When I first saw the title “Spirituality and Music Therapy”, I was immediately intrigued to learn how Chase (2002) perceived spirituality. What is spirituality in the context of music therapy? In the United States, the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) Professional Competencies (2011) and the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) Scope of Practice (2010), state that music therapists are supposed to be able to address a client’s spirituality. The World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) (2011), states that music therapy improves a client’s spiritual health. In Ireland, the Music Therapy of Ireland (MTI) organization (2012), states that a music therapist addresses spiritual needs of individuals. It appears that across the globe there is some agreement that we address a client’s spiritual needs.
There are many articles in the field of music therapy about addressing spirituality with different populations. Among music therapists, it seems that “spirituality” means different things (Amir 2002a; Berry 2005; Chase 2002; Rollins 2008). While some may perceive that spirituality is referring to religion, others may perceive it as an overall connectedness within and beyond the self. For most people religion defines their spirituality, but not always. If music therapists are having trouble defining spirituality, how successful are we at addressing it in our music therapy sessions?
Spirituality is the relationship that a person has with one’s self and/or with one’s higher power. Highfield (1992) broke spirituality down into three basic needs: self-acceptance, relationship with others, and the need for hope. Spirituality is important because it helps to define who we are, how we live, how we view the world, how we cope with challenges, and even how we connect to music (Smith, 2012). A person’s spiritual self is referring to how one perceives the “self” and how situations are overcome. As a result, people express their spirituality in a variety of ways. Spirituality can be practiced through yoga, music-making, exercising, studying, spiritual therapy, meditation, praying, and many other activities (Amir, 2002a). All of these activities allow a person to experience his or her inner world.
There are four steps to the creative process and Nathan (2009) explained how we identify and define a problem, explore it, how ideas and strategies start to emerge about how to approach the problem, and then how a solution is created. Transcendentalism is the belief that our spiritual self transcends to overcome. It’s when our spiritual-self rises above a problem to obtain a solution (Aldridge, 2003). Transcendentalism also refers to our spiritual-self being able to hope for a better future, have a better understanding of our purpose, and being able to problem solve (Chase, 2002). Spirituality, the creative process, and transcendentalism are all important terms because they have relevance in music therapy.
There are various other fields in the world today that address a person’s spirituality. Therefore, if other therapies and fields that work with spirituality engage in some type of spiritual exploration before working, wouldn’t music therapists benefit by exploring their own spirituality as well? Because of the relevance and emphasis placed on spirituality as a health domain in our field, music therapy students could even be required to experience spirituality-based experiences as part of their curriculum. How can we, as music therapists, be required to address a client’s spirituality effectively, if we haven’t acknowledged and explored our own spirituality (Amir, 2002a)? Since the definition of spirituality, creative process, and transcendentalism all conclude that the spiritually-centered self overcomes problems, music therapists should be able to identify spirituality-centered issues to be addressed with their clients. Being aware of a client’s own spirituality in music therapy is a necessity because it may deepen the therapeutic process (Amir, 2002b; Chase, 2002). If every music therapy student had to engage in some type of spirituality based-course work, or even a spirituality-centered curriculum, it may lead to more self-aware professionals in the future, and then ideally, more effective therapy for future clients. Music therapists address spirituality in their sessions daily. As professionals, music therapists would benefit from developing comfort levels with spirituality-based issues through their own experiences. Emphasis on this health domain through further studies could lead to a better understanding of in the field of music therapy. Finally, we should strive for a more concrete definition of spirituality in our field and, engage in further discussion as music therapists about the role of spirituality in our field.
American Music Therapy Association. (2011). Professional competencies. Retrieved from http://www.musictherapy.org/about/competencies/
Amir, D. (2002a). Re: Spirituality in music therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved from http.www//voice.no/?q=content/re-spirituality-music-therapy
Amir, D.(2002b). Spiritual MT: Opening ourselves to the mysterious qualities of MT. Voices: A
World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved from http://testvoices.vib.no/?q=fortnightly-
Columns/2002-spiritual-music-therapy-opening-ourselves-mysterious-qualties-music-
therapy
Chase, K. M. (2002). Spirituality in music therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
Retrieved from http://www.voices.no/?q=content/spirituality-music-therapy#comment-593
Certification Board for Music Therapists. (2008-2010). CBMT code of professional practice.
Downingtown, PA: Author.
Highfield, M. (1992). Spiritual health of oncology patients. Nurse and patient perspectives.
Cancer Nursing, 15, (1), 1-8.
When I first saw the title “Spirituality and Music Therapy”, I was immediately intrigued to learn how Chase (2002) perceived spirituality. What is spirituality in the context of music therapy? In the United States, the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) Professional Competencies (2011) and the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) Scope of Practice (2010), state that music therapists are supposed to be able to address a client’s spirituality. The World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) (2011), states that music therapy improves a client’s spiritual health. In Ireland, the Music Therapy of Ireland (MTI) organization (2012), states that a music therapist addresses spiritual needs of individuals. It appears that across the globe there is some agreement that we address a client’s spiritual needs.
