| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2023-09-01 | - |
Program Overview
Music Therapy - MSc
Are you a musician with experience of working with people in a caring profession, such as health, education, social services or the voluntary sector.? If so, why not consider a new career in music therapy: an established health intervention to help people whose lives have been affected by injury, illness or disability.
This long established MSc in Music Therapy at QMU is the only music therapy course in Scotland. It offers stimulating and varied learning experiences, including practice placements in various settings that are vital to your learning.
The course is the first step to a new, exciting and rewarding career. It will qualify you to register with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) and work as a music therapist in only two years.
Why QMU?
- Stimulating learning environment: The course is based in our School of Health Sciences and offers a stimulating learning environment with a practical focus. Your learning will be enriched by the interdisciplinary structure of the course as you study alongside your peers from various other pathways within QMU’s Person-Centred Practice Framework, including the MSc Art Psychotherapy and MSc Dramatherapy.
- Practice-based experience: You’ll benefit from opportunities to work in a variety of settings.
- Professional accreditation/registration: Students are advised to join The British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) and graduates are eligible for registration with the Health & Care Professions Council as Registered Arts Therapists (Music).
- Staff expertise and experience: The team are all active researchers and practising music therapists, as well as music therapy educators.
- Collaborate with learners in Greece: There are opportunities to collaborate with learners following the same course at Metropolitan College, Athens, Greece.
Program Outline
Music Therapy (MSc): More information and what you will achieve
On this course you will learn about a variety of approaches to music therapy. With a strong emphasis on psychodynamic theory, you will be equipped to work in a person-centred way with people with a wide range of needs.
Studies will focus on the following areas:
- therapeutic musical skills, with an emphasis on improvisation, interaction and application in a therapeutic context
- psychological, developmental, and music therapy theories
- different persons and contexts
- self-development
- observation and critical thinking skills
- professional issues, such as ethics and multi-disciplinary working
- research, assessment and service evaluation
Before embarking on the course, we would recommend some texts to read, as follows:
Music Therapy
Rachel Darnley-Smith and Helen M. Patey (Sage, 2003)
Music Therapy: An Art Beyond Words
Leslie Bunt and Brynjulf Stige (Routledge, 2014)
Relational Music Therapy: An Intersubjective
Perspective
Gro Trondalen (Barcelona Publishers, 2016)
Intimate Notes
Mercedes Pavlicevic (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1999)
Music Therapy: A Perspective from the
Humanities
Even Ruud (Barcelona Publishers, 2010)
An Introduction to Person-Centred Practice:
Person-Centred Practice in Nursing and Health
care; Theory and Practice
Eds. Brendan McCormack and Tanya McCance
(Wiley Blackwell, 2017)
These texts offer an introduction to critical
theory and intersectionality:
Disability andOother Human Questions
Dan Goodley (Society Now, 2021)
Learning from my Daughter
Eva Kittay (Oxford University Press, 2019)
The Race Conversation
Eugene Ellis (Confer, 2021)
Intersectionality in the Arts Therapies
Eds. Jessica Collier and Corrina Eastwood (Jessica
Kingsley Publishers, 2022)
The following titles introduce psychodynamic
theory and thinking:
Communicative Musicality: Exploring the Basis of
Human Companionship
Stephen Malloch and Colwyn Trevarthen, Editors
(Oxford University Press, 2009)
Forms of Vitality: Exploring Dynamic Experience
in Psychology, the Arts, Psychotherapy and
Development
Daniel Stern (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Practitioner Research in Counselling and
Psychotherapy: The Power of Examples
Eds. Liz Bondi and Judith Fewell (MacMillan
Education, 2016)
Mentalizing in Arts Therapies
Marianne Verfaille (Routledge 2018)
This text is useful for those new to or returning
to academic study:
How to Fix your Academic Writing Trouble
Inger Mewburn, Katherine Firth and Shaun
Lehmann (Open International Publishing, 2019)
This free Open University course introduces
master's level academic study:
These online journals are open access and offer
a varied source of up-to-date research, practice
and thinking in music therapy and broader
interdisciplinary contexts:
Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music
Therapy
Australian Music Therapy Journal
Dialogues in Music Therapy Education
Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy
How will I be taught?
Structure and exit awards
You must complete the full MSc (240 credits) to be eligible to register with the Health & Care Professions Council and to work as a music therapist. You can exit at different points but single module study is not available.
Teaching, learning and assessment
Teaching includes practical and academic elements with an emphasis on experiential and interpersonal learning and teaching methods, including lectures, seminars and tutorials. Practice education is supported by regular supervision at QMU. Students are not required to cover the cost for supervision at University or on placement.
Assessments are varied and include practical and written formats as well as short video, poster and case work presentations. Personal development is fundamental to therapeutic training and it is a requirement of the HCPC that students attend regular personal psychotherapy throughout the course, with a minimum of 40 hours of attendance. Personal therapy is not assessed and students are required to cover the cost. Independent study is in addition to this, as well as days specifically for practice-based learning: one day/week in year one and two days/ week in year two.
Placements (Practice education)
Practice-based learning is ongoing throughout the course. In Year One, practice education is usually with a music therapist, one day per week from October to March. In Year Two, you attend practice education two days per week throughout both semesters and work in a more autonomous way.
The range of practice placements are extensive including placements within hospitals, schools, voluntary sector organisations, child and family centres, drug and alcohol services, hospices, community based health centres, community based mental health teams, day centres for the elderly and for adults with physical and/or learning disabilities. The range of practice placements for Music Therapy students changes from year to year.
Practice-based learning can also be arranged further afield if students choose to commute; the course has excellent partnerships with practice education providers across the UK, Ireland and Gibraltar. Students do not need to find their own placements: practice placements are organised by the Professional Practice Tutor at QMU.
Teaching hours and attendance
Each module requires attendance of classes at QMU: typically, Year One students attend QMU on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and in Year Two, classes are on a Thursday. Practice placement days and independent study are in addition to this.
Class sizes
There are (maximum) 25 places for each cohort.
Teaching staff
You can read more about the teaching staff on this course at the bottom of this page. Please note that teaching staff is subject to change.
Modules
The MSc Music Therapy course sits together with Art Psychotherapy, Dramatherapy and Play Therapy as an arts therapies pathway within the Person-Centred Practice Framework at QMU. The courses contains the modules listed below.
Year One
- Practice-based Learning 1 (40 credits)
- Developmental and Relational Perspectives (20 credits)
- Therapeutic Practice and Resources (20 credits)
- Theory and Practice of Person-Centred Health and Wellbeing (20 credits)
- Leading Person-Centred Practice for Health and Wellbeing (20 credits)
Year Two
- Practice-based Learning 2 (40 credits)
- Arts Therapies in Context (20 credits)
- Dissertation (60 credits)
NB The modules and placements listed are correct at time of posting (October 2022). In the event that modules change, QMU will seek to use reasonable endeavours to ensure that there is no detrimental impact on students. Please check our website for updates.
Career opportunities
Music therapists work throughout the health, education and community sectors. Most graduates have found employment within care homes, schools, the NHS and charities. Many others have become successful freelance practitioners. There is a strong alumni community and graduates contribute to the course in various ways.
More information and contacts
Contact the Music Therapy team, contact Dr Philippa Derrington (Programme Leader) or contact Admissions