In Defense of Extrinsic Benefits…?

Another summer means another opportunity to catch up on a little book reading. This summer’s reading list was inspired by my upcoming teaching and writing commitments. Two books in particular sparked musings on a topic I haven’t yet blogged about (at least not directly), but about which I’ve had numerous conversations with music therapists and music educators alike.

The topic? The necessity focusing on intrinsic v. extrinsic benefits of music/music therapy. It’s common in both the music therapy and music education fields to focus on the extrinsic benefits of being in (music therapy) and learning (music ed) music. By “extrinsic benefits” I mean those tangible, straightforward benefits (e.g. improved math skill, improved language skills, and greater aural acuity) that are easy for others—non-musicians, administrators, and law and policy makers—to understand.

However, there’s been talk, particularly among my music education colleagues, of advocating for a shift away from focusing on extrinsic benefits alone and highlighting the intrinsic benefits of learning music and being a musician. I detail some of those arguments and intrinsic benefits (of which there are many) here.

But describing the intrinsic benefits of music therapy? That’s a little harder (at least for me) as I think that the entire point of music therapy is to improve non-musical skills, behaviors, health, etc. Thus to me, the benefits of music therapy are primarily extrinsic.

That said, there may be unintended ancillary benefits. For example, let’s say you’re working with a hospitalized patient and the primary, assessed treatment goal is to reduce pain perception. At the end of the session, the patient’s perceived pain is reduced (yay! goal achieved!)…and during the process the patient experiences social benefits (e.g. interacting with family through music) and emotional benefits (e.g. is smiling and indicates feeling happy). These latter benefits are ancillary—they weren’t the intended treatment target you and the patient established, but they occurred anything as part of engaging in music therapy together. Perhaps, then, these are the intrinsic benefits?

This is where my summer reading books come in. First is Stefan Koelsch’s 2012 text Brain and Music. In this book, Koelsch connects multiple theoretical elements (music processing in the brain, psychological processing of music, social and cultural considerations, etc.) to create a different conceptualization of music psychology. Without going into too much detail, in his final argument Koelsch lays out the salutary (i.e., health) benefits of engaging in music. The physiological benefits, emotional benefits, social benefits, etc.

Confession time: reading this chapter was difficult for me. Not because I didn’t understand it (it was actually the easiest chapter for me to comprehend), but because I kept thinking “so, what makes music therapy different?”

Then it dawned on me. These salutary effects…these are the intrinsic benefits. One quality that makes music therapy unique, that differentiates treatment from general health benefits, is intentionality. The professional music therapist intentionally focuses on certain health-related treatment, wellness, or developmental goals based on the assessment. And we structure and create and adapt music experiences to focus on these goals.

This thought process was further validated when reading Kenneth Bruscia’s 2014 text Defining Music Therapy (a really nice, well-thought out overview of the profession that I will immediately begin using with my students). In particular I was struck by the working definition he proposes which states that “…the (music) therapist helps the client to optimize the client’s health…” See? An extrinsic focus is highlighted here as well: “client’s health.”

I fully expect these types of musings will continue as I move forward in teaching, supervision, scholarship, and clinical practice. And hopefully deepened by many more interesting books and conversations along the way. Speaking of…what are your thoughts, Reader, on this topic? Are there intrinsic benefits to music therapy? Extrinsic? Or both, either weighted in one direction, the other, or equally? I look forward to reading your comments in the boxes below.

Tagged as: book review, function of music, Music Therapy, reflections, what is music therapy