Music Therapy

Music Therapy is a commonly overlooked profession within the music industry and in society. This is astounding considering “the amount of people who use music as their own personal coping skill.” (TEDx Talks, 2016). “Music is one of the only things in life that processes information on both sides of the brain at once,” as it targets “areas responsible for auditory processing, motor control, emotion, [and] memory” (TEDx Talks, 2016). With this information, music therapy is used to help patients with dementia, traumatic brain injuries, anxiety, autism etc. In this essay I will be exploring how you would get into the profession, what life is like as a music therapist and the challenges that are likely to come up.

Becoming a Music Therapist

As this profession is also in healthcare, there are more requirements to get into it, compared to other jobs in the music industry, which would be more creativity or talent based. There are two paths you can take to become a licenced music therapist, the first and most popular is by acquiring a master’s degree in music therapy that is approved by the HCPC (Health and Care Professionals Council). There are only eight universities across the UK which provide a HCPC approved course in music therapy, therefore getting accepted into one is an incredibly competitive and challenging process. The alternative route is through a Level 7 apprenticeship; however, these are limited. In order to get accepted into either, you will need a degree in Music or a relevant subject, this would include Psychology, Education or Health and social care. Expectedly, even if you do not have a music degree, you will still require a high level of music skill, as you’ll be using “a wide range of instruments, including voice, and the music created is often improvised.” (NHS, 2015). Additionally, you will also need 1-2 years of work experience in an establishment which provides education, health, or social care. This could be paid or voluntary.

Knowledge, skills, and personal qualities

When being accepted onto the master’s degree an “assessment of personality and suitability for the work also form part of an interview.” (BAMT, n.d.) Music therapist’s clients are often considered vulnerable, so you need to be someone who provides a safe space for your patients. The NHS, provide a list of skills and personal qualities you will need:

• “a high level of musicianship including improvisation skills

• excellent communication skills

• creativity, intuition, and imagination

• an ability to relate to people from all backgrounds and to provide a safe environment

• flexibility, adaptability, and openness

• resourcefulness

• a non-judgmental approach

• emotional strength and resilience

• sensitivity and maturity and to be able to reflect on their own emotions”

From this list, it is clear that your personality and nature are equally as important as your musicianship and education. Musicianship is obviously required since you are using music as a language to allow others to express themselves. And a knowledge of psychology is also vital, as it allows you to have a deeper understanding of your client, and ensures you have the skills to plan sessions that are catered to your client or alter your plan in the session based on their behavior.

However, intuition, adaptability and patience are not things that can be taught but are qualities you cannot be a Music Therapist without. This is because “no session is ever the same just as no person is exactly the same. The sessions are very much based on the… people who are there at that time, and focusses on what they are able to offer, rather than following a set routine” (BBC Children In Need, 2020). You will be working with vulnerable people, who have different backgrounds, abilities, pace, age, etc. To be able to provide them with the same level of effective care, you will need to convey all the personal qualities listed above.

Duties and Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of a music therapist can be divided into three categories: practical tasks, administrative tasks, or planning. Practical tasks include the sessions where you meet with your patient and practice music therapy, or the regular sessions you would have with a senior music therapist. The reason why having sessions with senior therapists are non-negotiable is to ensure your practice is competent and ethical, check on your emotional wellbeing, and to give you the opportunity to ask someone for help regarding patients. Admin tasks will include authoring reports, organizing confidential records, or making recommendations. Finally, you have the planning tasks, where you’ll plan client session using a “variety of approaches and techniques to meet the individual needs to clients, whether that’s tapping into the emotional and psychological benefits or working creatively to support the wellbeing of clients; or using music and rhythm to improve movement and motor function.” (Steps Rehabilitation, 2022).

Intellectual and Personal Challenges

This work can be very emotionally heavy, so a lot of emotional resilience and patience is required. It is also extremely easy to start feeling discouraged when you are not seeing progress. In Mercedes Pavlicevic’s book, ‘Music Therapy: Intimate Notes,’ a studying music therapist states: “nothing was happening in the first three sessions. I felt bad, frustrated.” While having sessions with this client, they were still under supervision, and kept being told to “play less, listen more,” which only left them more frustrated as they felt like no progress was being made with neither playing nor listening. Even when the client eventually had a breakthrough (many sessions later), they were afraid that they “might end up frustrated after each session because it didn’t happen again.” Progress can be slow and non-linear, especially in this context, but it is also natural as a music therapist to feel like you are failing or doing a disservice to your client. This is a personal challenge that many music therapists, particularly at the start of their careers, need to face.

Emotional burnout is also a challenge in this profession. “Three key components of burnout are physical, mental and emotional exhaustion caused by emotionally demanding situations that go on for a considerable period,” which results in “disengagement, blunted emotions, helplessness and hopelessness with feeling trapped, causing detachment and depression” (Dinesh Bhugra, 2025). it is also found that those who have burnout, typically will also be going through compassion fatigue. “Compassion fatigue is an occupational hazard which is not uncommon among healthcare professionals.” (Remen, 2006). As a music therapist, you are “immersed in stress during working hours and taking some of the stress home,” so under these circumstances, you can only expect for your humanity and empathy to slowly disintegrate. There is no shame in having these conditions, but in this profession, you need to spot these signs early and take a break from your work when needed, as this negatively effects your clients.

Career Progression

A music therapists career starts by working in a hospital or for the NHS, under the supervision of a senior therapist. As time passes and you gain more experience, your cases gradually get more complex, and you start working more independently. “NHS starting salaries range from £35,392 to £42,618 (band 6 of the NHS Agenda for change pay rates), the goes up to band 7 if you’re very experienced, and then band 8a if you manage additional responsibilities” (Prospects, 2018). From this, we can see that there is limited career progression that can happen while you are working for the NHS, this is why many music therapists start venturing into private sectors where they have more control over their pay, hours, and responsibilities. It is also common for music therapists to choose to specialise in one area, which usually requires further training, but adds to their experience, meaning they can charge more. After forming a private practice, a music therapist will usually look for roles in schools, teaching, training, or research.

