In responding to this column, I first want to say how much I enjoy reading the columns of various professionals from around the world. It is a great learning experience to read about music therapy from such diverse perspectives and to see the many angles from which one can view music therapy. I was drawn to this particular column at first because of the title: "Allowing Oneself to Question, Communicating It to Others-An Important Step for Music Therapy Students." Being a music therapy student myself, I am always looking for pointers and helpful information from people who will one day be my colleagues. After reading this column, I was then motivated to respond because of the close relation I felt between the experience of the members of Rika Ikuno's class and my own training.
Even though my schooling is very different from those mentioned in the article, I feel that we share many of the same experiences. First of all, I think that students of any field, whether they are in official courses or in an alternative approach, experience the feeling of being "lost in a blind alley." Even after taking many courses in music therapy that I feel have prepared me for many situations, there are always going to times when I am challenged. I might feel that I am completely lost, but can always find a way to get the information that I need to be successful-precisely what the members of the author's class have done. I have found it so essential in my training to have these experiences of being out of my comfort zone. How else can one grow?
Second, opening up to others can sometimes seem like an unsettling experience. Being in the music therapy program at my university, however, has proven this statement to be false for me time and time again. Before presenting, the members of the author's class were worried that their presentations would not be successful and would not be useful for the other members of the class. Once they presented, however, they found that the class' reaction was exactly the opposite. The other members were much more receptive than expected because they understood the worries that the presenter had. By going out on a limb, the presenters allowed themselves to be taken in by the group and be accepted for who they were. It has been amazing to me to see this process happen repeatedly throughout my music therapy studies. Most of my music therapy classes are very small and leave much room for personal reflection. Discussing common problems in clinical work and even in our personal lives becomes part of our education. Without these experiences, music therapy students would only be learning the techniques and methods a music therapist can use, and not the essence of what it takes to be a music therapist.
Lastly, a realization that the author had from teaching this class was how much depth there was to each person's path in pursuing the field of music therapy. Even in the somewhat small program at my university, there is a vast variety of experiences among the students. We have students that have spent half of their adult lives in other fields besides music therapy, but have decided that this is the path for them. There are others, such as me, who decided right out of high school that they wanted to go into music therapy, even if their understanding of the field was not entirely intact.
We all come together to bring our unique experiences to the table. We have laughed together and cried together, and occasionally made fools of ourselves in front of each other. In each of these experiences we have grown because we stepped out of our comfort zone and dove in head first to a situation that many other people would not dare touch. We now seek out these experiences for their value in preparing us for the world of professional music therapy. Because of these situations we have learned things about ourselves when we least expected it and we have found understanding in others when we thought we would be rejected. But in all these situations, it would not have been possible to reap these benefits without one important step: communication.
Music therapists really do live in a paradox. As musicians we are taught to strive to be the best in a world that only allows perfection and to not pity anyone who falls to the wayside. As therapists, we are taught to reach out to individuals and attempt to increase their awareness of the potential they possess and hopefully assist them in tapping into that potential. As music therapists (MT) we are generalists who work with a team of professionals to help influence desirable changes in our patients and increase positive interaction through the use of music as our medium/tool. This article; "Allowing oneself to question, communicating it to others: An important step for music therapy students" by Rika Ikuno has brought insight to some issues that I have been contemplating for over a year now. For instance, how do we disconnect from our 'competitive autonomy when we are constantly being scrutinized by some of our colleagues and considered a glorified babysitter by others.
Sometimes the best way to realize where one is at is to talk it out aloud and to have feedback from those who can empathize with your situation but also provide an objective view. Ikuno found the best way to facilitate a class was not through lecturing but through the testimonies/presentations of all of her class participants. Ikuno allowed these individuals to open up and reach out for help through class discussion and an atmosphere that established 'absolutely no "failure" in their presentations... [because]there is no "failure" in a person.'
Through experience, I have learned that it takes time to see results of a session. I had the honor to co-lead a group of middle school adolescents who had various physical and/or developmental disabilities over the course of two semesters at Georgia Academy for the Blind. During the first semester, almost every effort put forth seemed to hit a wall and no matter how much we revived our session plans nothing appeared to work. Nevertheless, we were asked to lead sessions for the same group the following semester and almost every objective that we attempted to achieve in our previous semester was noticeably improved if not met. If we had reached out and expressed our 'failures' during the first semester we could have been reassured during that semester by more veteran MT students not to give up or redirect our session goals because they were affecting our participants even though we could not see at the time. Ikuno notes, music therapists encourage others to completely open up and express who they are and aren't and provide a sense of acceptance to their participants. Yet, for most of us, we deny ourselves of that very sense of complete acceptance especially when failure is involved. Hopefully, with facilitators like Ikuno, music therapy students can come to embrace the empowerment that vulnerability allows us as both musicians and therapists.
