Making advocacy even easier

As advocacy month comes to a close, I wanted to share another important post. I wrote recently about contacting your state representatives. As intimidating as this can be, I want to make it as straightforward and simple as possible.

I am grateful to Olivia Swedberg, chair of the Florida Music Therapy Government Relations Task Force. She has already taken steps to make conversation with your representatives easy. If you are considering writing to your representatives, use these resources that Olivia has put together.


The first is some guidelines to consider when writing your legislators. It includes tips for addressing the representative, formatting the letter, representing yourself, and speaking out on behalf of music therapy.

The second resource is a letter to your representative that is already written for you. All you have to do is FILL IN THE BLANKS! Olivia has made contacting your representatives that easy.

To wrap things up, I want to make a note on follow-up with your representatives. Olivia emphasizes allowing officials an opportunity to see music therapy in action. To make the biggest impact, she suggests that you follow-up the letter by calling a week later to schedule a meeting. However, students likely do not have an established practice that a representative might observe. There are alternatives to this. For example, just sending a letter describing your student status may be effective. You may be brave enough to meet with your representative to discuss what you hope for in the future as a professional. Or, with a professional's permission, perhaps you may invite the representative to that professional's session.

The point I want to make clear is that ANYone can be an advocate for music therapy. Do what you can with what you have. Students should not feel like they do not have a voice.

Discuss: What are some other suggestions and alternatives are out there for students, professionals, or other advocates who feel intimidated by the thought of meeting/contacting their representative?

Some current events can help advocate MT

This month is a great one to be discussing advocacy. Recently, there have been a couple things that have brought music therapy to the eyes of the general population. We can use this as a means for advocacy!

We all know the tragedy that befell Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona recently. If you have been keeping up with the news, you will know that she has survived a shooting but faces a long road to recovery. The media of course has been following her progress. Recently ABC news ran a clip on Giffords, and mentioned the "high-tech" therapies that might help Gifford. An example of this, he says, is music therapy. He gives a nice, short explanation of how MT might help Giffords redevelop her speech and communication.



In addition to this, there is a movie being shown at the Sundance film festival (going on RIGHT NOW!) about music therapy: The Music Never Stopped. Read about it here, on the AMTA website! And then visit their website and contact them to request a screening in your area. Like their facebook page (or Myspace or Twitter) and comment there, too.



This is a great opportunity to contact Giffords' fellow representatives and bring to light the greatness of music therapy. As the general population learns more about our profession, we hope that they will let their government representatives know that they want more of us. In the long run, this will mean a higher demand for music therapy and thus, music therapists. This means more jobs!

Write letters, emails, or make phone calls that mention this ABC news clip and the Sundance film festival movie and let the representatives know that music therapy is important to you.

Let Me Explain Something You May Not Know

Sometime within these past five years, I became an advocate of music therapy. I’d like to believe I know myself pretty well, but somehow I managed to transform into this role by accident. It was pretty sneaky how it happened, considering the fact that I was NOT looking for this hat to wear on top of all the others. And let’s just be honest here. You’re probably wearing that hat as well.

An advocate of music therapy is any person that stands up for our field. It might simply be someone that answers the question, “What is music therapy?” We answer this question a lot. Beyond this, students and professionals regularly practice advocacy when they dress up and attend an observation, practicum, internship, or other session. Generally, if you wear the hat of music therapist or music therapy student, then you can already consider yourself an advocate.

Knowing that you are already an advocate of music therapy, I want you to consider two things. One, in your everyday life, represent your career choice to the best of your ability. This means dress appropriately, speak intelligently, and act professionally. Put your best into every meeting, planning, and session. Two, is it possible to do more? If you love your field, let people know it. Make your circle just a little larger and teach people the reasons you love music therapy. Speak up and make your voice just a little bit bigger.

Because government has a hand in everything we do, the ultimate goal here is to let the big guys know that our field is worth a penny. You can do this on whatever level makes you feel comfortable. If you are comfortable speaking out on behalf of music therapy within your current circle of friends, this increases awareness in hopes that they might spread your word in their own circles. If you wish to go beyond this, you can speak out to businesses and potential music therapy clients. These are the people that can directly invest in our field. One of the greatest impacts I think you can make however, is to directly contact government representatives. If this is where the thought of advocacy gets scary, let me help make it less intimidating.

Generally, there are three layers of representatives: national, state, and local.

National level:
You have two senators to represent your state and one congressman to represent your district or community (that makes three letters).
U.S. Senate: www.senate.gov/ (search for your state in the drop down box)
U.S. House of Representatives: writerep.house.gov/

State level:
Find the website for your state legislature. The number of representatives that you can contact will depend on your state.

