Using Music in Your Counseling Practice

Using music in your counseling practice may prove to be a significant adjunct to your current therapeutic interventions. Music is a subjective and emotional experience. No song or piece of music will impact any two people in the same way. Music can have a powerful effect and, because of this, have an important place in providing help and healing to others.

Definitions and History of Music Therapy

There is a long-standing dedicated profession of Music Therapy that has been providing effective treatment modalities based on Music Therapy principles for decades. These competent professionals are available to provide services directly to your clients or to work in conjunction with your treatment plans. For more information about locating a Music Therapist in your area, please contact the American Music Therapy Association (link highlighted in blue).

There are some music interventions that you may find useful in your counseling practice. These will be explored below. Music Therapy as a profession developed these interventions, along with multiple others that are helpful to many people. Let’s take a moment to look at the history and practice of Music Therapy.

“Music therapy is a broad field. Music therapists use music-based experiences to address client needs in one or more domains of human functioning: cognitive, academic, emotional/psychological; behavioral; communication; social; physiological (sensory, motor, pain, neurological and other physical systems), spiritual, aesthetics.” (Wikipedia This Wikipedia article about Music Therapy is quite informative. You may want to give it a read!)

My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Music (in Music Therapy). Following university graduation, I competed a six-month internship at an institution for individuals with severe and profound developmental disabilities. These people resided permanently at this institution. I also received training for a smaller population of individuals with mental illness who temporarily resided at the same facility.

After the completion of my internship, I began my professional career as the coordinator of a workshop-based program for persons with severe and profound developmental disabilities. I served in this capacity for several years and then changed my focus to psychiatric social work, which became my major field of practice for the remainder of my working career. Throughout my years of service in social work I never lost my love for music and music therapy. Wherever and whenever clinically possible and appropriate I utilized music therapy interventions with my clients.

Let me write a bit more about how music therapy has historically interfaced with the practice of psychiatric social work. “The pairing of music with the treatment of mental illness has been documented since the origins of man and well described in the professional literature. The early use of music in mental hospitals (1920-1950) was primarily educational in nature and often for entertainment. Many institutions established their own bands and choruses along with talent shows, drum and bugle corps, and holiday pageants. After World War II, music therapy became an accepted treatment modality in many Veterans Administration and state hospitals. As music began to be recognized for its unique contribution to treatment, the use of music in therapy began to shift from recreational and educational to more therapeutic and rehabilitative orientations.” (Unkefer, R.F. (Ed). (1990). Music Therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: Theoretical bases and clinical interventions. New York: Schirmer Books.)

Music Interventions

Using music in your counseling practice can enhance your therapeutic relationship with your clients, particularly if you both have a fondness for music in general. I have found this to be especially true when working with teens. There are several types of music interventions that you may wish to consider as an adjunct to your clinical work. As mentioned before, however, please remember that Music Therapists are available for consultation and to work directly with your clients if you find that music is a key form of communication for your clientele. Here’s a list of music interventions we will explore:

• Associative Recall
• Identification of Feelings
• Music Playlists for Emotion Regulation
• Music as Relaxation
• Song Discussion
• Stories to Music
• Themed Music Playlists

Associative Recall

“In some instances, musical materials and their organization become linked through repetition to a referential image. Over repeated encounters, connotations become habitual and automatic. Associative recall has potential within the therapeutic setting in a number of ways. One example is the use of familiar musical materials in reminiscence by geriatric or terminally ill patients. Reminiscence of important past events has been recommended as a therapeutic method for helping the elderly to review life events, to heighten awareness of past accomplishments, and to facilitate social interactions. Through associative recall, the music therapist can help the clients to access long forgotten events within their lives. The recalling of significant events may also be effective in psychiatric care in which the client is encouraged to work through past events and feelings.” (Unkefer, R.F. (Ed). (1990). Music Therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: Theoretical bases and clinical interventions. New York: Schirmer Books.)

I’ve curated a music playlist that may be helpful in working with clients who are in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. Titled 40 Years of Musical Memories, this playlist features songs from the 1960s through the 1990s. The songs on this playlist may be useful when Associative Recall is part of your clinical work with clients.

Here’s the link for the playlist: 40 Years of Musical Memories.

Identification of Feelings

“Music, often referred to as the language of emotions, is commonly credited with the ability to evoke emotional response. Mood response to music is dependent upon many factors in addition to musical form, including the listener’s mood set and attitude toward the music. Given the ability of music both to influence and be influenced by the individual listener’s mood, the skilled therapist can use music not only to evoke affective response and explore those emotions elicited through music stimulus. It would also appear that the music can be utilized as a “canvas” upon which the client’s prior feelings and attitudes are conveyed.” (Unkefer, R.F. (Ed). (1990). Music Therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: Theoretical bases and clinical interventions. New York: Schirmer Books.)

