By Anna Smith

To quote our well revered director, “Your future success in Music Therapy is all about posturing.  How you present yourself, knowing your market, knowing what you have to offer, and being persistent.” And as young professionals in this booming field, our posture must be one of confidence, awareness, and persistence!  Where do I think Music Therapy will be in ten 10 years?  Well that all depends on our posture.  How much will we educate, advocate, and research? How aware will we be of current economic trends and the needs of our communities? How persistent are we willing to be in the marketplace?

We KNOW the benefits of our music therapy techniques and strategies. We’ve read about them in research and textbooks and have seen them first hand in the clinic.  We know our product, but we have to make the sale. In order to grow as a profession, we must all put on our “marketing hats” as we maneuver through the world of business.  We “MusicWorx interns” are privileged to gain experience in this aspect of the music therapy business world.

Music Therapy is still the best kept secret. It is diverse, adaptable, engaging, motivating, and … EFFECTIVE!!!! But it is still the unfortunate case that many still do not know of its existence.  It is my hope that in ten years, that the majority of the population will have at least heard of music therapy AND its outcomes. In addition, I hope each music therapist will choose to “mark his or her endeavors with a posture that will empower him or her as well as the profession as a whole.”