Why Do I Teach?
As a music therapy lecturer, I often reflect on the fact that I have ended up being more of a teacher than a therapist. This is particularly interesting to me in light of my personal history since both of my parents were school teachers and I was always quite determined that teaching would not be my destiny. Yet I am very pleased and proud to have reached this point in my career. In the following essay I would like to take the opportunity to consider the steps that led me to this place, taking the opportunity to remind myself of the bigger picture with the (fairly indulgent) hope that this might be of interest to students or colleagues.
How Did I Get Here?
When I first undertook my postgraduate research studies at the University of Melbourne under the supervision of Professors Denise Grocke and Tony Wigram, I had no idea that a PhD could be a form of training for academia. I entered my research degree looking for intellectual stimulation to enliven my clinical work and to ‘prove’ the benefits of my work with bereaved teenagers. I began lecturing to my research topic during the three years of my PhD, initially providing specialist lectures on working with adolescents, then gradually moving out to improvisation, song writing and young people across a range of settings. I began presenting more frequently at conferences and running workshops for allied professionals about using music with teenagers. I was even working in school settings with teenagers at times. There were teachers everywhere, and I was often one of them.
When the opportunity came to apply for a teaching post at my university, I hesitated. Did I really want to cut back on my clinical work? I spoke with a mentor at the Hospital where I worked and she offered me some advice that is still central to my experience of teaching[1]. She said that if I really believed in what I was doing in music therapy, particularly with adolescents, then I needed to think ‘bigger picture’ than the dozen young people a year I might individually be able to help. She encouraged me to consider how many more teenagers might receive music therapy if I were to locate myself at a University and encourage students to recognise this important group of clients and suggest ways of working that I thought were relevant and powerful. I am pleased to say that there is a strong interest in adolescents from the students I have taught over the years. I have yet to operationalise a systematic process for job creation, but we have gradually created a strong team of music therapists with skill and expertise in this area.
What Keeps Me Here?
Is it the money?
No. I was earning more as a music therapist and actually took a pay cut to join the University.
Is it the prestige?
Maybe. It is an honour to work with my colleague Denise Grocke, and I am still proud to be teaching in her course, influenced by her beliefs and vast experience. And I do like having an influence over the way that music therapists are trained and the types of values and priorities that are emphasized in the training.
Is it the travel?
A little. Attending international conferences to establish collaborative relationships with colleagues from other countries is an important part of my work. It supports me to integrate other cultural perspectives and to keep abreast of emerging trends in the profession. The fact that these conferences require me to travel to a range of exciting countries (Spain, Argentina, Denmark, Norway and very soon Korea!) is simply the ‘icing on the cake’. In addition, the chance to meet music therapists from around the world is inherently pleasurable, since I believe there is something quite unique about music therapists – and it is similar the world over!
But Seriously... What Do I Love About Teaching?
As a music therapy teacher it is possible to see the future of the profession from the very moment it begins to emerge. The types of people that apply to study music therapy are diverse and the selection process is intended to identify those people who are both competent to train as a music therapist, and also suitable. Denise Grocke (Grocke & Wigram, 2007) describes the audition process that we adopt in Melbourne for ensuring that entrance requirements are met and the careful consideration of applicants capacity to be empathic and flexible, as well as creative and musically open. During these days of auditions, new professional identities become apparent. In my short time as an academic I have seen a movement away from solely classically trained musicians towards accepting a greater diversity of musical backgrounds. Although there have always been mature students, slightly older applicants are now the norm since the coursework training has moved to a Masters rather than Bachelor degree level.
This insight into the changing face of the profession then continues over the two years when students are training. Classes are comprised of small groups and this allows for a more dialogical, rather than purely didactic, approach to teaching. There is a constant interplay between the material that I present as a teacher and the responses of the students to that material. Depending on the cultural, age, personality and gender influences within the group, this may be more or less energetic – sometimes I need to draw responses from the students using a variety of strategies and at other times I am required to contain the discussion to ensure that we move through an appropriate amount of material. These discussions provide insight into the interests of future music therapists because the discussions are influenced by their histories and experiences with music, as well as their ongoing clinical placements throughout the training. I am often required to incorporate new client groups into my discussions based on these interests, as well as introduce new influences from my own music therapy practice.
The excitement of blending these new incoming voices with the emerging theoretical discourses within the profession is my favourite part of teaching. Although we generally see the first year of training as focused on conventional approaches to practice, the second year is an opportunity to experiment, both for the students as they design and implement their minor thesis research, and for the teaching staff to propose more challenging theories. We have a theoretical subject in the final semester of training that is called Music Therapy in Contemporary Contexts, and the content of this subject changes annually in order to reflect local contemporary practice as well as international trends. Community music therapy (O'Grady & McFerran, 2007; Pavlicevic & Ansdell, 2004; Stige, Ansdell, Elefant, & Pavlicevic, 2010) has been an important influence in the past five years, as well as multi-cultural influences (Hunt, 2005; Ip, under-review), feminist approaches, (Hadley, 2006; Hadley & Edwards, 2004) and most recently resource oriented constructs (Rolvsjord, 2010). Wherever possible, local adaptations of these international models are integrated into teaching (as the selected references suggest), so that the theory and practice are combined in order to better understand the ‘how to’ of contemporary music therapy.
