23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

great detail not only by the supervisor but also by other
tutors and students. In particular, it may be possible to
encourage students who lack confidence by focusing on
moments of successful interaction in a particular
session. It is often well worth while videoing the student
in action at the beginning of the placement and
comparing this with the students' work at the end of the
placement. Students will often progress so fast that they
will forget how uneasy they initially felt.
The use of video for training purposes
Music therapists are used to having to explain what they
do to other people. The combination of the two words
"music" and "therapy" excite curiosity and interest. Most
people will have never heard of the profession although
some will have listened to a program about the subject
on television or radio and others may have heard of
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other uses of music and relate these to music therapy.
One taxi driver I once talked to, for example, was
convinced that music therapy was related to playing
music to cows to promote milk production. Having an
unusual job that hardly anybody knows about gives the
music therapist " carte blanche" to describe his or her
work as accurately as possible without having to
overcome previous misconceptions. The music
therapist therefore has an advantage over an
"engineer" or a "computer programmer", for example,
who will only rarely be questioned about his or her
occupation even though many people may have no real
idea of what being an "engineer" or a "computer
programmer" involves.
Nevertheless, this situation also gives the music
therapist an added responsibility and, at times, most