It has been said that music can take you places that words cannot. Since music (listening, creating, etc.) is processed through the right brain, it has the ability to be associated with feelings and memories, which are also right brain processes. But, because music is a subjective experience, it can evoke different feelings or memories in everyone. Why don’t we give this a try? Below is a link to a playlist with six songs that are distinctly different from each other. With each song, please think about (or write down) the feelings or memories that each piece of music conveys to you. If someone else (a client or friend or family member) listened to these same songs, I wonder how similar…or different…their responses may be from yours.

Here’s the link: Identification of Feelings Playlist

Sometimes our clients have difficulty identifying their feelings in session. Music may be the catalyst that helps to open discussions about feelings!

Music Playlists for Emotion Regulation

“Music is proven to be a unique stimulus that can be used to modify affect.” (Unkefer, R.F. (Ed). (1990). Music Therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: Theoretical bases and clinical interventions. New York: Schirmer Books.)

I’ve written a complete post regarding utilizing music playlists for emotion regulation on our sister blog, The Heart’s Way, Imagery and Insights.

Music can be helpful to improve or regulate our moods. Have you ever listened to a song and had an emotional reaction to it? Maybe it helped to calm you, bring you to tears, or make you smile. Some music can be relaxing and some very invigorating. It has been said that music can take you to places where words cannot.

Here are links to this blog post, as well as to an example music playlist AND a worksheet for you and/or your clients to develop your own playlists for emotion regulation:

• Link to Blog post: Using Music to Improve Your Mood
• Music Playlist Example: Music to Improve Your Mood Playlist
• Worksheet to Develop Music Playlists for Emotion Regulation: Music Playlists To Improve Your Mood Worksheet

Music as Relaxation

“To use music as relaxation while in session, ask your client(s) to close their eyes for a few minutes, picturing themselves in a relaxing place, and really concentrate on that place. This activity is a modification of a systematic desensitization process theory, and is done for two purposes:

• To aid concentration. Some people have a very difficult time, concentrating on any one thing for any more than a few moments. The process of having to visualize themselves in a relaxing place helps them to learn to concentrate, the music being a structuring and imagination-stimulating factor, as well as a cue for relaxation.
• To learn how it feels to relax, so that an individual may practice the feeling outside therapy sessions, hopefully substituting it for or pairing it up with anxiety producing circumstances.” (Michel, D. E. (1976). Music Therapy: An introduction to therapy and special education through music. Springfield, ILL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher.)

Song Discussion

“Despite the fact that musical sounds have no specific designative meaning, music has long been considered a form of communication. Music as a form of auditory information is often compared to speech and language.” (Unkefer, R.F. (Ed). (1990). Music Therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: Theoretical bases and clinical interventions. New York: Schirmer Books.)

I’ve used song discussion of clients’ chosen songs (that they bring in for the two of you to listen to and discuss) in order to help identify and move through difficult feelings and process situational stressors. Song discussion can also be used to help clients deal with issues such as grief and loss.

Stories to Music

With this type of music exercise choose a piece of non-verbal music for you and your client to listen to (I’ll link examples below). The goal is to write a story, based on the music you hear. This helps in the identification of emotions, to promote creativity/imagination, and for exploring situational stressors. I’ve found this to be a particularly useful exercise for groups.

Here’s the link: Playlist for Stories to Music

Themed Music Playlists

Themed music playlists can be used in numerous ways, for example:

• To process/explore emotions, i.e., grief
• To accompany an activity, i.e., study, exercise
• To relax
• To improve motivation, i.e., setting goals or decreasing procrastination
• To improve concentration and/or focus
• To enhance creativity
• To improve sleep
• To worship and praise
• To celebrate or commemorate special times or seasons, i.e., Christmas, birthdays

Themed Music Playlists are quite easy to make, once you determine the goal or purpose of your playlist. It is helpful if you take the extra bit of time and attention to make sure that you have selected songs or pieces of music that are meaningful to you. It is also important that you put your musical choices in an order that makes sense to you. Themed Music Therapy Playlists can be quite nuanced and, once completed, hold significant meaning to you.

On our sister blog, The Heart’s Way, Imagery and Insights, I’ve written a blog post that explores a variety of different music playlists, along with examples, and information about how to develop themed music playlists.

Here are links to the blog post and an example playlist:

• Link to Blog Post: Music Therapy Playlists: Part One
• Music Playlist Example: Tough Times Music Therapy Playlist

Conclusion

“[Music] communicates human needs and values when words no longer suffice. Because music can reflect, influence, and alter emotional response, it has particular merit as a therapeutic tool in those treatment processes that include identification, awareness, reflection, or expression of feelings and relevant issues.” (Unkefer, R.F. (Ed). (1990). Music Therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: Theoretical bases and clinical interventions. New York: Schirmer Books.)

Using music in your counseling practice may result in a richer therapeutic experience for your clients.

Note: The music playlists linked in this post can be listened to in their entirety by opening your Spotify app, which is free to download and use. Happy listening!