Proceedings, Oxford, UK (2002) - World Federation of Music Therapy

11) encourage clients to link verbal statements to the preceding musical
events when there are similarities,
12) encourage clients to speak to each other, not just to the therapist.
The music therapist who wishes to develop skills in verbal processing
can benefit from the study of group therapy methods. However,
facilitating verbal processing in music therapy is different from
conducting traditional verbal group therapy because of the influence of
the music upon each client as well as upon the therapist. Also, one goal
of verbal processing is to re-enter into the music. Music therapists will
enhance their verbal processing skills by understanding how musical
expressions, or musical behaviors, within the music therapy relationship
integrate with other realms of conscious and unconscious human
experience.
Perhaps future areas of inquiry will include an investigation into how
musical processes influence verbal processing. Additional attention into
how we use our words can benefit out therapeutic effect while providing
for a greater understanding as to how our clients are affected by the
musical relationship
Summary
Verbal processing, the therapy – based verbal communication between
therapist and client during and after the music making or listening
experiences in music therapy, seems to occur in most models of music
therapy applications. It is considered to be an essential competency by
the American Music Therapy Association. Verbal processing is
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