Music Techniques

As with any intervention, it is important to select music techniques that are appropriate for the developmental stage and chronological age of the client. Additionally, practitioners need to be mindful of the client’s strengths, problems, culture, religious and spiritual beliefs, communication and learning style, and music preferences. In fact, music has proven to be most effective when client-preferred music is used! Obviously in a school setting you may need to sensor the adolescent’s music choices a little more than you might have to in a private practice setting, but whenever possible use contemporary and client-preferred songs. Additionally, live music is best if you can play an instrument, but if not, recorded music is a great alternative.

Below are a list of some music techniques that have proven effective with adolescents and can be easily adapted for the school setting. These techniques, among others, have the capacity to facilitate self-expression, insert personal thoughts and feelings into a discussion, enhance self-awareness, stimulate verbalization, provide a pleasurable, non-threatening environment, facilitate relaxation, and reduce tension and anxiety. While song writing can be a very powerful form of creative self-expression, it does require additional musical skills and knowledge so I would not recommend this technique for music therapy beginners.

  • Relaxation & Receptive listening
  • Lyric Analysis
  • Lyric Revision/Subsitution
  • Song or rap lyric writing 
  • Music Bibliotherapy
  • Improvisation

Comments are closed.