Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AN OVERVIEW A D RESOURCES
GUIDE FOR CO PLEMENTARY AND
ALTERNATIVE MEDICI E MODALITIES
n my career, I have been fortunate to be nonprofit status in 1995. A music therapist engages
able to move from being a librarian, to clients in therapeutic activity ·with music as the tool and
Associate Dean for a major university with specific care plans, goals and treatment outcomes.
campus and now to my current position [3] On the other hand "a music practitioner uses music
as Professor and Associate Dean for a itself as the therapy 'Without soliciting verbal or physical
brand new school, the Indiana University School of feedback or interaction ·w ith the patient" - in other
Informatics at Indianapolis. Yet I also have a desire to words, the patient does not ha' e to do anything but
serve the community as well as an interest in music that receive the music. [3] It is also important to note that
has spanned nearly 40 years of participation in bands healing music is not meant to be entertainment or a
and orchestras. For many months, I questioned how I performance; the music is generally provided in the
could use music to serve in more personal fashion than patient's room with only one or po sibly rn o mu icians
as a member of a larger group. Fortunately, while rather than a band or orchestra giving a concert in a
browsing in a music store, I discovered The Healing lobby or recreation room filled vvith people.
Musician by Stella Benson [ 1], which describes the For the music practitioner, the emphasis is on
emerging field of therapeutic or "healing" music. "healing" rather than "curing" and speaks to the
Around the same time, I noticed an ad in Early Music patient's mental, emotional and spiritual needs as well
America for the Music for Healing and Transition as physical needs. MHTP defines healing as "the restora-
Program (MHTP). [2] tion, realization, and/or maintenance of physical,
Currently, I am in the process of becoming a mental, emotional and spiritual wholeness" and does
Certified Music Practitioner through MHTP. At the end not claim that illness will be erased through music, but
of my training, I will be prepared to provide healing only that music is useful in a healing environment. [2]
There are variations on the music practitioner theme,
music one-on-one at the bedside for patients in hospi-
including harp practitioners, who are graduates of the
tals, hospices and assisted living facilities. Therapeutic
International Harp Therapy Program [4], music
or healing music is one of many areas within the rapidly
thanatologists, who work primarily with the dying and
growing field of complementary and alternative medi-
who have completed the program offered by the
cine (CAM). An article on healing music thus is an
Chalice of Repose Project [5], and a variety of sound
excellent introduction to CAM and will also alert healers who may use non-melodic sound suc11 as
librarians to the kinds of resources available for practi- toning, chanting, drones, bells or tuning forks . There
tioners of CAM, their patients and the general public. are other programs available, including an online
course, but those mentioned above are the oldest and
WHAT IS THERAPEUTIC OR HEALING MUSIC? most well-known. I chose MHTP because I play Ba-
It is important to differentiate therapeutic or roque (one-keyed, wooden) flute and psalte1y as well as
"healing" music from music therapy and between levered folk harp, and I also wanted to prepare myself
"music practitioners" and music therapists. The field of for as diverse a patient population as possible. It is
music therapy has existed for many years. Music important to note that there is a substantial body of
therapists are trained through undergraduate and research that supports the impact that healing music
graduate degree programs from colleges and universi- has on patients and reputable training programs will
ties such as Indiana University Purdue University Fort always be significantly grounded by this research.
Wayne, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and the Univer-
sity of Evansville. The music practitioner program is HOW DO YOU BECOME A CERTIFIED MUSIC
quite new, having been founded in the early 1990s. It is PRACTITIONER?
offered through the national organization called Music The Certified Music Practitioner program through
for Healing and Transition (MHTP), which received its MHTP takes at least a year to complete. Five weekend