I'm a Music Therapist

I’ve spent a lot of time in school (almost 20 years by my count.) And it was exactly nine months ago today that I had another first day of school, but this time as a professor. One year later and I’m even more excited to start back again in the fall. (Although, having the summer off is a great perk!) Here are the biggest lessons I’ve learned as a first-year educator:

1. There are still lots of things I need to learn.

Just because I was standing at the front of the class instead of seated in a desk, I did not know everything I needed to know for the classes I taught. Every time I sat down to write the syllabus, I’d have a flash of panic: how am I going to talk for a few hours each week on all of these topics?  It had been so long since I had learned the basics of music therapy as an undergrad, there were a lot of late nights spent reading and preparing lecture slides.

And of course, students would inevitably ask a handful of questions that I didn’t have a complete answer for. I’ve found that being transparent, stating that I don’t have the exact/complete answer to everything, and following up with more information in the next class was a good way to go. Logically, I know it’s not possible to know everything, but it wasn’t until I started teaching that I became comfortable with this fact.

2. Teaching makes me a better music therapist.

Part of my duties as a clinical coordinator include being an onsite supervisor for a handful of practicum sites. Students and I jointly lead music therapy sessions and we spend about 10 minutes afterward debriefing. Specifically, we discuss what happened in the session and strategize ways to maximize the therapeutic benefits for next week. My students are so observant and every week they’d ask great questions about why I chose a certain song, or structured a discussion in a certain way.

I hadn’t realized how much of my clinical skills are intuitive at this point. As a supervisor, my students kept me accountable and forced me to articulate the purpose behind any clinical decision I was making. Over the semester when I began handing the reins over the students, I learned how to give feedback by balancing both positive and constructive feedback. So many skills are required of music therapists (playing multiple instruments, discussion leading, clinical presence, knowledge of repertoire and specific diagnoses, to name a few). Being as a supervisor gave me a fresh appreciation for my profession.

3. If you set high (and clear) expectations, students will rise to meet them.

During grad school at University of Miami, I worked harder than I ever had at maybe anything before. My UM professors and advisors pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of, and I came out the other end with organizational skills, work ethic, and a thesis that I’m really proud of. As a teacher, I knew that I wanted to set the same high expectations for my students.

Walking into my first day as a clinical coordinator, however, I realized that I hadn’t accounted for the learning curve on both my part and the students’ parts. As they adjusted to my inexperienced and burgeoning teaching style, I was learning what was and was not realistic for music therapy students who have a million other responsibilities outside of practicum and the classes I taught. I learned to be clear about what I’m looking for and to explain the relevance of assignments to the real world of music therapy practice. By the end of the year, though, I was so proud of them for making huge steps in their session leadership, clinical writing, and ability to make a clinical argument for music therapy. I was such a proud professor as the students gave their final practicum presentations this month!

Yes, this is totally cheesy, but I’m so lucky to have found this teaching gig. I just got this semester’s evaluations from my students and this comment blew me away:

“I’m very grateful to study under Prof. Murakami and can’t wait to tell people, ‘Oh yea, Brea? She was my professor.’”

(Cue crying)

I don’t think I deserve that kind of reputation quite yet…though reading that comment was very encouraging. In the meantime, I know I’ll continue to grow so as to (hopefully) earn that kind of comment someday. Here’s to many more years of professor-ing!