musicianship and credentialing

MT-PRO Music Therapy List mtpro@multipro.com
Wed, 27 Oct 1999 23:01:45 -0500


Once more I fell compelled to respond to this thread and would like to share
an experience I had last year.  I was assigned a practicum student from a
local undergraduate music therapy program, our facility employs a large
number of music therapists and has an excellent internship program.  She was
with me 1 day per week, and with another supervisor 1 other day.  At the
time, she was a senior and this was her fist practical experience, having
spent a year in another facility observing and transporting patients to
groups for the MT"s.  She came to me with no real musical skills and was
unable to accompany herself on either piano or guitar.  She was unable or
unwilling to even lead with her voice even though she was a vocal major and
could not even verbalize any knowledge of theory, psychology or any
understanding of the developmental process.  ( population was
developmentally disabled children, 4.5 thru 12. )  I would not have taken
her if I had known this from the beginning, but she came with great
recommendations and consistently said she was willing to do whatever it took
to improve.
I had to fail her at the end because she didn't.  Her college graduated her
anyway with a degree in music therapy, although she will never be eligible
to take the board certification exam because she did not complete the
internship, she still has a diploma.  It frightens me to think that she
might be able to go to another state and get a job because the employer is
probably not aware of our credentialling process, isn't familiar with her
college and might agree with her that music therapy can be done with taped
music and games.
I still get a little upset when I reflect on that whole experience, and it
makes me only that much more interested in finding a way to establish
meaningful dialogue on credentialling.

Christine Wineberg
-- MT-PRO Music Therapy List, mtpro@multipro.com on 10/27/1999 at 11:01:21 PM


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