Combine your passion for music with your desire to help others.

Do you love music?  Are you looking for a career that is both enriching and of service to others? Music therapy combines all of these qualities, and is a cutting edge, rapidly growing profession that combines your passion for music with your dedication to helping people.

Music therapists work with children, teens, adults and older adults in many types of settings, such as hospitals, schools and a continuum of care facilities. The music therapy program at Marylhurst University will teach you how to harness the therapeutic effects of music in order to bring positive changes to peoples' lives.

The Bachelor of Music Therapy degree requirements will give you:

• Comprehensive musicianship — Demonstrate the Marylhurst Music Core learning outcomes 
• Performance — Perform in ensembles and on your primary instrument or voice
• Composition — Demonstrate basic compositional and arranging skills
• Clinical instruments — Reach proficiency on piano, guitar and voice, plus acquire performance ability on percussion and non-symphonic instruments
• Therapeutic foundation — Demonstrate basic knowledge of principles of normal human development, clinical exceptionality and the therapeutic relationship
• Music therapy foundation — Demonstrate basic knowledge of music therapy foundations, principles of clinical application and current research methods
• Professional integration — Combine knowledge of music and behavioral and natural sciences to serve society's emotionally and physically challenged individuals

Certification

After completing music therapy courses and related coursework, you'll be qualified to apply for a clinical internship. This internship will be at one of Marylhurst University's affiliate internship sites or one of the American Music Therapy Association's national training sites. After you've successfully completed your internship, you'll receive a Marylhurst University degree and be eligible to take the national board certification exam to earn the professional credential MT-BC (Music Therapist - Board Certified).

Career Paths

Music therapists are employed in many types of environments, including residences for developmentally disabled persons, mental health clinics, special education facilities, hospice programs, private practice, clinical research centers, correctional facilities and wellness programs.

Completing the bachelor of music therapy program also prepares you for a graduate program in music therapy at any AMTA-approved university offering the master's degree. Other graduate program options include, but are not limited to, speech therapy, psychology, special education and counseling.