How To Become A Community Music Therapist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a community music therapist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Ron Precht

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a community music therapist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.2 an hour? That's $56,574 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a community music therapist?

Ron Precht

Senior Manager, American Massage Therapy Association

Generally, metropolitan areas have had more openings for massage therapists. This is a report from the end of 2019 that has the most recent data we have available. Report

ScoreCommunity Music TherapistUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,574

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.2

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.77%

Asian 3.27%

Black or African American 6.53%

Hispanic or Latino 10.21%

Unknown 4.49%

White 74.73%

Gender

female 78.15%

male 21.85%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.9

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a community music therapist

Explore community music therapist education requirements

Most common community music therapist degrees

Master's

55.6 %

Bachelor's

40.4 %

Associate

2.5 %

Start to develop specific community music therapist skills

Skills	Percentages
Behavioral Health	12.86%
Family Therapy	12.79%
Social Work	12.09%
Community Resources	6.93%
Crisis Intervention	6.91%

Complete relevant community music therapist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New community music therapists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a community music therapist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real community music therapist resumes.

Research community music therapist duties and responsibilities

Lead DBT orientation and DBT skills groups for parents.
Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Conduct clinical assessments and provide direct clinical treatment, rehabilitation, professional case management and support services as needed.
Provide in-home and community counseling to adolescents and families.

Prepare your community music therapist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your community music therapist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a community music therapist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable community music therapist resume templates

Build a professional community music therapist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your community music therapist resume.