Financial and Legal Issues

The main financial issue found in this profession is the financial instability. When working for the NHS you will likely have a fixed salary, however if you choose to start a private practice, do work for charity work or teach, having a stable income is a struggle, due to your hours and workload being unpredictable. There are also limited full-time roles in Music therapy, so it is quite common for one to have multiple part-time jobs or work freelance. And even if you do find a full-time role for the NHS, Music therapy heavily relies on donations, making it susceptible to budget cuts, therefore there is always the risk of your salary fluctuating.

The second issue is perfectly described by Music Therapist Mai Abe as she has stated, “becoming a music therapist is really expensive, and sometimes your salary once you’re licensed is not enough to justify the cost of the education.” (CreavtiveVibesMT , 2022). Tuition fees alone can start at £10,000 and go up to £18,000, for the full program. “As well as course fees, you will also have to pay additional costs for items such as personal therapy, personal indemnity insurance, placement travel costs and criminal records checks” (Prospects, 2018). Even when you are doing placements during your studies, they usually offer low pay, or sometimes no pay at all. Spending all these costs into becoming a licenced music therapist, to then get into the profession and face unstable income can be disheartening. The financial issues around music therapy comes down to society’s dismissiveness of the profession due to it being unconventional. “This is one of the number one reasons why so many music therapists eventually choose to pivot or change careers entirely.” (CreavtiveVibesMT, 2022).

Moreover, the main legal issue around Music therapy is the matter of copyright. Krüger, Viggo, and Kathleen M. Murphy (2023) explored the question of copyright in music therapy practice with children, and found that “generally, national copyright laws imply that as soon as the child writes, composes, draws, or creates a work of art – a song, a canvas, or a computer file – it is protected by copyright. The child does not have to register the work; it is automatically protected as soon as it is created. This applies whether the piece of art is created in collaboration with an adult or with peers.”

Despite this being the national copyright laws, questions of copyright are still bought up, like, “when asking children to participate in our practices or in research, do we inform them about their rights concerning copyright? Or is music therapy practice and research a free zone or grey area where the laws on copyright do not matter, or count that much? Is it so that in the end many of us do not believe that our clients or participants will create a song or a piece of art worth protecting with copyright law?” (Krüger, Viggo, and Kathleen M. Murphy, 2023) Questions like these are constantly raised in this context, even with adult clients. It is often wondered whether music in therapy should be copyrighted, due to its unlikeliness of getting recorded, released or used for profit. However, despite these questions, it still undoubtedly falls under copyright laws and as a licenced Music Therapist, you must be aware of this to ensure you never break any of these laws.

Marketing and Promotional aspects

If you are planning to work for a hospital, or another form of public healthcare, marketing yourself is not an issue. However, if you would like to have a private practice or work at a school, you will need to market and promote yourself, as you would any other business. A good starting point is by creating a website, where you would talk about yourself and why you became a music therapist, list your services in detail, name your therapist credentials, and even include reviews from clients you have had. Like many other jobs in the music industry, you can offer free taster sessions, to give people the chance to decide if you are a good fit for them. You can also promote yourself by having an online presence on social media. Music therapy is still not taken seriously, so part of marketing will be educating society, and social media is a perfect tool to get information spread. However, you should be cautious with sharing client results or testimonials online, to ensure you are not breaking any ethical guidelines, you should get their written consent before recording or posting anything.

Bibliography

BAMT (n.d.) “British Association for Music Therapy:: Music Therapy Courses (HCPC Approved).”  www.bamt.org/training/music-therapy-courses-hcpc-approved. (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

BBC Children In Need (2020) “A Day in the Life of Emily, Music Therapist at BOSP – BBC Children in Need.”  www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/changing-lives/stories/a-day-in-the-life-of-emily-music-therapist-at-bosp/. (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

CreavtiveVibesMT (2022) “3 Downsides of Being a Music Therapist | Realities of a Music Therapy Career.”  www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADm0jQLOqYg. (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

Dinesh Bhugra (2025) “Burnout: Its Meaning and How to Deal with It?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11826810/ (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

Krüger, Viggo, and Kathleen M. Murphy (2023) “The Question of Copyright in Music Therapy Practice and Research with Children: A Short Essay.” Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, vol. 23, no. 1, 1 Mar. 2023. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368943744_The_Question_of_Copyright_in_Music_Therapy_Practice_and_Research_with_Children_A_Short_Essay (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

NHS (2015) “Music Therapist.” Health Careers,  www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/roles-allied-health-professions/music-therapist. (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

Pavlicevic, Mercedes (2007) Music Therapy: Intimate Notes. London, Jessica Kingsley, pp. 1–27.  

Prospects (2018) “Music Therapist Job Profile .” Prospects.ac.uk, Prospects, 2018, www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/music-therapist. (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

Remen R. N. (2006). Kitchen table wisdom: Stories that heal. Pan Australia. (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

Steps Rehabilitation (2022) “A Day in the Life of a Neurologic Music Therapist (NMT) – STEPS Rehabilitation.”  https://stepsrehabilitation.co.uk/2022/03/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-neurologic-music-therapist-nmt/ (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026). 

TEDx Talks (2016) “Why I Want to Change the World with Music Therapy | Erin Seibert | TEDxUSFSP.”  www.youtube.com/watch?v=47-90fPyQa8. (Accessed 2 Jan. 2026).