Local level:
Find the website for your city council and county commission (or find the equivalent of this; the names of these will vary depending where you live). The number of these will also vary.

With just a few letters (and they can all be the same, folks, just change the header!) you can get word directly to the people that directly influence our field. If a bill ever comes to their attention that involves music therapy, they may remember your letter and vote in its favor! The more they hear the words “music therapy,” the more likely it is to stick. So make your voice heard. With this new year, make a resolution to contact at least one representative. And what to say? Answer that question, “What is music therapy?” Tout the benefits. Mention the incredible research supporting it. The point, I think, is just to say “Music therapy is important to me, and as my representative it should be important to you too.”

Well advocate, thank you for reading this blog post. This may be one of the most important posts I make all year. If you have questions (I will answer any to the best of my ability!) or comments, please leave a message below.

CALLING ALL MT BLOGGERS!

If you have a music therapy blog, I want to post a link! Please, if you would like to share, leave a comment somewhere where I will see it. Leave a comment here on the blog, write a note on Facebook, or message me on Twitter.

Thank you!

Showbiz Tonight: Nordoff-Robbins MT

Benefits of student AMTA membership

I am excited today because I got in the mail my first personal copy of the Journal of Music Therapy. And so I wanted to take a few seconds to rave about the benefits of joining AMTA as a student. The biggest benefit is the low costs of joining as a student as compared with joining as a professional. As college students, I'm sure we can all appreciate this. I need a break every place I can get it, thank you.

And the discounts aren't only in the membership fee. Students are eligible for discounts on music therapy textbooks, national/regional conferences. There are more opportunities for discounts on AMTA products (such as a flash-drive filled with research publications), and first year of professional membership.

There are also a large number of scholarships available to AMTA students and interns. In fact, AMTA has recently posted new deadline dates that can be applied for now.

As you search for internships, AMTA offers a list of AMTA-affiliated internship sites. As you begin your career, AMTA offers information for building connections with other professionals, and up-to-date information to help you set fees for your own music therapy services.

As I mentioned, I received my first research publication. Members will receive 4 Journal of Music Therapy publications, 4+ Music Therapy Matters, 2 Music Therapy Perspectives, and 1 AMTA sourcebook. As I understand it, if you join now, your membership will need to be renewed again at the start of 2011. However, you will receive all of the publications available to members from January to December 2010.

A student membership is $80. (A professional membership is $220!) Join now, these are my words of wisdom.

The Mozart Effect debunked?

When I think about the Mozart Effect, I have flashbacks to my years in elementary school. In the third grade I was sitting at my classroom desk with classical music playing from the cassette player. This was only a couple years after a scientific study came out that reported that listening to classical music will make a person smarter. I look back now and realize that my teacher's motivation for playing classical music likely came from that research publication.

In recent years, I have been skeptical of this claim. Perhaps it is because of the research I've seen relating to music therapy. I know that there is a great amount of evidence out there that shows that music actively applied to a therapeutic session has significant effects. I also know that playing an instrument requires a lot of activity from different parts of the brain. But simply turning on a classical piece? I've seen little evidence of this making anyone smarter.

This article reports a new study that tested this theory on nearly 3,000 subjects. The study claims the the Mozart Effect is a myth. Psychologist Jakob Pietschnig states, "I recommend listening to Mozart to everyone, but it will not meet expectations of boosting cognitive abilities."

Though I have been skeptical of the Mozart Effect myself, it is a little disheartening to find that my skepticism may have been with reason. I understand that these studies could knock the profession of music therapy down a hit. I wish that the article would have said more about music applied to therapeutic goals. I am happy to report that it did give a little shout out to MTs: "Today music therapy does wonders."

Sadly, I know that few readers will see that line and research music therapy. It also reminds me of all the stuff out there on the internet (especially in blogs) that incorrectly defines music therapy, giving false claims. I think that, as music therapists, we will always be fighting a war of skepticism. I think it is important to be knowledgeable in the facts and report them to any listening ear. I hope to see a day where music therapy is unanimously accepted and respected.

Pepsi Refresh Project

You may have recently seen Pepsi's commercial on TV for the Refresh Project. People are submitting their ideas for people to vote on throughout the month of May. On June 1st, Pepsi will award a grant to the most voted-for ideas: 2 grants at $250,000; 10 grants at $50,000; 10 grants at $25,000; 10 grants at $10,000.

This month, a music therapist has submitted her idea to provide bedside and group music therapy to children in Denver's hospitals. Please, if you have read this entry, go now and vote for Valerie.

If you're really dedicated, vote once each day in the month of May. It's really easy to sign in if you sign in through Facebook or Twitter. I would really like to see this idea happen not only for the patients in Denver, but because I hope it will gain respect for our profession and help us in the long run.