When your main goal of learning music is to improve mental wellness, you will get the best results by taking a music therapy program that is specifically designed to improve mental health through the power of music!
Music therapy is a unique specialty that typical music teachers do not have. Let’s break down the key similarities and differences between music lessons and music therapy so you can decide which one is the right fit for yourself or your child.
What is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is a type of therapeutic practice that uses music as the centerpiece for emotional healing, cognitive development, and overall mental wellness. Trained music therapy practitioners utilize various techniques, such as singing, playing instruments, composing, songwriting, lyrical analysis, improvisation, and moving to music.
What is the difference between music therapy and normal music lessons?
The distinction lies in the purpose. The overarching goal of music therapy is to improve your mental health by using music as the primary mode of healing. Therefore, your music therapy practitioner will not nit-pick on your playing technique the way a performance coach would. Instead, success in a music therapy program is defined by the personal growth you achieve, not by how technically proficient you become as a musician. Music therapy also lets you define success on your own terms, while musical performance defines success by how “correctly” you played a piece.
Music therapy provides the mental health benefits of music education without the pressure of performance!
Learning music will help you become a better version of yourself at any age, whether it is with a private music teacher, group classes, or even self-teaching. But music therapy goes a few steps beyond that to help you truly harness the power of music for emotional healing and cognitive development.
However, music therapy can involve the hard inner work– facing your internal conflicts and tapping into repressed emotions with radical self-honesty. This deep self-exploration often repels people with mental health challenges away from any kind of therapeutic healing or mental health coaching. Healing is HARD WORK! But music therapy makes emotional healing much more enjoyable than traditional therapy in a clinical setting.
Talking to a clinician in a therapy office can feel dry, analytical, and uninspiring. Music therapy practitioners, such as Lilia Bogoeva of the Harmony Healing Music Therapy Program, know how to harness the power of music to help people face their struggles in a way that is fun, creative, and digestible. It’s about time we brought some excitement into mental wellness!!
Is music therapy a replacement or compliment to traditional therapy?
It depends on the type of mental health challenges you are facing and their degree of severity. Music therapy can be a great alternative to clinical therapy for personal struggles on the milder side, such as stress at work/school, working through transitions, and building healthy self-confidence.
For more severe mental health challenges, music therapy is more fitting as a compliment to clinical therapy and structured recovery programs. It can also help you maintain wellness after going through recovery programs for serious issues like depression, addiction, eating disorders, or PTSD. Music therapy has also proven highly effective in managing bipolar and schizophrenia, but again, as a supplement to therapy and medication, not a total replacement.
Music therapy can go a long way in teaching neurodivergent children and adults how to channel their unique qualities into strengths. Conditions like ADHD, autism, and dyslexia can fuel artistic creativity. Many neurodiverent individuals fall in love with using music as an excellent outlet for self-expression and a powerful tool for personal development. You can learn more about the benefits of music therapy for various mental health conditions in this article.
How does a music therapy program work?
Every practitioner has their own process, but in the Harmony Healing Program, we focus on 5 main activities to improve mental health through music:
1. Meaningful Music: We find songs that mean something to you and talk about how you relate to the music and lyrics. Use song lyrics as a guide to learn more about yourself, feel validated, and express thoughts and feelings that are hard to name.
2. Guided songwriting and poetry: As a professional songwriter, I walk you through the creative process of writing song lyrics. Then I guide you through writing music or poetry of your own, which helps you become more self-aware and better at expressing yourself.
3. Mind-Body Awareness: Music is a mind-body empowerment experience which involves physical and mental actions. So we practice mind-body awareness exercises such as deep breathing, somatic healing, posture, coordination, and moving to music, which also builds body confidence!
4. Discover Your VOICE: The basics of vocal technique help anyone become a more confident communicator, even if you don’t plan to become a singer. Great for singers, actors, public speakers, and anyone who gets anxiety about talking to other people. Use your voice with confidence in any situation!
5. Find your SPARK: Once we build a foundation, we discover what instrument, singing, and style of music makes the best outlet to support your mental well-being. You will learn to play/sing your favorite songs with confidence.
These 5 activities flow in an ONGOING CYCLE so you can always thrive with music in your life!
Ready to give music therapy a try?
Harmony Healing is a premium coaching program in Suncho School of Music. We offer both music lessons and music therapy in Wetumpka, Alabama, and we offer online coaching that is accessible anywhere in the world! Our main website will tell you about all the music education programs we offer both online and in-person. You my contact us for a FREE CONSULTATION SESSION!
There is NO OBLIGATION to start after the consultation, so you are free to make your own decision. We love enlightening people to the amazing power of music, so we will be happy to talk to you no matter where you are in your journey!
Time to THRIVE with the gift of MUSIC in your life!
Lilia Bogoeva
Suncho School of Music
Music Education, Music Therapy, Artist Development
www.sunchomusic.com