Music Therapy Major

bridgenail
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 17:22:01 +0000

@compmom maybe there are regional differences. I was surprised by your comment of it being an “emerging” area as in Minneapolis/st Paul it emerged awhile ago. My aunt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer over 15 years ago. She went in less than 4 months. Her hospice services allowed for music therapy. We asked what that was - a guitarist would come to her home for an hour to provide comfort from isolation and depression. She didn’t choose it but did choose a massage therapist. My mother and I were at the home during his first visit to assure it was comfortable for her. We talked with him and he was trained to work with terminally ill patients. He was really an amazing person and only worked with terminal patients. He provided weekly sessions at her home and eventually at the hospice center. I assume the music therapist would have done the same.

I have had two friends with children with eating disorders. One kid did get an art degree and her mother talked about her interest in art therapy as she had access to that during eating disorder treatment. I did a quick check on- line and both major ED clinics list specialty therapies including music therapy.

Also a quick check on umn music school site says that the music therapy internships are done through the umn health system (a large system of hospitals and clinics throughout the metro area). One of the ED treatment sites is affiliated with umn.

And a harpist in a lobby is not a trained therapist working directly with patients. A music therapist works directly with patients. However I do think available positions are limited (and I’m not sure they are full time staffers or maybe contracted). That is probably the reason for the low acceptance rate at umn to assure students get placement. Note umn has a very good medical school that coordinates with other dept (such as nutrition) so I would guess the music therapy work is demanding and placement good @oboemom65 indicates.