Music therapy program looking to the future

Utah State University is home to the only music therapy program in Utah.

In fact, Utah State has one of only seven music therapy programs in the Western United States.

Being a small program at Utah State, and also being the only program of its kind in Utah, many people may not know exactly what music therapy is. The American Music Therapy Association’s website defines it as, “an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs of individuals.”

Maureen Hearns, the director of the music therapy program, put it more simply.

“Music therapy is using music to help people with non-musical problems,” Hearns said. “It isn’t limited to people with psychological issues, but also those with neurological, physical, intellectual, mental and many other types of difficulties.”

Hearns joined the program as the director in 2005. She worked as a privately contracted music therapist in Provo before joining the staff at Utah State, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in music therapy.

“I oversee the program,” Hearns said. “And it’s my responsibility to ensure that the professional competencies that our students have are always being met.”

The professional competencies are standards set by the American Music Therapy Association that all students must fulfill before they can become certified music therapists. The AMTA’s website lists all of the competencies, over 100 in total, which are split into three categories. “Music foundations” focuses on fundamentals of theory, composition and performance, while “clinical foundations” focuses on therapeutic principles, applications and relationships. The foundations provide a base for students to move on to the specific music therapy competencies.

“We’ve developed a program that enables our students to achieve what’s required, in a four-year period of time,” Hearns said.

Learning everything the program requires is no easy task, especially within four years, students say.

“The music therapy program is really hard,” said Corrine Chadwick, senior peer adviser of the program. “Because of what we do, we have to be willing to be put in a vulnerable space.”

Like every other music therapy student at Utah State, Chadwick was required to compete for a spot in the program through a very selective audition process.

“Our dean, Dr. Jessop, has allowed us to accept 14 this year,” Hearns said. “It’s a really competitive process because we have more than 70 people audition every year.”

Hearns and her colleague Letha Winger oversee the audition process. The audition is designed to challenge the prospective student’s musical versatility, asking them to perform classical, folk and contemporary pieces. They must be able to sing, accompany themselves on piano or guitar, and perform on their primary instrument. Every piece performed during the live portion of the audition is memorized.

It has been years since Campbell and Chadwick have had to worry about auditioning into the program, but their journey to certification isn’t quite finished. After walking at the graduation ceremony, all graduates have to undergo a 1200-hour clinical internship before they can obtain the diploma itself.

Jared Campbell, the president of the USU Music Therapy Student Association, is set to graduate with his bachelor’s degree this May and is looking forward to his internship.

“I got accepted to do my internship at the Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston,” Campbell said. “I love working with kids.”

Chadwick will be moving to Minnesota to begin her internship this summer.

Hearns’ goals for the future are to expand the program at Utah State.

“We have great plans for this,” Hearns said. “We hope to have a master’s level program soon. There are more jobs in the United States for music therapists than we have music therapists, but you may not be able to find it here in Utah.”

Utah and the western region as a whole are behind the curve compared to Eastern states in prevalence of music therapy as a professional field. Campbell hopes to eventually move back to Utah and assist with the expansion efforts.

“I would love to come back and be a part of the university,” Chadwick said. “I sure as heck hope the program gets bigger soon.”

— edcollins270@gmail.com