Have you ever wondered what makes a music therapist different from a musician who volunteers to play music at a hospital, home for the elderly, or a similar place? The difference might not be noticeable for some looking from the outside, but there are significant differences! This blog post tells you four differences between music therapists and musician volunteers.

First, a reminder about what we mean by music therapists and an explanation of what we mean by musician volunteers:

Music therapist:

A credentialed professional has completed an approved music therapy program and uses clinical and evidence-based music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship.

Musician volunteer:

We are using this term broadly to refer to any non-certified non-music therapist offering music on a volunteer basis. They may do so in hospitals, homes for the elderly, orphanages, or any other place where the goal goes beyond only performance and steps into the area of non-musical and therapeutic purposes.

Here are the four differences!

• Training and Skills

Being a music therapist requires specialized training. A music therapist must have at least a Bachelor’s degree in music therapy. They must also complete a clinical internship, and they need to pass the board certification. Music therapists undergo training in psychology, neurology, biology, and more. This training helps music therapists understand how the brain processes music. It is also important to know how different musical interventions have different outcomes for different populations. In other words, the training that music therapists get is directly geared towards the use of music in therapeutic settings.

On the other hand, musicians might have extensive training in their craft of playing music. They might even have training in psychology, and they might know a lot about the effects of music on the brain. Nevertheless, they do not have the comprehensive training that music therapists have in using music in therapeutic interventions.

The lines indeed get blurred in different cultures and countries as some lack the certification process present in the United States. And, at least in theory, musician volunteers could have almost the same or even better training and skill level as music therapists. Nevertheless, that is most often not the case. Musicians usually play what they are good at, and they might attune to the present needs, but they do not do it to the extent music therapists do. To make an analogy, not only because somebody knows something about psychology and has skills in helping people, does that make them a psychologist.

• Repertoire

Music therapists often engage with a broad range of patients and clients. That means working with populations from the tiniest babies to the most elderly. That also means working with a wide range of musical tastes. The little ones might not care much about what they listen to. There will be a difference between what teenager asks for and what might work in a home for the elderly. Music therapists often use sheet music, chord sheets, and other tools, but they usually have a lot of music memorized!

Music therapists must be experts at knowing songs from different styles. They should also be able to use them at the appropriate times. Not all sad songs are right at dismal times, and not all happy songs will make people happy. Music therapists are not only able to play a broad repertoire, but they are also able to find the appropriate repertoire. Musician volunteers often also know a good repertoire.

Nevertheless, a musician volunteer might have a limited repertoire. Perhaps they can play Bach, Beethoven, and Debussy gorgeously on the piano, but they cannot play Twenty One Pilots or even Old McDonald. It is not because they are not good musicians, but because they focus on what they enjoy or play best in their training. They might not be as interested as music therapists in knowing songs for people of all ages.

Disclaimer: Musician volunteers may know the same or even more repertoire than music therapists. Then the difference would lay more on how that repertoire is used to address different goals

• Goals

It is often said that music therapy is meant to address non-musical goals. Some say that by addressing people’s music we can address other issues. The ultimate goal of a music therapist indeed is to address something non-musical. Music therapists do not seek to help people become great guitarists or great ukulele players, or anything of the like. Music therapists ultimately want to address psychological, emotional, physical, social, or spiritual needs and use music to reach those goals. Thus, playing the ukulele is about playing the ukulele and about helping somebody gain confidence and self-esteem. And perhaps singing songs to a patient is to help them cope better with physical pain. And so on.

Musician volunteers have their careers playing music for other goals, most probably performance or teaching. When they come into places where they volunteer their music, they step a little bit into the world of music therapy. They perhaps start to look at other goals that reflect the therapeutic needs of those they are playing. Nevertheless, this transition could maybe not be as smooth or effective. After all, they might still fall back into their normal state of playing music and forget to pay attention to the environment, the patients, and the goals that are trying to be addressed. For example, they will not be working with patients directly in a hospital lobby. They will most likely be playing environmental music that might or might not have the desired outcomes.

• Connection to patient

Because of their training and credentials, music therapists often have a closer relationship with patients. They can start a therapeutic relationship where they work directly with a patient to address different goals. In some cases, that might involve exploring the psyche of patients and creating a profound therapist-patient relationship. In those cases, it is the goal to work through what a patient might have going on in their minds. That happens through musical interplay, but also, a relationship must develop where the therapist can access information from the patient.

In the case of musician volunteers, there remains a distance between the musician and whoever is receiving the music. In some cases, musicians might be allowed to interact closer with patients, but that is often not the case. And even if they do, they should probably never deal with patients’ psychological issues. The patient should leave their issues to a mental health professional such as a music therapist or another therapist. There always remains a broader distance between musicians and those they are helping.

In short, music therapists and musician volunteers might often seem like they are doing the same job, but this is not the case. There are differences in the training, repertoire, goals, and connection to the patient between music therapists and musician volunteers.