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Music Therapy

What is Music Therapy?

Music therapy is the scientific application of the art of music within a therapeutic relationship to meet the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of individuals. Music experiences provided by the music therapist may involve the client's active participation in creating music such as through singing, playing instruments, songwriting, or improvisation or receptive engagement in music through imaging, listening, or moving to music.

With whom and where do music therapists work?

Music therapists work with people of all ages from premature newborns to older adults at the end of life.   They are employed in a variety of settings, including medical and psychiatric hospitals, schools, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, developmental centers, prisons, and wellness centers. Increasingly, music therapists also are working in private practice.

What is the focus of the Music Therapy Program at Appalachian?

The Music Therapy Program at Appalachian State University is designed to prepare students for competent professional practice in music therapy. Graduates of the program demonstrate acquisition of the Professional Competencies established by the American Music Therapy Association. Because successful practice of music therapy requires strong interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, and verbal skills, the curriculum is equally multifaceted. The music therapy courses reflect acquisition of knowledge and skills with particular attention to the primary populations currently served by music therapists: children and adolescents with all types of disabilities; adults with mental disorders; and children, adults, and older adults with medical conditions. In addition to solid preparation in classical music, the curriculum provides for training of music skills essential for music therapy: functional piano, guitar, voice, and improvisation.

A central element in the Appalachian Music Therapy Program is clinical experience that begins during the freshman year with observations of music therapists in community settings. Each semester beginning in the sophomore year, the student becomes a member of a team that is assigned to an affiliated clinical site. At the site, the team is responsible for planning and implementing weekly therapeutic music experiences for an assigned group of clients under the direct supervision of an experienced, board-certified music therapist. The Appalachian Music Therapy Program maintains affiliations with a diverse array of sites that serve people with disabilities or medical conditions, including an early intervention day care, an inclusive preschool, public schools, an after-school program for at-risk adolescents, in-patient and out-patient programs for adults with mental illness or developmental disabilities, an acute medical center, and nursing homes. The culminating experience of the program is a required internship in an affiliated clinical training site.