Music Therapy and Entertainment... What's the difference anyway?
Photo by Tim Miller. tim-miller-photo.com
I currently work in a skilled nursing facility (AKA nursing home) and something I hear on a daily basis is that music therapy is entertainment. No one outright says this, but in conversation I hear what’s being said behind the words. “Music lady” is the most popular name I am given by staff, families, and the residents I work with. I take no offense to this, as I know it is said out of love and ignorance. The people who observe my work see a joyful time of music, led by me, a lady. From the outside it may look like entertainment: I am playing a guitar and singing many familiar tunes. What is unseen is the detailed assessments, developed treatment plans, created goals, and specific objectives that all go into the care I offer the people I work with. If you look a little closer at the work I do, you may recognize the purposeful eye contact, the enunciated articulation and slow pace of speaking, the grand gestures and facial expressions, and the one-on-one attention I give to each and every person who joins the group. I am not just the lady at the front of the room leading a singalong. There is interaction happening between my clients and myself. There is a give and take relationship helping the clients continue to move forward in their goals. There are so many intricacies taking place within the music that only certified music therapists and professionally trained musicians would pick up on. My point is, there is much more going on behind the scenes than you may realize. Music therapy sure is different from music entertainment.
Let me break this down for you a bit more with a side to side comparison of music therapy and entertainment. I have used this in proposing music therapy programs as it is important for donors to know where their money is going, and why a certified music therapist costs more.
Let me now add a disclaimer: I think music as entertainment is important and needed. I think it is beneficial and can be therapeutic. I am a supporter of all of the musicians who come and perform at our nursing home. They bring so much life to our residents. I just want to be clear that what they do is not what I am trained to do. Here’s the big difference, entertainers are musicians (professionally trained or just hobbyists). They play and perform music for people to enjoy. Music therapists, on the other hand, are clinical healthcare professionals who are trained to provide a service (or therapy) that helps someone reach a goal. Our purpose in working with a client is active. Music therapists adjust music in the moment to meet the client’s needs. We do not just pick a list of songs to play that the residents will enjoy. Our song and musical choices are purposeful, aligning with the assessment, goals, objectives, and treatment plan.
Getting even more specific, music therapists have a wealth of training. We all have either a bachelor’s or master’s (or PhD!) degree in music therapy. Yes, Music Therapy is my degree title. Music therapy collegiate level education is comprised of music, psychology, neuroscience, medicine, anatomy & physiology, and research. We are taught specific music therapy theories, methods, interventions, and techniques that drive the work that we do. Without this training, you would not be able to provide music therapy. It is specific and measurable. There is a host of evidence-based literature out there all about it! Not only do we have a minimum 4-year degree, we all have had 1200+ hours of supervised clinical training, including a 6-12 month internship in music therapy. We have each taken a lengthy board-certification exam and have received the required credentials (MT-BC) to practice music therapy in the USA.
Before I leave you with my drawn out tangent of the differences of music therapy and entertainment, I want to emphasize why. Why am I talking about this? What does it matter? I am bringing all of this information to your attention for the sake of the people who are the most vulnerable among us. The people I work with either have a developmental disability, have undergone trauma, live with a physical limitation, have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, or are walking through intense emotions that accompany end of life and grief issues. These people need extra support in their everyday lives. They need help with thinking, talking, moving, and socializing. They deserve the best services provided by credentialed clinicians. They also need to be protected by harm as they, in many instances, cannot protect themselves. If you don’t think this applies to music, think again. Music can cause harm. A trained and qualified music therapist can help protect a person from any potentially harmful music experiences. I think this topic may warrant a separate blog post, so I’ll leave it at this. Music therapists sure are different than entertainers.
