Attitudes of Undergraduate Music Therapy Students Regarding Master’s Level Entry

Overall, the music therapy that was observed was truly informative. I have never been exposed to this form of therapy and I was impressed. Not only does music therapy provide students with disabilities an outlet for emotional expression, but it also helps to address student IEP goals when it comes to social skills, speech and language skills, and verbal communication. The students were receptive of the therapy and seemed to enjoy the atmosphere within the music

It is surprising to realize the practice of one small therapy could impact the world in a big and positive way. Music therapy is the practice of using music to better the lives of people with motor, cognitive, and speech disabilities, along with surgical patients. This is achieved by redirecting neural networks in the brain with certain types of music selected for that specific patient. This is not a field for every musician however, only educated students who are board certified should practice music therapy for the safety for the patients. Although many people believe music therapy should not be considered a therapy, it should be considered a mainstream beneficial medical practice and used worldwide. It greatly increases the education of mentally disabled children, surgical patients have a safer option for pain reduction, and it creates employment for people who are interested in a career dealing with music.

I chose to discuss the issue of funding on music education in public schools. My issue will focus on how students are negatively impacted by the defunding of music programs and departments. My position will focus on the positive affects music has on academics and personal development. The thesis statement will then argue that students must have funded music education in their schooling to be successful in their futures.

Dr. Argüello invited a licensed music therapist, Meredith Ramos, to tell us about music therapy and its benefits. According to Mrs. Ramos, the American Music Therapy association defines music therapy as the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a licensed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. The simplified version of music therapy is using music for nonmusical goals. This therapy involves and improves executive function skills like problem solving, decision making, comprehension, organization, and many other more skills. If music therapy is performed in a group, music therapy has the benefits of encouraging group cohesion and interpersonal support. Playing instruments in a

Three fifths of the United States have made cuts to their music programs. Studies have shown that schools with good music education programs help students perform better on standardized tests. Many famous businessmen and woman also attribute their success to their musical background. Therefore schools should have strong music education programs so their students develop necessary skills for their careers, communicate better with others, and score higher on tests.

The participants of this study were music educators from all areas of the Chicago Public Schools. The participants for the interviews/observations were four specific

Music therapy is the adept use of music or music elements by a music therapist, to benefit, retain, and recover psychological, corporeal, emotional, and spiritual health. There are two different forms of music therapy, which are active and receptive. In active, the music therapist and patient play the music together. In recessive, the music therapist plays music to the patient.

The majority of the reviewed studies used a certified music therapist in the study, either by conducting or observing the music therapy intervention. In total, a certified music therapist was used in six studies (Clare, 2014; Sung, 2012; Ridder, 2013; Chu, 2014; Raglio, 2015; Cooke, 2010). Clare (2014) required a certified music therapist to observe participants during the hired musician?s live presentation and record wellbeing scores. Cooke (2010) also utilized the certified music therapy in a similar manner. A musical group of two performed live at every session, and a certified music therapist introduced the session and was responsible for observing participants during the therapy. The remaining studies assigned a musical therapist to deliver the selected music therapy approach (Sung, 2012; Ridder, 2013, Chu, 2014; Raglio, 2015). A systemic review found eleven out of 20 studies utilized a certified music therapist (Ueda, Suzukamo, Sata & Izumi,

Many schools have been cutting back on art classes lately, especially music classes. It takes plenty of time, practice, and money that schools just do not have. Ever since the recession in 2008, most schools never saw a reason to bring back music classes that were cut. Parents do not want to take the initiative to buy lessons as well because paying for instruments, gear, and lessons all at once can start to feel financially suffocating. But, despite this, music education can actually play a huge role in the growth of children. Despite music class cutbacks and parents’ unwillingness or inability to provide music lessons; musical training, especially when begun early, has many positive cognitive, academic, and social benefits that will last a lifetime.

Although music programs have had less funding year after year, nearly 40% of high school students remain enrolled in music classes. Music classes like band, chorus, orchestra, and music theory provide social, emotional, and physical outlets for these students. All students should be able to have this type of outlet. Music should be a mandatory class for all students beginning in elementary school not only because of its therapeutic benefits, but also for its sociological and creative benefits as well. Music proves to be a good teaching method for teachers in high school and middle school but especially in elementary school. Students enrolled in music education classes are generally more academically inclined than those who are not. Students

“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend knotted oak”- William Congreve(Free 492). As William Congreve, English playwright and poet, said, music has the potential to do the impossible. Although music has this power, schools across the nation struggle to see the importance of art and music programs, as well as the benefit for students these expressive classes provide. The benefits include a better performance in projects and homework, a better work ethic, and a better understanding of difficult concepts. While these classes sometime seem useless and unnecessary, oftentimes these classes release students from their dreary, sometimes abhorrent lives by teaching students to create and think for themselves. While classes such as painting and sculpting provide a release and a creative outlet, music classes improve students school lives, as well as workplace and personal lives. This improvement is manifested by an emotional reaction, an increase in creativity, and a psychological healing .

It came to my attention that there was clearly a problem when all that the band directors addressed at band concerts, from the local school concert to the district performance, was that the music programs were currently going through a rough patch. Budget cuts, an increased focus on “test” subjects, and loss in popularity of music activities have caused the quantity and quality of high school musicians to decline. With all of the impressive benefits of being a musician, it is crazy that student instrumentalists are an endangered species.

According to James Madison University's website, Music is a very prominent entity embedded in millions’ of people’s lives. Music has the ability to change a person’s emotions, just through the different chords, lyrics, and structure. Over time, society has generated many different uses for music, one being its benefit in the therapeutic field. One unique occupation, that I personally have taken an interest in, would be profession in music therapy.. As a result of my creative, music oriented, sensitive and idealistic nature, I have decided to further my pursuit of a career in the field of Music Therapy at the reputable James Madison University. Ultimately, my goal is to help people conquer their fears, emotional damage, disorders and mental disabilities through music.

After all, those of us who have put in many years in the workforce are probably used to being the expert in the room. Becoming a student again - picking up something new that we are not already good at – may seem like a recipe for frustration and failure. Because we are not necessarily guaranteed to be surrounded by other people our age who are also just learning, the prospect of embarking on such a musical journey may seem daunting. Apart from the joy to be derived from the music itself, a number of published

locally at the moment, serving a more diversified population of clients including people with autism, developmental retardation, emotion problem, cancer, as well as psychiatric patients and geriatrics. The increasing number of specialists in the field and the popularity of music therapy over the ten years have shown that interest in and demand of the subject among the general public and the professionals had grown a lot. This paper is going to describe and analyze the practice of music therapy and evaluate this profession as a possible career in Hong Kong. It will investigate the