Yes, music therapy IS a thing! Contrary to what people may think when they hear your major, you do not spend your time singing to people to make them feel better. Music therapy is a small but mighty field. It is definitely an up and coming profession full of dedicated, caring people looking to make a difference in the world. That is, after they graduate. But being in college as a music therapy major is not all drum circles and smiles.

1. Nobody knows this major exists.

Chances are, you didn't even know what music therapy was exactly as you walked into Intro to Music Therapy on the first day of classes. Your parents question for the longest time why they're paying so much to send you to school to learn about something most people have never even heard of. Explaining your major at family parties over and over again is absolutely exhausting. But you can't blame other people for not knowing. It is a scarce major, especially if you live in New England. There are only two schools with undergrad programs and one with only a masters program in the whole region.

2. "So you sing to sad people?"

Going back to #1, nobody knows that music therapy is a thing, and when they do, they still have no clue what exactly it is. You have been asked countless times if you sing to sad people or listen to music with sick people. Sure, that might be part of it; but there is SO MUCH MORE! Music therapists bring dementia patients' memories back with their old favorite songs. We help kids on the Autism spectrum learn how to form relationships, stay engaged, and participate in group music sessions. We help patients with traumatic brain injuries learn to walk again using rhythm. We help war veterans cope with PTSD, and so much more! The populations a music therapist can work with are endless and growing all the time.

3. So. Many. Classes.

Like any music major, we have TONS of classes per semester. We have general music classes like theory, ear training, and music history. We also have an ensemble, like chorus or band, as well as private lessons in piano and our primary instrument. AND THEN there's the clinical stuff; clinical voice, clinical guitar, intro to music therapy, music as a health resource, and more. And unless you go to a music college, don't forget about those general education requirements like english, math, and science classes. On top of all of that, we also have to make time for those resume building extracurricular activities. Long story short, we are busy people.

4. You get thrown into the field immediately.

In addition to all of those classes, music therapy majors have to get a lot of clinical experience in a short amount of time. Your freshman year is full of driving hours to observe music therapists working in all different populations to get an idea of who you want to work with. Then you have pre-practicum in a nursing home, practicum with kids, and a year of internship with the population of your choice. And most of the time, the sites that actually offer music therapy where you can be supervised are few and far between. We're talking hours of driving and tons of gas money.

5. Practice, practice, practice

Nothing could be worse than looking anything less than musically inclined in front of your professors, supervisors, and especially a client. On top of all the time you take to do homework for your classes, music takes hours of practice just to be okay at piano, guitar, percussion, and singing; all of which you are learning at the same time.

6. Most of the time, you're the one who needs therapy.

12 classes per semester (some of which aren't even for credit), homework, practice, clubs, and jobs leave little time to make music for fun or even catch a minute of sleep. Lack of sleep means lots of stress, and stress means wanting to relax, but being a music major means there is no time to relax, and on and on until you have nightly mental breakdowns and wonder how you can be a therapist and help other people cope with their problems when you can barely manage your own. It makes you really appreciate those classes you spend drawing what music sounds like and banging your anger out on instruments in a drum circle.

7. You love what you do more than anything.

A career where you get to help people.. AND make music all the time? What could possibly be better than that?! Music therapists have a super wide range of clients and can touch the lives of so many people in their career. While being a music therapy major is an immense amount of hard work, the reward is most definitely worth the effort. Music therapists change lives every day they go to work at a hospital, nursing home, school, or rehabilitation center. We as the next generation of music therapists are lucky enough to be entering the field at prime time where people are realizing that medication and conventional therapies are not magic cures for everything. As us musical people like to say, "where words fail, music speaks."