The Coordinator of ISEP’s Master in Music Therapy, Sonia Moreno, reflects on the application of music therapy in children in a talk with Àngels Pagans and Núria Bonet, music therapists from l’Associació Ressó de Musicoterapia and professors of the ISEP Master.
Music is a tool for playful, educational, and therapeutic intervention that allows for the improvement of communicative skills and in the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional rehabilitation of various groups, including children.
“The most difficult thing about music therapy for children is precisely that we work with little ones who are sick,” explain Àngels and Núria from l’Associació Ressó de Musicoterapia. These two music therapists have been paving a path of communication between hospitals and music since 2005, benefiting the mood of hospitalized children and their families, among other improvements.
Music Therapy in Hospitalized Children
We wonder (and we ask them) if they believe their daily work also impacts the family systems of hospitalized minors. Their answer is direct: “One of the premises of our work is to conduct music therapy sessions for children together with family members.” As we reread their responses, it occurs to us that the physiological benefits of these sessions must manifest in the patients’ monitors, in the amount of medicine needed per patient, in the more or less rapid improvement of their symptoms, etc. But what we are sure of is that the emotional benefits are evident from minute zero, when the music cart enters the room. We imagine how some little ones’ faces light up when they see a drum. “Everyone wants to play the drum,” they tell us.
Music Therapy and the Family
We also imagine that music therapy for children equally concerns parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins… People who are not admitted but almost live in the hospital, who are the support where the situation places much of its weight. They must cope with their own sadness, incomprehension, tiredness, and, above all, their unconditional love for the little ones. “Music therapy for children is an opportunity to share the same activity—children and family—during difficult moments and in a hostile environment.” The smiles shared in these sessions must be irresistible.
The pediatric units of the Germans Trías i Pujol “Can Ruti”, Sant Pau, and Parc Taulí hospitals were the first centers to host Àngels and Núria’s music therapy sessions for children. “In 2009, we began collaborating with the Fundació Enriqueta Villavecchia in the pediatric wards of these three centers. The Associació Ressó was born four years earlier, and it was in 2009 when we were declared of Public Utility.”
The Professional Life of a Music Therapist
We ask them what is the most exciting part of their work: “Seeing how, through music, we achieve changes in mood. How children become active or relax, and manage to express themselves.”
We know about the multiple activities that Àngels and Núria organize at the Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu. We know that they manage to have many musicians visit the center throughout the year, and that they facilitate the musician’s relationship with the hospital through the figure of the volunteer. “Care for hospitalized children is provided exclusively by music therapists. The role of volunteer musicians is to provide support by offering concerts and live ambient music in outpatient clinics, having nothing to do with the activity of music therapy for children.”
We like to think that the path they both opened thirteen years ago will continue to widen, more and more, as society comes to understand the usefulness of music therapy in our healthcare system.
How do you imagine music therapy for children, twenty years from now, in Catalunya?
We would like every hospital to have a team of music therapists working in coordination with the healthcare team.
If you are interested in training in this field, do not hesitate to ask for information about ISEP’s Master in Music Therapy!