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I have been teaching music therapy for the past 24 years. At the beginning, when the music therapy program at Bar Ilan University was created, I was the only music therapist there and taught all the MT courses. Over the years, the university allowed us to expend and we slowly hired more music therapists as teachers. Now we have 10 teachers teaching two tracks: a beginner track and an advance track (for music therapists who hold a diploma and want to complete their MA studies in music therapy). During the past two years I have been teaching fewer courses in the beginner track and more in the advance track.

Teaching the advance track gives me the opportunity to teach students who are already music therapists with clinical experience, who have been working for several years in various places with many types of populations. Some of them have gained experience in supervising students from the beginning track.

I call the advance track "back to the music". Over the years, I have accompanied many of my graduates and other music therapists and have come to realize that many of us here, in Israel, forget the music. What do I mean by that?

1. Very often I hear from my supervisees who work in the school system that most of the kids whom they work with (who suffer from PDD, PDHD, behavioral problems, etc.) don't want to play music but rather play games or talk. These music therapists are frustrated since they cannot do the work they learned to do. They work verbally, use other modes of expression (drawing, painting, games, etc.) and only occasionally manage to bring music into the sessions.
2. I know that there are many music therapists who do not find the time (and energy?) to play and practice their own instrument or to improvise with others in order to nourish their musical-creative self.
3. I also know that most of the supervisors (psychologists, social workers but also music therapists) do not use music in their supervision.

The advance track is called: "Back to the music". It is composed of experiential as well as theoretical and research courses. The experiential courses include drumming lessons, vocal and piano improvisations and supervision that is based on music. This course focuses on the meaning of music in clinical work and in supervision and it is one of the courses I love to teach. It consists of two semesters. During the first semester the students bring audio recordings from their work. By analyzing the music (client's music alone, therapist's music alone and client's and therapist's music together) we get to know the client, we learn about the therapist's musical interventions, directions and purposes. We also learn about client-therapist relationships. It is always amazing to see how much information we get from a deep listening to the recorded music. In the second semester we work with live music. Each student presents at their turn a client with whom they experience any kind of difficulty, and the work with the student is being done through the use of live music. Another words, the student is asked to improvise musically certain aspects of himself or his client. The use of improvisation usually deepens our understanding of what is going on either with the client or inside the therapist (transference and coutertransference issues) and also with the connection between them^[1].

I usually encourage other group members to participate in the improvisations. They can bring the other (hidden) voice into the picture; they can double the client's voice, support the therapist musically, and so on. The students are usually amazed to see how much insight they gain from improvising their own feelings, sensations and perceptions concerning their clients.

But the clear bonus of this process is coming back in touch with the musical self of each one of the students. They come to realize how much they miss the music and are encouraged to come back to it. Next year we are going to offer our beautiful space and wonderful instruments for people who want to gather together on a regular basis and improvise. I myself have been participating in improvisational groups throughout my professional life (both at NY^[2] and in Israel^[3]) and all I can say is that these groups have been a main source of inspiration for me and for the other members of the group. I usually walk out filled with energy and with a big smile on my face. I feel nurtured and fulfilled in a way that I cannot really describe. It is beyond words.

Anthony Storr writes:

"Music exalts life, enhances life and gives it meaning..It is both personal and beyond the personal. For those who love it, it remains as a fixed point of reference in an unpredictable world. Music is a source of reconciliation, exhilaration and hope which never fails" (1992, p. 188)

I would like to end this column by quoting the words of two great people that are cited in Anthony Storr's book Music and The Mind:

"Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired" (Boethius)

"People usually complain that music is so ambiguous, that it leaves them in such doubt as to what they are supposed to think, whereas words can be understood by everyone. But to me it seems exactly the opposite" (Felix Mendelssohn).

References

Storr, Anthony (1992). Music and the Mind. New York: Ballantine Books.

I also recommend reading:

Hesser, Barbara (2001). The transformative power of music in our live: A personal perspectives. Music Therapy perspectives, 19(1), 53-58.

Notes

1 For more information about the use of music in supervision I would like to refer the reader to my chapter entitled: "The journey of two: supervision for the new music therapist working in an educational setting" in Forinash, Michele (2001)(Ed.) Music Therapy Supervision. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.

2 During several of my visits to NY I was invited to participate in the improvisation group that was initiated and organized by Prof. Barbara Hesser at New York University.

3 In Israel I take part in an improvisation group that consists of both musicians and music therapists.

How to cite this page

Amir, Dorit (2004). "Back to the Music" - Teaching Students who are Already Music Therapists. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=fortnightly-columns/2004-back-music-teaching-students-who-are-already-music-therapists