A Tipping Point for Music Therapy

There has recently been a tremendous amount of change in the field of music therapy. In the last 5-10 years, I have seen us reach what feels like a tipping point. This tipping point is where all of our advocacy, research and clinical work are making a difference in the media, in education, in medicine and with the general public. People are coming to us, seeking our services with degrees of familiarity and knowledge about our work that demonstrate this tipping point. As music therapists, we are less engaged in talks about what music therapy is - the elevator pitch we all have honed over the years. We are now involved in collaborative problem solving of clinical cases, starting small businesses to meet community needs and securing employment with greater success than I have witnessed in the nearly 40 years I have been in the field.

In April of 2014, I was flown to Valencia, Spain to film a TEDx talk on music therapy. It is called ‘How music can heal our brain and heart.’ It has been seen by over 150,000 people. I hope that I have been able to contribute to this tipping point with my various presentations and work over the past 40 years in the field.

Music Therapy Tales is committed to keeping that movement going with films and interviews that tell the story of this beloved profession and the people who are transformed by it. Think of the power that music has to reach someone with dementia who begins to sing and dance after not being able to talk for years. Think of the beauty that music brings to the hard work of recovery from a stroke. People with strokes walk better to rhythmic music than without music. With children who have autism, music is a language and a connection with the world that they have trouble finding in speech and language.

And beyond my world in Boston are efforts being made around the globe to better understand our work, to further research it and to develop protocols so that people young and old can benefit from music as a clinical intervention. Just recently, the renowned opera star and music advocate Renee Fleming hosted two music therapy colleagues, Tom Sweitzer and Dr. Wendy Magee in a wonderful conversation about the work. I have to say that I am glad that I have been in the profession this long to see it happen. Check it out and see for yourself. Be part of the tip that brings humanity into medicine and education through the beauty and power of music.