Although our theoretical subjects are often taught in relation to practice, it is the music therapy methods subjects where we make the most music. Rather than being either didactic or dialogical, these subjects are taught experientially so that students have the chance to be involved in improvisations, writing songs, creating musically inspired imagery, singing and playing. This teaching is more based on repeated engagement with musical methods than singular presentation of ideas and therefore my professional pleasure is not only in having less preparation for each class, but also in observing the musical and inter-personal growth of the students. We allow three hours for these classes so that there is ample opportunity to engage in experiences and then process them verbally. Individual and group improvisations are often foreign to students before studying music therapy and the first few weeks in particular are often filled with exciting realizations about their own abilities to play and to more freely express themselves beyond the restrictions of curriculum based music learning. This is usually followed by more somber insights about how musical expression communicates something of who we are in relation to others over time. This journey is less often filled with simple pleasure, either for the students or me, and more focused on the complex therapeutic dynamics of our professional work. The rewards of surviving this stage of training is more deeply felt over time and this blends with the intellectual development of the students in a way that truly creates the future of music therapy, at least locally.
In my experience so far, it is often the students that are most challenging during this journey that have the strongest influence on future changes in the profession, although it is usually difficult for them (and sometimes for me) to see in that moment. This may be because they are initiating a change in how we understand the people with whom we work, or it may be a change in how we work musically. Since becoming an academic, I have witnessed musical changes such as an increased emphasis on song writing ‘with’ music therapy clients that have resulted in a shift in the emphasis of our teaching of methods. There has also been a movement away from the piano as the primary therapeutic instrument and towards the guitar being the most fundamental tool in our practice. Five years ago we surveyed Australian music therapists and realized that whilst more than 75% of them were using guitar, less than 25% were using piano on a regular basis, and again, the emphasis of teaching moved. Both students in training and music therapists in practice instigate these changes and although they usually result in more work for me, it is stimulating to engage with these changes and actively participate in shaping the profession.
Although it is tempting to focus purely on the positive aspects of teaching for this essay, I must confess that there is one part of being a teacher that has never been a pleasure for me. Marking music therapy students, particularly on their essay writing skills, is an ongoing challenge. It seems hypocritical to be teaching about acceptance and positive regard and then to turn around and judge the skills of the emerging music therapist. I have been inspired by Carl Rogers’ (1961; Rogers & Freiberg, 1994) ideas about changing this fault-finding emphasis within teaching, but have mostly been obliged to concede to the need for discerning more and less competent students within the University system. My own career as an academic shows that the system was successful for me, but I am less convinced about it’s value for measuring the quality of clinical capacity in music therapy than I am about its relevance to the use of words to explain music therapy.
Final Thoughts
The character of the music therapists makes them a rewarding audience as students – attentive, serious, hopeful. It is this character that energises me as a teacher, much more than the sometimes extensive preparation required for teaching, and certainly more than pain of marking essays. The blending of teaching, research, writing and administration within an academic career is a juggling act and so far, I would grade myself as a B – with potential and some understanding, but lacking in solid knowledge of certain areas. By taking this opportunity to reflect on the positive aspects of teaching, I am purposefully attending to these juggling skills and reconnecting with both the immediate and more long-term pleasures that teaching music therapy brings. For this, I am grateful.
Note
[1] With thanks for Prof. Susan Sawyer
References
Grocke, D., & Wigram, T. (2007). Receptive methods in music therapy : Techniques and clinical applications for music therapy clinicians, educators and students. London, Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Hadley, S. (Ed.). (2006). Feminist Perspectives in Music Therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
Hadley, S., & Edwards, J. (2004). Sorry for the silence: A contribution from feminist theory to the discourse(s) within music therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 4(2). doi: mi40004000152
Hunt, M. (2005). Action research and music therapy: Group music therapy with young refugees in a school community. Retrieved March 10, 2008, from Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy http://www.voices.no/mainissues/mi40005000184.html
Ip, V. (under-review). Methods used in cross-cultural music therapy in aged care in Australia. Unpublished Masters Thesis, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
O'Grady, L., & McFerran, K. (2007). Community music therapy and its relationship to community music: Where does it end? Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 16(1), 14-26.
Pavlicevic, M., & Ansdell, G. (Eds.). (2004). Community Music Therapy. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Rogers, C. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist's view of psychotherapy. London: Constable.
Rogers, C., & Freiberg, H. J. (1994). Freedom to Learn. Columbus, OH: Charles Merrill Publishing Compan.
Rolvsjord, R. (2010). Resource oriented music therapy in mental health care. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
Stige, B., Ansdell, G., Elefant, C., & Pavlicevic, M. (2010). Where music helps: Community music therapy in action and reflection. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.
How to cite this page
McFerran, Katrina (2010). Why Do I Teach?. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=colmcferran260810
About Katrina McFerran
Biography
KATRINA McFERRAN, is Associate Professor and Head of Music Therapy at the University of Melbourne in Australia and Co-Director of the National Music Therapy Research Unit with A/Prof Felicity Baker. Katrina specialises in supporting young people to develop healthy relationships with music that promote personal growth and increased connectedness. She has been involved in a vast range of mutually empowering relationships with teenagers and children in hospitals, schools and community programs. Katrina has used music to support people as they cope with grief and loss, illness, disability and a range of challenges both at school and at home. Her work is currently focused on building strong music cultures in schools that promote connectedness and wellbeing between students, teachers and systems. This is supported by the MusicMatters Initiative, of which she is Co-Director with fellow music therapists Kate Teggelove and Lucy Bolger. http://www.musicmattersinschools.com.au/
Dr McFerran has published her research in international and interdisciplinary refereed journals and has contributed numerous case studies and practice reflections to edited books, as well as sole authoring her first text on ‘Adolescents, Music and Music Therapy in 2010 (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). Her research is essentially reflexive, frequently using qualitative methodologies to explore the unique experiences of young people in music therapy or to investigate patterns in the ways that music is appropriated for health. Dr McFerran has also contributed to a number of studies using quantitative methodologies that provide evidence for the benefits of music therapy. She coordinates three university-wide subjects that explore the affordances of music for health and wellbeing from different paradigms – Music Psychology, Music & Health and Music & Spirituality.