"Allowing Oneself to Question, Communicating It to Others - An Important Step for Music Therapy Students" was very helpful for me to read at this time. Being a student, I often feel the same way the author's students felt in terms of, " I have no idea what to say," "I have so many problems but everything is just so confused in my head," and "I am sure nobody will benefit from my talk." (Ikuno, 2004). But I contradict myself when I enjoy hearing others talk about their areas of experience. I feel that the music therapy classroom is precisely the place where we should hear about others fears and experiences, and it's unfortunate that most of us are not more confident in our own experiences.
I enjoyed the statement, "There was absolutely no 'failure' in their presentations, probably because we were able to see the real 'person' in it, and there is no 'failure' in a person." (Ikuno, 2004). I often find myself doubting my abilities in an academic sense, and I am sure that I'm not the only one. I am most comfortable in classes that incorporate the "no failure" view of education, and it was wonderful that Ms. Ikuno was able to incorporate that style of learning into a class with such a diverse population.
Even though the student's were uncertain of themselves at the beginning of their preparation, the fact that Ms. Ikuno helped them mold that fear into a valuable learning experience shows that there was growth in the student. In this case both the student and teacher learned to do what I have heard so many times in my time here at Lesley, "Trust the process."
This article, "Allowing Oneself to Question, Communicating It to Others - An Important Step for Music Therapy Students" by Rika Ikuno spoke volumes to me because of how much I have learned in settings where I can talk to others and hear others talk about their struggles and problems with music therapy. Having someone to talk to who knows what you are going through as well as listening to others talk about what they are going through is crucial to the learning process. I have learned much from the opportunities that I have had to discuss what I was confused about or worried about with others. Simply stating a problem that I face out loud often allows for a new perspective to be discovered. Sometimes just talking about an issue is all I need to fix the problem; when I hear myself saying a problem out loud, I can automatically pinpoint what I am doing wrong without having any advice from others in some cases. However, sometimes, we do need help from others. There could be an issue that we cannot fix on our own, and we need an outside perspective.
In my Advanced Practicum class, which is a small group of music therapy seniors, we have the opportunity to discuss what we are going through in our advanced clinical experiences. We each get an opportunity to share and the others can present their suggestions. This class has been a very effective tool in the learning process. Sometimes we talk specifically about our clinical work, and other times we talk about what we are personally going through in our music therapy training. It is a safe environment and the words we say are never a "failure" as Rika Ikuno writes in her article. The established environment allows for issues to be discussed without feeling like we are saying something wrong. I have learned a lot in this class simply by talking through issues that I am having related to music therapy. Hearing others discuss the problems that they are facing has also been a wonderful learning experience.
It is so wonderful to know that there are people who go through similar difficulties, as well as successes, who can help me through my troubles or celebrate my joys. It is extremely helpful and is a learning experience to talk with others about music therapy. I think the program that Rika Ikuno has discussed in her article is a very beneficial one, and I am glad to see that people do have somewhere to go to learn more about music therapy and to share their problems with others. I hope to always have a chance to talk to others and to hear what they have to say about music therapy.
Response to Allowing Oneself to Question...
I read this article and agreed with the idea that nothing is more important than being real with yourself and others. When you are real with yourself, you are more secure in your decisions and your actions. Being real with yourself also allows you to be real when relating to others.
When I talk about people being "real," I mean not only that they tell exactly what they are feeling or thinking, but they also aren't afraid of what other people might think. For example, in the article Ikuno states that something many of the people at her meetings said was "I am sure nobody will benefit from my talk". Everybody thinks this at one time or another. From this point people can either go on saying what they were going to say, regardless of what other people will think, or they can embellish what they were going to say, with the intent of pleasing or impressing others but with the side effect of changing their own thoughts and feelings. When people are afraid of what others will think, they completely change their thoughts and feelings by embellishing them, and as a result they are no longer "real."
For example, in our practicum class, we benefit from hearing about problems that other students in our class may be having at their practicum site. By being real and saying what we don't understand or what we are not doing right, we not only help ourselves learn, but we help others as well. If we all just sat there and pretended that everything was fine, then nobody would want to speak up and admit that they were having problems.
For me, the profession of music therapy is all about being able to relate to others and knowing how to make them feel comfortable. When people are confronted with something that they don't understand, then they often feel uncomfortable and maybe even a little dumb, for lack of a better word. So why should we, as music therapists, try to embellish our words to make them seem more "scientific" or "impressive"? I have read many articles where I couldn't even understand what the author was saying. I am a college graduate and I think I have a pretty good grasp of the English language, but some of these articles didn't even make sense to me!
My point here is that as music therapists, we should not be afraid to state our thoughts or feelings due a fear of not sounding "smart," "important," or "impressive." What is most important is that we are real with the people around us. This will help us get our point across, while making it easy for others to understand, and therefore making them feel more comfortable.