Music Therapy Awareness Month
Hello and Happy Music Therapy Awareness Month!
This month is especially near and dear to our hearts, as it sheds a light on what we do as music therapists and educators. So with that being said, let our staff tell you why they decided to go into this field:
I became a music therapist because of my Grandma who had dementia. Even when she could not remember my name or how she knew me, she remembered that she loved me and that I was musical. I realized then that music has an incredible power. I wish she had access to music therapy, but it is a joy and honor to provide music therapy for older adults now in my work!
— Sara Slusarski
I’ve always been passionate about music and people. The moment I discovered a career path that would allow me to use music to help people, I was hooked! I think music therapy is important because music can open doors to help us better understand ourselves and the world around us. Music helps us understand and communicate our deepest emotions, promoting a sense of connection and community… reminding us that we are not alone.
— Sam Roane
For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples and ancient cultures across the globe have used music as medicine—harnessing rhythm, melody, and song as tools for healing, connection, and emotional expression. This deep understanding of music’s power laid the foundation for what would eventually become the formal profession of music therapy.
Though there were two medical dissertations on the therapeutic value of music in the late 1700s/early 1800s, the profession of music therapy can be traced back to World War I and II when community musicians began visiting veterans to uplift their spirits. Doctors and nurses alike noticed marked improvements in physical and emotional responses in their patients, which resulted in hospitals posting musician job opportunities, and colleges (like Michigan State!) started making courses to train them! In the 1940s, three key innovators emerged – Psychiatrist and music therapist Ira Altshuler, MD, Willem van de Wall, who pioneered the use of music therapy in state-funded facilities and wrote the first “how to” music therapy text, and the “father of music therapy”, E. Thayer Gaston, who moved the profession forward not only organizationally but educationally as well. We use adapted plans with seeds of these innovators in our everyday operations, and don’t know where we would be without the foundations that they built.
Music Therapy has evolved over the years, and that’s what we do best when it comes to our practices and classes, because adapting to each population we teach is how we get the best outcomes!
Register for one of our classes below to see firsthand the work we do.