Questions about degrees and credentials

[MT-PRO Music Therapy List]

Joe brought up some good points that I didn't think about, specifically 
concerning a factor I neglected, which was that people have been practicing 
in the field for a long time who were educated when there were ONLY 
bachelor's programs available.  Certainly in the case of someone having years 
of experience there I would not suggest that they were unable to work on the 
levels I described of the advanced degrees.  I do know that many music 
therapists in the New York City area went back and earned their master's once 
it became available at NYU, although they had been practicing for many years 
beforehand.  
 
The idea of having to have a degree one step ahead of your students becomes 
difficult because that would mean that more professors would have to get 
their doctorates to train master's level students.  Most of my professors at 
NYU did not have a doctorate, but were extraordinarily well-qualified and 
extremely experienced and had advanced training of other kinds, such as 
Nordoff-Robbins music therapy certification, and usually if not always two 
music therapy degrees (bachelor's and master's).  Many more do have their 
doctorate now than when I was there - I am also curious where the other 
doctorate programs are besides NYU.  Is anyone familiar with these?  
 
One other thing that Joe mentioned was about the requirement of having a 
master's degree to teach.  In regards to the associations, I have still seen 
some faculty positions advertised where they require an RMT or even 
specifically an NAMT internship.  What do people think about this?  
 
I thought that issue was going to disappear with the unification and I know 
it had previously been a hot topic for music therapists in both associations, 
whether those with RMTs should be able to teach at AAMT schools and whether 
those with CMTs should be able to teach at NAMT schools.
 
I have a lot of thoughts on this as well as questions about those who have 
kept their previous certifications (such as I have) and not gotten the BC, 
which now (as opposed to before the unification) requires the previous 
credentials (RMT, CMT) to be dropped, or those who have decided to drop their 
previous credentials in favor of board certification.  Certain job postings 
specifically request board certification, which I have found interesting, but 
never a problem when I've actually gone to interview for a job.
 
Thanks for all the interesting discussion.  I look forward to more.
 
Lori Baur, M.A., C.M.T.
 
-- MT-PRO Music Therapy List, mtpro@multipro.com on 08/26/1999 at 10:40:37 PM


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