Today I welcome Natalie Mullis, a fabulous music therapist serving Columbia, South Carolina, to share her thoughts on the potential for the field to move to a Master’s Level entry. This is not something that has been decided upon yet but is going to be presented during each Regional Conference this spring. I have asked a few people to share their thoughts on the potential change as each will have a unique perspective to offer.

If you haven’t heard, the field of music therapy is considering moving to a master’s level profession. As things currently stand, you can be a practicing music therapist with bachelor’s level training and internship completion. As you can expect, this announcement has brought about a lot of discussion; both in favor of and against the move.

 

Before I get to the pros and cons, allow me to state my bias as any good scientist (or in my case, wanna-be scientist) would. I am currently a bachelor’s level music therapist operating a private practice in its early stages. I have a desire to pursue academia in addition to my practices as a clinician. My husband and I have a modest income and little debt.

 

In the interest of ending this discussion on a happy note, I am going to begin by listing the negatives I associate with the potential move of music therapy to a master’s level field, and then move to the pros. I think you may be surprised by the balance between the two given my bias.

 

Cons:

Economic Feasibility: I was extraordinarily fortunate as a student in college to be a recipient of the HOPE Scholarship in Georgia. This scholarship pays tuition and a portion of books, room, and board for students who keep and maintain a certain grade point average. The long short of this section is that a move to master’s level will block off those of us who cannot afford to pay college tuition out of pocket. Scholarships for graduate level work are less prevalent than those for undergrad. Many receive aid through working as an assistant during their studies, but those positions are highly sought after, and many students (like myself) may not be able to move to complete their studies.

 

The Implication for Bachelor’s Level Music Therapists: My first knee jerk reaction to this was the sad thought that AMTA and the CBMT are essentially saying that I am not good enough. This was, of course, before reading the advisory, but I have to wonder how others feel about this side of things. I understand the rationale that music therapy is “bursting at the seams” with all that there is to learn, but what can I say? I was a little hurt.

 

Recognition: What comes first? The chicken or the egg? As a music therapist in private practice, I get no raise for having a graduate degree. As an employee working for the state before becoming self-employed, I received no raise, period. Are jobs available in all areas that can support a music therapist with 6+ years of loan debt? There wasn’t in my area. How will we make sure that music therapists are compensated appropriately, and not as an activity specialist?

 

Pros:

We’ll Be On Par: Many other therapeutic modalities are already on a graduate level entry, and some are even moving to a doctoral level entry (yikes). If we want music therapy to be taken seriously as a profession, we have to move with them.

 

Advanced Training: I’ll be honest here. There are a lot of situations where I have researched and e-mailed with questions that I might have had the answer to if I had advanced training. I’m just lucky enough to be driven to provide optimal service for my clients so that I seek out these answers. I like to think all music therapists are the same as I am, but the possibility exists that they aren’t. Having all music therapists operating at a master’s level of training could raise the quality of service across the board, and at Bruscia says, “It’s not about us”.

 

More Masters Programs: I briefly mentioned earlier that I cannot pack up and move to have a chance at financing my master’s degree. I’d love to be a TA and get a tuition break, but that’s not feasible for me since I have established a business at my current location. I know, I throw up the brick walls, but that’s my life. The one thing that is true is that I WANT MY MASTERS. I thirst for more education so badly. I know that there are things that I do not know about this field, and truth be told, that drives me insane. I want my masters. I want my PhD, and then I want to teach little me’s how to do what I do. If we move to a graduate level field, more graduate programs have to happen. That means one of them can happen here. Then I can fulfill my dream from the comfort of my own half acre bungalow while still running my private practice.

 

This is a difficult situation for me because if, when I was in school, graduate level work was required; I’d likely be an educated waitress at the moment. However, when looked at objectively, the scales tip in favor for me. There will be backlash of course, but it will be a good move for our profession. I fully intend at some point in the next ten years (ideally) to complete graduate coursework because I see a need for it in myself, and it is necessary to reach my goals.

 

What are your thoughts about the move? Do you have a different set of pros and cons than I do?

Bio:

Natalie Mullis, MT-BC is the owner of Key Changes Music Therapy Services, LLC in Columbia, South Carolina. She works with a variety of populations in addition to her duties as the president-elect for the Music Therapy Association of South Carolina and as a member of the South Carolina Recognition Task Force. Natalie also maintains a weekly blog at www.keychangesmusictherapy.com and mentors students and new professionals at www.nononsenseprofessional.com.