Music Therapy Postgraduate degree

Overview

The Music Therapy programme offers training for competent, practising musicians to become therapists, bringing together their skills, education and other life experiences. On completion of the training, graduates are eligible to apply to the HCPC for registration, with the ability and flexibility to practice within the NHS, Social Services, education or private sector. 

Music therapists draw on the innate qualities of music in order to support people of all ages and at all stages of life who are facing diverse challenges. Music therapy facilitates positive changes in wellbeing through engagement in musical interaction. Essential to music therapy is the relationship between client and therapist. At Roehampton we have chosen to base our Music Therapy training programme on the use of psychoanalytic ideas to inform our understanding of the therapy process and the ways the person in therapy uses the environment, the therapist and the music. Supporting theories and ways of working are also studied in order to equip students to meet a range of clinical needs, including an infant observation which assists students in developing their observation and analysis skills. 

Music therapy as practised in Great Britain is largely based upon improvisation, the music being the shared and spontaneous creation of the person in therapy and the Music Therapist. Other styles of music, including song writing, the use of technology and pre-composed music are also used as appropriate to the need of the individual. 

The programme emphasises your emotional development as a practitioner, together with clinical exploration through critical enquiry. In addition to this, students must be prepared to enter mandatory individual personal therapy for one year of the training. 

Music Therapists work within a wide range of clinical settings, individual and group work. They work with people of all ages; from infants and young children through to elderly adults. Music therapy can benefit people with a wide range of difficulties or challenges, including mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism, dementia and neurology, as well as people experiencing serious illness such as cancer or those who have experienced trauma. Placements include work with children and adults in the settings in which Music Therapists commonly work.  

Key areas of study include human development and growth and the clinical context for music therapy, clinical improvisation, observational studies, music therapy theory, clinical case work and supervision, introduction to research and your dissertation. Some of the core teaching will take place with peers from across the Arts and Play Therapies programmes, giving unique opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. Personal development and reflection on this is central throughout the programme. 

Clinical work is central to the training. After visits to a variety of workplaces which offer music therapy, you will undertake individual and group work in two contrasting settings over six months, January to June (first placement) and September to February/March (second placement).These clinical placements will provide you with music therapy work experience alongside qualified Music Therapists. You will also participate in an experiential group, which gives you an opportunity to develop your own self-awareness and examine personal and group dynamics through verbal and musical processes. In addition, it is a requirement for you to find and fund personal individual therapy outside the course. 

Please read the "Your application" tab on this page prior to completing and submitting your application, as it contains important information on what to include. 

Career Options

Music Therapists work within a wide range of clinical settings. They work with people of all ages; from infants and young children through to elderly adults. Music Therapists work within statutory services (such as the NHS, education or social services), within charities and private organisations, and in private practice. To find out more, you can join the British Association for Music Therapy. 

How to apply

Postgraduate programmes

Your application

Electronic music links and personal statement - Instructions and guidelines
Please follow these instructions carefully - failure to do so may result in your application not being considered

Electronic music links/CD
Please provide:

• Two contrasting pieces on your preferred instrument
• One piano/keyboard piece if this is not your preferred instrument
• One free improvisation which may be given a title if you prefer

The total playing time should be no more than 15 minutes. Extracts from longer pieces are therefore acceptable. If you do not have piano/keyboard skills you may provide a piece on another harmony instrument.

In all your playing you should attempt to demonstrate expressive qualities, musical imagination and depth as well as technical competence. In the free improvisation you should rely on your personal musicality rather than traditional tonalities and harmonic idioms.

Do not include music where you are a member of a group, unless you can clearly be identified as soloist (for example vocalist or other soloist where you are accompanied by piano or small ensemble). Please give details if this is the case. A piece where you are the drummer or guitarist in a band, for example, is unlikely to allow you to provide an adequate representation of your capabilities.

Your music is an initial indication of your skills and does not need to be a recording of professional quality.

Please title your electronic files/CD with your name, date and details (title and composer of each piece)

Please do not send links that require passwords or specific software to open them (e.g. Dropbox).

Short personal statement

500-1,000 words. The personal statement should cover the following main areas:

• What has led you to wish to train as a therapist? You should demonstrate some insight into how your life experience has led to this application.
• Your musical background, including the genres and styles of music making with which you have experience. (If you consider yourself to possess additional musical resources or greater versatility than demonstrated in your music you should say so here).
• Your experience of work with people, particularly with those service users with whom music therapists generally work (such as children, adults or older adults with severe learning disabilities or autism, or mental health problems; many other areas of work may also be relevant). Such experience is a mandatory pre-requisite for training.
• Your understanding, so far, of the nature of music therapy as a distinctive discipline (in particular as practised in the UK). Mention relevant courses, conferences and reading, any meetings with music or other therapists, personal therapy/development etc. Please come ready to discuss some of your reading.

The personal statement is also an indication of how well you express yourself in writing and helps us consider issues we would like to explore with you during the interview.

Your completed application form should be submitted online. If you are unable to attach your music files to your application please contact the postgraduate admissions department for advice.

Short Courses

We also offer weekend introductory courses, 5 day Summer Schools, and 20 week part time evening Foundation Courses which provide a useful background in related professions. For more information, see our Psychology Short Courses.