The music therapist, who he is and what he does

The music therapist does therapy with music, which means he uses sound to improve certain psychophysical and emotional states. Numerous studies have witnessed the benefits of listening to sounds and music on people suffering from various mental illnesses such as depression, autism, dyslexia, etc. Let's find out better.

What does the music therapist do?

In Italy there is the distinction between music therapist and music therapist : the latter is the performer, the technician, the one who implements the program decided by the music therapist, who is the figure with greater responsibility and a more consistent training period behind him.

It is the music therapist who makes the diagnosis, decides the therapy and at the end of the treatment evaluates the results obtained with respect to the set goals. And only he therefore has the necessary skills to take the responsibility of digging into the past and removing blocks, interpreting, restoring, healing. THE

The music therapist is someone who accesses music therapy training without previous professionalizations.

Become a music therapist

The music therapist has a degree in medicine, psychology, education sciences and / or a conservatory graduate with a specialization in music therapy . The professions listed above are all regulated by professional orders (Order of Physicians, Order of Psychologists, Order of Psychotherapists). However, given that currently in Italy the professional profile of the music therapist is not recognized by the State and that the clinical figures enrolled in an order cannot boast of a title that is not recognized by the State, in a purely theoretical world the psychotherapist could not be said such. On the other hand, some regions are beginning to recognize the figure of the music therapist, even if formally non-existent, and the practice still wins on the normative void.

One of the main music therapy associations, the FIM (Italian Federation of Music Therapists), organizes courses to train the professional figure of the music therapist.

Two very valid conservatories, the music conservatory of L'Aquila and that of Verona, have activated music therapy courses with ministerial recognition.

Then there are other schools scattered throughout Italy, such as in Bolzano or Rome, which offer limited recognition to the region in which they are located or diplomas recognized in those European countries where the figure of the music therapist is legally recognized.

The first music therapy school in Italy was an initiative launched by the Pro Civitate Christiana of Assisi in 1981. Today the school is called Musicoterapia Assisi and organizes a four-year course in association with CONFIAM.

More and more often master or master's courses in music therapy appear.

The Faculty of Science of Education at the University of Roma3, for example, organizes a master's degree in art therapy (including music therapy).

The benefits of music therapy for children

Curiosity

The concept of music therapy as a scientific discipline developed at the beginning of the 18th century: the first treatise on music therapy dates back to the first half of the 1700s and the author is a London musician, Richard Brockiesby .