It’s time to feature another Frequently Asked Music Therapy Question. What does a music therapy session actually look like? What happens in a session and if my classroom is able to get the funding for music therapy, what would my students actually be doing?
All great questions. I actually had a special education teacher ask me at the beginning on this school year if I had this written down somewhere and I was surprised when I realized I didn’t. So now it is officially in writing.
Music Therapy sessions are always goal driven and so what actually happens in the session will vary greatly depending on the needs and level of participation of the students. However, the structure and format of a music therapy session are almost always the same.
Gathering Song
To begin each session, we need a song to say hello and gather us together. Sometimes, we will sings hello to all of the group members and other times doesn’t address each member, but the purpose of the song is the same. It is used to bring everyone together and gather the group to begin music. Sometimes the Gathering Song includes instruments for the students to take turns or share and support peer social interactions. Other times, a Gathering Song would include Body Percussion like clapping hands, patting knees, or stamping feet.
Goal Driven Music Experiences
Depending on the group goals, the music experiences in the session may include a variety of music therapy strategies and interventions.
Here are some goal areas and examples of music therapy strategies our music therapists may use:
- Increasing joint attention (group members all focused on the same thing at the same time) – we may do more body percussion and imitating body movements.
- Increasing verbal expressions – we may do some improvisational singing on syllables and other sounds.
- Developing appropriate social skills – we may do a song with questions and answers, asking each other how your day was.
- Increasing Receptive Language Skills – we may use instruments to work on following simple instructions.
- Developing Skills to Participate in Groups – we may use songwriting as a way to work collaboratively as a group towards a goal such as completing a song or recording a CD.
Cool Down
I often include a Cool Down in the music therapy sessions to bring us all back to a quiet place after a lot of intense effort on our goal areas. In some sessions, this is active listening to quiet guitar music and in other sessions, it may be a movement activity with scarves. Either way, the purpose is to bring us back to a quiet place, relax our bodies and our minds, and prepare us for the transition to say goodbye.
Closing Song
A closing song tells everyone in the group that our music time is finished and we are transitioning to the next activity. We say goodbye to each other in the song structure and then if it’s appropriate we will stand up and move on to the next thing in the music making it a seamless musical transition. This is often very helpful and successful in classrooms that have a difficult time transitioning.
So there you have it, an outline for a 30-45 minute music therapy session. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to post them below. If you have questions about specific music therapy strategies and ideas that would work for your classroom, please call Meredith Pizzi, MT-BC at 781-665-0700.