About This Career

Plans, organizes, directs, or assesses clinical and evidenced-based music therapy interventions to positively influence individuals' physical, psychological, cognitive, or behavioral status.

This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Designs or provides music therapy experiences to address client needs, such as using music for self-care, adjusting to life changes, improving cognitive functioning, raising self-esteem, communicating, or controlling impulses.
• Designs music therapy experiences, using various musical elements to meet client's goals or objectives.
• Sings or plays musical instruments, such as keyboard, guitar, or percussion instruments.
• Communicates with clients to build rapport, acknowledge their progress, or reflect upon their reactions to musical experiences.
• Customizes treatment programs for specific areas of music therapy, such as intellectual or developmental disabilities, educational settings, geriatrics, medical settings, mental health, physical disabilities, or wellness.
• Establishes client goals or objectives for music therapy treatment, considering client needs, capabilities, interests, overall therapeutic program, coordination of treatment, or length of treatment.
• Documents evaluations, treatment plans, case summaries, or progress or other reports related to individual clients or client groups.
• Assesses client functioning levels, strengths, and areas of need in terms of perceptual, sensory, affective, communicative, musical, physical, cognitive, social, spiritual, or other abilities.
• Observes and documents client reactions, progress, or other outcomes related to music therapy.
• Improvises instrumentally, vocally, or physically to meet client's therapeutic needs.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
• Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Picking out a particular sound in the presence of other sounds
• Detecting sounds and hearing the differences between sounds of different pitch and loudness
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Regular working hours and limited travel