Methods (continued)
Lesson 6 Therapeutic Process
Lesson 7 Approaches to Music Therapy
Lesson 8 Approaches to Music Therapy
Lesson 9 Treatment Planning
Lesson 10 Treatment Planning, part 2
Lesson 11 Research in Music Therapy
Lesson 12 Professional Topics
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
This course does not have any prerequisites.
Required Textbook(s)
- Defining Music Therapy by Bruscia K. (2014)., 3rd Edition. University Park, IL: Barcelona Publishers
- Introduction to Music Therapy Practice by Heiderscheit, Annie, Jackson, Nancy (2018). Barcelona Publishers
Please note that students will have access to free digital versions of both of these texts through the Berklee Online library resources.
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