There are many articles in the field of music therapy about addressing spirituality with different populations. Among music therapists, it seems that “spirituality” means different things (Amir 2002a; Berry 2005; Chase 2002; Rollins 2008). While some may perceive that spirituality is referring to religion, others may perceive it as an overall connectedness within and beyond the self. For most people religion defines their spirituality, but not always. If music therapists are having trouble defining spirituality, how successful are we at addressing it in our music therapy sessions?
Spirituality is the relationship that a person has with one’s self and/or with one’s higher power. Highfield (1992) broke spirituality down into three basic needs: self-acceptance, relationship with others, and the need for hope. Spirituality is important because it helps to define who we are, how we live, how we view the world, how we cope with challenges, and even how we connect to music (Smith, 2012). A person’s spiritual self is referring to how one perceives the “self” and how situations are overcome. As a result, people express their spirituality in a variety of ways. Spirituality can be practiced through yoga, music-making, exercising, studying, spiritual therapy, meditation, praying, and many other activities (Amir, 2002a). All of these activities allow a person to experience his or her inner world.
There are four steps to the creative process and Nathan (2009) explained how we identify and define a problem, explore it, how ideas and strategies start to emerge about how to approach the problem, and then how a solution is created. Transcendentalism is the belief that our spiritual self transcends to overcome. It’s when our spiritual-self rises above a problem to obtain a solution (Aldridge, 2003). Transcendentalism also refers to our spiritual-self being able to hope for a better future, have a better understanding of our purpose, and being able to problem solve (Chase, 2002). Spirituality, the creative process, and transcendentalism are all important terms because they have relevance in music therapy.
There are various other fields in the world today that address a person’s spirituality. Therefore, if other therapies and fields that work with spirituality engage in some type of spiritual exploration before working, wouldn’t music therapists benefit by exploring their own spirituality as well? Because of the relevance and emphasis placed on spirituality as a health domain in our field, music therapy students could even be required to experience spirituality-based experiences as part of their curriculum. How can we, as music therapists, be required to address a client’s spirituality effectively, if we haven’t acknowledged and explored our own spirituality (Amir, 2002a)? Since the definition of spirituality, creative process, and transcendentalism all conclude that the spiritually-centered self overcomes problems, music therapists should be able to identify spirituality-centered issues to be addressed with their clients. Being aware of a client’s own spirituality in music therapy is a necessity because it may deepen the therapeutic process (Amir, 2002b; Chase, 2002). If every music therapy student had to engage in some type of spirituality based-course work, or even a spirituality-centered curriculum, it may lead to more self-aware professionals in the future, and then ideally, more effective therapy for future clients. Music therapists address spirituality in their sessions daily. As professionals, music therapists would benefit from developing comfort levels with spirituality-based issues through their own experiences. Emphasis on this health domain through further studies could lead to a better understanding of in the field of music therapy. Finally, we should strive for a more concrete definition of spirituality in our field and, engage in further discussion as music therapists about the role of spirituality in our field.
References
Aldridge, D. (2003). Music therapy and spirituality; A transcendental understanding of suffering.
Music Therapy Today. Retrieved April 28, 2012 from http://www.wfmt.info/Musictherapyworld/modules/mmmagazine/issues/2003021...
American Music Therapy Association. (2011). Professional competencies. Retrieved from
http://www.musictherapy.org/about/competencies/
Amir, D. (2002a). Re: Spirituality in music therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved from http.www//voice.no/?q=content/re-spirituality-music-therapy
Amir, D.(2002b). Spiritual MT: Opening ourselves to the mysterious qualities of MT. Voices: A
World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved from http://testvoices.vib.no/?q=fortnightly-
Columns/2002-spiritual-music-therapy-opening-ourselves-mysterious-qualties-music-
therapy
Canadian Association for Music Therapy. (2011). What is music therapy. Retrieved from
http://www.musictherapy.ca/musictherapy.htm
Chase, K. M. (2002). Spirituality in music therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
Retrieved from http://www.voices.no/?q=content/spirituality-music-therapy#comment-593
Certification Board for Music Therapists. (2008-2010). CBMT code of professional practice.
Downingtown, PA: Author.
Highfield, M. (1992). Spiritual health of oncology patients. Nurse and patient perspectives.
Cancer Nursing, 15, (1), 1-8.
Music Therapy Ireland. (2010). Faq what is music therapy? Retrieved from
http://www.musictherapyireland.com/faq/
Nathan, A. (2009). How the creative process works. Retrieved from http://mises.org/daily/3461
Rollins, W. L. (2008). Re: spirituality in music therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music
Therapy. Retrieved from http://www.vouces.no/?q=content/re-spirituality-music-therapy-
4
Smith, N. (2012). Defining one’s spirituality. American Pain Foundation. Retrieved from
http://www.painfoundation.org/learn/living/spirituality/defining-spiritu...
World Federation of Music Therapy. (2012). About music therapy. Retrieved from
http://www.wfmt.info/WFMT/FAQ_Music_Therapy.html