I Fell in Love with Music Therapy (Again)
To say I’ve felt swamped over the last month would be an understatement. After a mix up with my schedule and starting to write my thesis, I’m realizing that this semester is an entirely different beast than my first semester of grad school. My TA and class workload is building momentum with a big research project, more supervision students, and lots of writing on the horizon. Cue the late nights and early mornings.
With friends coming in for the weekend, I wanted to clear my to do list so I could take the weekend off. As part of a final push before picking up a friend from the airport, I decided to stay late at the library to organize archived video footage of music therapy sessions for my professor. My spreadsheet was open, but my mind was ready to be finished with this mediocre task. Tired, hungry, and pressured to finish before my friend’s plane landed, I was not looking forward to the night.
The videos started off with audiovisual distortions from an old 90s VHS tape that’s been copied too many times. Sometimes, the music wasn’t even recognizable. What was apparent, though, was the music’s therapeutic effect. I watched a group of children and their parents bonding and exploring the environment through early intervention music play. I followed a man as he learned to walk again over a series of sessions featuring Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation. I heard about the struggles of an oncology patient as he opened up about his diagnosis after drumming. Over and over, these videos illustrated how music therapy had changed the course of their treatment and made a positive difference in the clients’ lives.
At this point, I was sucked in. I put the spreadsheet aside and just watched the music therapy sessions. Across the videos I observed prominent music therapists (MTs), a professor, and former TAs in my program all entrenched in their work. Though I knew some of the therapists from academic, professional, or social contexts, watching them work was a privilege. These MTs were in their element, using the music and their therapeutic skills to guide their clients to success. Having three years of clinical experience, I was able to pick up on the expert use of subtle transitions and musical details that I wouldn’t have noticed as an undergraduate student.
Being able to observe other clinicians was more valuable than I could have predicted. Over the last three years, I haven’t observed a music therapy session in quite some time. Because I’ve worked in relative isolation (i.e., I’ve been the only music therapist at my facility), I’ve served as my own reference point for improving my therapeutic skills in practice. Though I’ve attended peer supervision regularly, these meetings have been more about verbal feedback than real-time adjustments to how I lead. Again, I was reminded of why I am pursuing my master’s degree: to hone my skills and knowledge of music therapy on a deeper level.
Though I was reminded that there is always room for growth, I was simultaneously inspired. Life as a grad student is tough and can lead to burnout. Though I still have the majority of my semester and degree program ahead of me, watching those videos at 10:00p on a Wednesday night made me remember why my studies are worth the stress. Packing up to meet my friend at the airport, I left the library with a rare sense of euphoria that alleviated the stress I had felt earlier in the day. I fell in love with music therapy, again.