Discuss Traditional and Cultural Music

[Erika Svolos]

Discuss the traditional and cultural music in the community where you work.

[Amy Brownell]

I work for a private practice in CT, where at this point insurance has not covered music therapy. Therefore, most of our clients pay for services out of pocket, which leads to the majority of my caseload being clients who come from white middle and upper class families. While I am constantly striving to introduce and use music from different cultures, most of my clients request common nursery rhymes, songs from children’s movies, and pop songs they hear on the radio.

[Emily Fabian]

I work at a private Catholic school in TX, where the population is majority Hispanic, followed by African American, and then white families. One of my big goals is introducing all grade levels (PK-8) to a vast variety of music. I have done this through introducing different composer’s of the months, from all music time periods, different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds; as well as lyric analysis projects to establish rapport with students using their favorite music (that is of course school and age appropriate). I know I can always do more, and hope to continue broadening both their and my musical catalogue and knowledge.

[Jessica Gelineau]

I work for an early intervention company which serves 15 communities. There are many different cultures within the communities and the families I work with include Latino, Arabic and Eastern European families. Most of the music used within the families I work with is not culture specific, and my families typically use traditional or modern children’s songs since that is what they find engages their children the most. Some of the families I work with (mainly Latino), have played religious songs in Spanish that their children enjoy listening to as well. When working with families from other cultures, I always ask if they would like to work on songs during sessions in English, or their first language if it is a bilingual household.

[Aliza Llovet]

Similar to Jessica I work for an early intervention company which serves a diverse community. When referred to music therapy, part of the consult focuses specifically on how/when music is used in the home. It also takes the time to ask what the child’s favorite/least favorite songs and how do they show these preferences. I have gotten a list of songs with a variety of cultures/languages and genres through the use of this form.

[Maggie Murphy]

Throughout my career, I have worked in the Chicagoland area and have had the opportunity to work with patients from a variety of ethic and cultural backgrounds.

Early in my career, I worked in a therapeutic day school that consisted primarily of white (primarily non-hispanic) and black students from English-speaking homes; however, I had at least one student who was Arabic and would share about the Muslim holidays that she celebrated at home. While working for the state, I was assigned to Spanish-speaking/mixed units (due to the availability of Spanish-speaking staff). But because we were located near an airport and served individuals who did not have insurance, but needed to hospitalized due to acute mental illness, we served patients from all over the world. One of the state hospitals I worked at also had a unit with several staff who were fluent in ASL (for long term care patients who were Deaf) and an acute unit with staff who were able to speak Polish and various eastern European languages. Chicago In my current position at the VA, I work primarily with white (hispanic and non-hispanic) and black Veterans, but currently have one patient on my caseload who is Puerto Rican/primarily Spanish speaking.

I would say that throughout my career, majority of my patients have enjoyed listening to music that is considered popular in American culture or was popular during their teen/young adult years. When working with patients from cultures that are different than mine (white, non-hispanic, English-speaking, raised-Catholic), I have relied heavily on recorded music, but do make an effort to learn about what music the patient enjoys (i.e. preferred artist, style of music, preferred radio station, etc.) so that I can help the patient access this music. I definitely have a long way to go as far as being able to play music from cultures and traditions that are different than mine.

I am currently involved in a research study at my work and have included the following question in my music preference assessment: “Are there any cultural considerations or is culture an important aspect to your music selection? If so, please explain.”

[Hannah Floyd]

For me, I work for a company that holds individualized music therapy sessions at their two locations along with agency contracts within the community. All but 1 of my individual sessions are caucasian with the 1 being hispanic. When I am in the public schools though, almost all the children I see are African American. When it comes to music choices, I usually hear from the teachers on what they like to listen to. I also like to try to (in the high school classes) show songs from around the world.

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