Today is Tuesday, July 21st, and in this twenty-ninth episode we’ll share some reflections on the question:
Where should one study music therapy?
Today, for anyone wishing to begin a training pathway in our discipline, the possibilities are truly many — and, above all, extremely varied.
There are courses for every taste: one year, two years, three years, up to four years; offered by private associations, universities, or conservatoires; with weekly attendance, fortnightly attendance, once a month, or even once a year, concentrated into fifteen days during the summer.
There are specialist training courses, advanced courses, first-level courses, second-level courses, Master’s programmes — and even these may be first or second level.
There are schools designed for people with a specific previous educational background. In other words, in order to enrol, you must already have a particular qualification as a prerequisite.
For example, if you take a second-level or specialist course, you need to have a first-level three-year degree.
Still within this category, linked in some way to the idea of prerequisites, there are schools that require a high level of musical competence, while others are more “permissive” and open their doors to anyone.
Another element of distinction is the educational focus.
There are courses that aim to provide general training, while others are dedicated to exploring the application of music therapy in a particular field or specific area of practice: music therapy and autism, music therapy and end-of-life care, and so on.
The market also offers training pathways centred on the instrument of choice that one will use: harp therapy, singing therapy, choir therapy, sound therapy, gongs, Tibetan bowls, overtone singing, didgeridoo, tuning forks, and so on.
Finally, to complete this long list, the student may choose between single-subject pathways — music therapy — or mixed pathways, such as arts therapies, within which music therapy is also included.
As you can see, there is no shortage of possibilities.
Quite the opposite.
Despite this abundance of training opportunities, the doubts in the mind of the young — or not so young — student who is about to choose are endless.
No.
That is not true.
In fact, they are not endless.
The top three questions are, in no particular order:
“Is this course recognised?”
“Will the training I receive be serious and qualifying?”
And:
“After this school, what job opportunities will I have?”
These are three questions that reveal quality as the main criterion.
In other words:
“Tell me which school is the best, because I am strongly motivated to obtain the best possible training currently available on the market.”
The questions I am asked immediately afterwards, however, are of a completely different kind.
In fact, they almost seem to contradict the first ones.
- How long does the course last?
- Will I be able to fit it around my work and family commitments?
- Will subjects X, Y, and Z be recognised?
- How many absences am I allowed?
From certain points of view, this is paradoxical.
Because at first, the person interested in studying asks for advice about quality.
But then they ask questions that suggest that the time available will not be very much, that music therapy is not the main option at that particular moment in their life, and that they already know from the start that they will not be able to devote themselves to study with the dedication that every student should have when training for what will one day become their profession.
I deliberately said that this may seem paradoxical.
But in truth, it is not.
There are complex reasons that almost “force” the student to manage a culturally “schizophrenic” situation.
But that is another chapter, and we will talk about it in a future episode.
For now, I’ll stop here.
We’ll meet again on Tuesday, July 28th, with a new episode of A Light-Hearted Journey Through Music Therapy.