About the Author

Music Therapy

By Caitlyn Bodine
This article was printed in Abroad View Fall 2005

As a Spanish major, I knew I wanted to study in a Latin American country. I chose the IES Santiago program in part because it incorporates opportunities for internships and service-learning into the traditional classroom experience. For IES, the main difference between an internship and service learning is the type of organization you work for. With service-learning, students are completing community service, so they generally work with indigenous, feminist, ecological, health, and other service organizations or NGOs. While many of my classmates chose internships, I felt that service-learning would be an ideal chance for a non-business major like me to step out of my comfort zone and participate in a professional context of a different kind—a context where I would have an equal opportunity to experience the working world of Chile, drawing on my particular strengths and interests, while giving back to my host community.

During our first few weeks in Santiago, we visited various organizations to get an idea of what fields we could work in. On the brochure from the Asociación Nacional de Discapacitado Mental (ANDIME), a school for children with Down syndrome, I noticed there was a music therapist on staff. Since my other major is music, I had researched music therapy as a possible career path, and this seemed like an ideal opportunity to get a taste of the profession before committing myself.

Music therapy in the U.S., as with most healthcare professions, requires a person to be certified or undergoing the certification process before he or she can interact with the clients; even then, if permission is obtained to observe a music therapy session, there are all kinds of privacy and liability hoops to jump through.

At ANDIME I was able to work with Ernesto, a certified music therapist, for a few hours twice a week. Only a short time into the experience, I began to split my time between Ernesto and the other music teacher, Francisco. While with Ernesto, I mainly observed him in action with his classes; with Francisco, a trained musician and teacher who had never worked with special needs children or music therapy, I was able to implement some of the techniques I’d seen Ernesto use and try out ideas of my own.

I spent my hours at ANDIME walking and clapping in rhythm, swaying and bouncing with hula hoops, picking out melodies on a xylophone, beating on drums, singing songs, conducting impromptu mini ensembles, and loving a group of extremely affectionate kids. All these activities and their effect on the students were evidence of how learning rhythm corresponds to balance and coordination; learning to sing translates to speech; learning to hold a mallet aids muscle development; plucking a string develops fine motor skills; and taking turns on an instrument teaches discipline and social interaction.

By far my most memorable moment at ANDIME happened during one of my classes with Ernesto. Most of the students had severe cases of Down syndrome; several of these students couldn’t speak and were only minimally responsive. One such student, Miguelito, was not only severely impaired, but he also had spastic tendencies which left him unable to sit still, make controlled movements, or fix his eyes on anything. On this particular day Ernesto brought out a brand new instrument to use with the class. It was shaped like a small washboard and made of a series of chimes attached on either end to the outer frame with wires and a handle at the bottom. Ernesto held the instrument in front of Miguelito’s face, so that he was looking through the spaces in the chimes at Miguelito. He began to run a mallet up and down along the chimes. We watched excitedly as Miguelito’s eyes began to search for the chiming sound and then lock onto the mallet and slowly follow it up and down. A seemingly small event was a big step in the motor development of this little boy.

Being on my own in a professional context, while intimidating, forced me to struggle through the language and retain a lot of general vocabulary as well as vocabulary specific to my work. Singing childhood songs along with the students opened space for a connection that hadn’t been possible with my passable but imperfect Spanish. Surprising my host family and friends with these songs delighted them and invited a deeper level of intimacy, as they understood that I truly respected their culture and wanted to know more.

As a music major, I appreciated gaining insight into the way in which the average Chilean relates to music. Every time I revealed one of my new children’s songs to my Chilean friends, they almost always joined in, singing gustily whether or not they were what one might call “musically adept.” When I asked my teenage host brother, Javier, how the Chilean national anthem went, I soon found myself audience to him and his best friend, standing at attention, hands over their hearts, proudly bellowing out the Chilean national anthem while the orchestra blared on the computer speakers behind them. And still, when I catch up every once in a while with Chilean friends on the phone, if I ask them to sing me a song, they will. No reservations, no shyness, no embarrassment. .

In the beginning, due to my intimidation about the language and not knowing much about the work, I felt somewhat like a burden. Soon, however, as I learned more and my confidence grew, I was able to really assist, especially Francisco. A kind of partnership grew between us, as we were essentially learning together. Toward the end of the semester, we split the class into two groups; I worked with one, and he with the other, and eventually he allowed me to teach my own class, in which he assisted me, occasionally offering suggestions and valuable feedback. I felt not only empowered and more confident, but that I was helping the therapists and the students by working for free and allowing for more individualized attention.

Now back in the U.S., I find am unsure of my next step. My experience at ANDIME inclined me toward graduate certification in music therapy, but it also sparked a new interest in ethnomusicology, the study of music of other cultures. Perhaps I can find a way to combine them. Between the tedious work of researching graduate schools, looking for jobs, and waffling over which path to pursue, I love going back to my photographs and remembering the school and my students. The pride shining in their eyes each time they accomplished something new was a reward in itself.