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Music therapy in India is taking its baby steps into clinical practice and research. With its vast cultural and musical profile, music therapy is being introduced in various ways. There are a few students cropping up from a few certificate and Postgraduate diploma courses that have been started in the field in the last few years with children having a genuine interest. The thirst of doing what many have been dreaming about in connection with music and the curiosity about a new field of study makes music therapy an interesting area to plunge into.I take this as an opportunity to introduce music therapy in India from the eyes of a student, who is one of the few to complete a course in music therapy and is moving forward looking to work as a music therapist and junior faculty in clinical practice.Priyanka Dixit has a Masters and MPhil in classical Carnatic music (southern India), and she plays the flute as her main musical instrument while having a flair for playing a few other instruments of personal, self-learning interest. She has a degree in psychology and a certificate in counselling from NIMHANS, Bangalore and has had a passion for music therapy since her childhood.Introduction:I am a music therapy student and am moving on to be a professional music therapist soon. I have always been interested in music therapy since I was a child. Though I started my journey learning Carnatic music for 6 odd years, my interests on the therapeutic values of music have never diminished. In fact, they have only increased with time. The desire to understand what music does to the body, mind and soul paved the way to more learning. This lead me to take up a Masters in Psychology for a clearer understanding of the mind and how it affects the body, which contributed to my petty knowledge bank. Even with all these degrees and understanding in the subjects, I felt a lack in skill to be a music therapist. I came across a Postgraduate Diploma in music therapy, which is one of the 2 courses available in India to pursue my interests, to fill the gaps in knowledge, and to feel appropriate to be a professional in the field. My interests in music started back when I was in school. My early lessons in South Indian Classical music were with the flute. Even before I started my higher level lessons, I always thought about how music affects me. That was when my interests in the therapeutic values of music began to take shape. Through the years, my interests in learning other instruments grew. I can play the basics of keyboard, western violin, and a few other untuned instruments.Bhuna: According to you as a student, what is music therapy?Priyanka: Music therapy, for me as a student, is a profession which best suits a person who is a performer in music and a counsellor by heart, one who has an open mind to accept people as they are and to extend a helping hand with music being the connection. Sit, talk, share and care – everything musical.B: What is your personal experience while working with patients?P: My experience as an intern at the hospital has been exciting and equally tiring. Every day is a new experience, every patient is a new learning opportunity, and every session is different. I would like to share an incident that happened to me while I was working on a research project in endoscopy. A patient, an older lady, was getting very anxious as her turn was approaching for the procedure. As was my duty at that point, I asked her if she would like to listen to some music before the procedure started, and she agreed. After 10 minutes of listening to some of her favourite songs, she got up from her bed as I was watching her, walked up to me and hugged me tight. Her eyes were full of tears; she said thank you. The satisfied look on the lady’s face that day is something I can never forget. She needed something at that point and music provided it.B: What populations have you worked with? Is there any population you would like to work with specifically?P: I have had the opportunity to work with patients with anxiety, depression and other psychological problems, mostly referred by the psychiatry department at the hospital. I have worked with patients admitted for endoscopy procedures for my research project. I have had a stint with a few children with developmental delays. I would like to work with combat stress. The military personnel face a lot of stress, anxiety and depression. I have had the opportunity to work with them while I was doing my masters, and it’s been on the top of my interest list.B: Is there a difference in your understanding of music therapy before and after your brief education in music therapy?P: Yes, there is a lot of difference in my understanding of what music therapy is. I guess I had always been a victim of misconceptions with regard to music therapy. Now, after a year learning and completing practical work, I have learned that the profession is a never ending road. This course on music therapy has bridged the gap between my knowledge on music and psychology. I now understand how to work using both together to make it into music therapy and make it a profession.B: What do you think the challenges are for a music therapist in India?P: Music therapy in India needs a lot of change. Primarily, the major misconceptions have to be eradicated. It needs a more scientific and medical approach. Though India has a rich reservoir of music and techniques – like raga music, chanting and the Vedas, Ayurveda and sound therapy, and chakra activation – that have been around for thousands of years, none of them have any documentation to prove that they have implications to the human body.B:In your opinion is there anything we can do to improve the standards of music therapy in India?P: Like I mentioned before, there are misconceptions about music therapy in India. I have had the opportunity to understanding it the right way and apply it in a positive direction. There are a whole lot of things that can be done and need to be done:
- Foremost task will be to educate people and the medical community about the importance of music therapy
- Introducing it more in the hospitals, as this gives us an opportunity to do clinical practice and research more conveniently
- Training more music therapists to develop the profession
- Research based on Indian music and the effects of Indian music as a therapeutic tool
Bhuvaneswari Ramesh, IndiaWFMT Student Delegate for Southeast Asia
