How I Got Into Music Therapy

Through listening to a few great podcasts, like The Music Therapy with Janice Harris and Music Therapy Round Table, I have grown to realize that every music therapist came upon the profession a little differently. I guess I always knew this, but it has come to my attention a little more lately, so I thought I'd follow suit and give my little story.

I've been singing since before I can remember. My dad sang in a men's chorus and the church choir and, being a little boy, I wanted to be just like Dad. I remember singing the liturgy in church and I remember singing "Silent Night" by myself for church when I was about 5. It makes sense, then, that I focused much of my efforts in school on music. I always got good parts in little plays and musical productions, mostly because there were not a lot of other boys that wanted to do them. I don't think I ever made the conscious thought that "I want to make music for my life's work", but I think that, deep down, I always just wanted to make music as a career.

While I was developing as a musician, I also started finding that my friends would come to me when they needed to talk or needed support. I was good at keeping secrets and giving a different perspective on hard situations. People seemed to like that about me. Eventually, even people I didn't really hang out with would tell me their problems. This was around high school and it was about that time that I thought I could make a career helping people. I initially was thinking about counseling or psychology.

During my junior year, when all teachers start saying things like "When you get out of high school..." or "In a real job, you will have to/can't get away with..." and really started trying to get us to think about college or what jobs we wanted. I talked to my mom about wanting to do something with music but also liking the idea of helping people. She is a substitute teacher, so she took a prep hour and looked up various careers, printed out a list, and brought them home. She never said, "You should do this," which is good, because knowing myself at that point, I probably would have done the opposite. Music therapy was listed on the front page of the stack, though, and it immediately caught my attention. I spent some time on the American Music Therapy Association website and knew that's what I wanted to do.

I guess I got lucky, because I didn't really know anything about music therapy before going to school for it. I chose my college based on who had good programs in the Midwest. If music therapy hadn't worked out, my life would be a lot different that it is now. I can do my next post on how I chose which field of music therapy I wanted to work in, but I think this is enough for today.

Have a great weekend!