Often, people will state that music is their therapy and that it provides them with great solace.  They state that by listening to music they typically feel better after.  These statements bring a lot of joy to my heart and are the reason why music was developed into a therapy.  When learning music therapy an interesting distinction needed to be made between music as medicine vs therapy.  Music inherently has medicinal value in that it does have a direct impact on the body, its systems, and the mind.  We now know that when people listen to their preferred music it can elicit a range of emotions and physical responses.  When I underwent my training, I was asked why?  Why is it that music has this impact?  Does it matter what type of music?  The Canadian Association of Music Therapists (CAMT )defines Music Therapy as:

“Music therapy is a discipline in which Certified Music Therapists (MTAs) use music purposefully within therapeutic relationships to support development, health, and well-being. Music therapists use music safely and ethically to address human needs within cognitive, communicative, emotional, musical, physical, social, and spiritual domains.”

Canadian Association of Music Therapists
September 2020

The key words are “Certified Music Therapists (MTAs) use music purposefully”.  This denotes that the MTA underwent training that enabled them to be able to use music purposefully to address specific therapeutic needs with music.  Typically, when people listen to music the purpose may be to relax, help with everyday tasks and motivation.  Sometimes people may suggest for you to listen to a song because it helped them.  This does not necessarily mean that it will help you.  This is defined as Music as Medicine - music that is prescribed to someone because of its reputation.  An example would be the Mozart Effect.  This is where people prescribed Mozart piano sonatas for children to listen to as it was said to enhance their intelligence.  This maybe a far stretch.  As a Certified Music Therapist, I would need to evaluate the music for its structure and characteristics to determine its effectiveness on intelligence.  I would also argue that there are many different variables that determine someone’s IQ including environmental factors, genetics, and cognition.  Mozart may be beneficial, but not necessarily specifically for intelligence. Just because one song or musical piece helped someone else out does not mean it will help you.

Music as therapy is when the music is evaluated for its qualities and assessed to see if it is an actual good fit for the recipient.  This is where the therapeutic process comes into play. Within the therapeutic relationship, the client’s relationship to music is observed and therapeutic needs are evaluated.  Once this process is complete, musical interventions are created to meet the specific needs of the client.  The interventions are then evaluated throughout the therapeutic process to determine effectiveness.  Personal musical taste of the client is considered, but on a deeper level.  Music’s rhythm, metre, melody, lyrical content, and form is considered because each of these musical structures have specific effects.  These effects have been observed to have an impact on the body, mind, heart, and spirit.  The only way for music to be prescribed is if it is an intervention that has been found to be beneficial for a specific life domain as seen in Neurologic Music Therapy.  Another way music can be prescribed is if the musical intervention is specifically designed to meet the therapeutic needs of the client post assessment. 

When music is used as medicine, the above process is not usually utilized unless another approach or discipline is being used.  As a Certified Music Therapist, I value the benefits of all music, and recognize that within a therapeutic relationship the potential for music can be deepened to include the individual and groups specific needs.