Post job

Explore jobs

Find specific jobs

Explore careers

Explore professions

Best companies

Explore companies

OverviewJobsSalary

Skills

What They DoEducationDemographicsJob DescriptionHow To HireBest CompaniesBest StatesBest CitiesJob OutlookComparePart Time jobsEntry Level jobsFull Time jobs
zippia ai icon

Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Music therapist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Quoted experts
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.,
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical music therapist skills. We ranked the top skills for music therapists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 32.3% of music therapist resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a music therapist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 music therapist skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how music therapists use patients:
  • Provided individual music interventions for patients on sub-acute, rehabilitation to meet specific needs during short term hospital stay.
  • Developed and implemented music therapy interventions to patients of all ages and abilities in an ever-changing behavioral health setting.

2. Interdisciplinary

Here's how music therapists use interdisciplinary:
  • Provide individual music therapy services in coordination with in-house hospice organization and participated in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings.
  • Completed assessments, progress notes, and developed individualized treatment plans in conjunction with the interdisciplinary team.

3. Rehabilitation

Here's how music therapists use rehabilitation:
  • Perform intakes and coordinate expressive therapy treatment for each program: Partial Hospitalization, Psychiatric Rehabilitation, and Outpatient Mental Health.
  • Initiated music therapy program at a CARF-accredited (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) physical rehabilitation facility.

4. Music Therapy

Here's how music therapists use music therapy:
  • Utilize psychodrama, psycho-synthesis, emotional release, gestalt, guided imagery, hypnotherapy, music therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.
  • Provided crisis stabilization through music therapy interventions for children and adolescents admitted to the psychiatric facility by recommendation of their CSB.

5. Mental Health

Mental health is the state of wellbeing in which an individual can cope with the regular stresses and tensions of life, and can work productively without having any emotional or psychological breakdown. Mental health is essential for a person of any age and helps them make the right decisions in their life.

Here's how music therapists use mental health:
  • Administered individual and group sessions in a private, not-for-profit outpatient mental health facility.
  • Led weekly groups at a residential facility with adolescents with mental health disorders

6. Adolescents

Here's how music therapists use adolescents:
  • Provided in-service program for other staff on the use of Music Therapy to elicit self-expression and creativity in emotionally disturbed adolescents.
  • Provided therapeutic intervention services to children, adolescents and adults using individual, family and group treatment.

Choose from 10+ customizable music therapist resume templates

Build a professional music therapist resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your music therapist resume.

7. Music Therapy Interventions

Here's how music therapists use music therapy interventions:
  • Provided music therapy interventions for hospitalized children diagnosed with asthma, sickle cell, psychiatric and other medical issues
  • Implement music therapy interventions to promote self-expression, socialization and the development of leisure skills.

8. Music Therapy Sessions

Here's how music therapists use music therapy sessions:
  • Develop and implement goal-oriented music therapy sessions for adults in a state psychiatric hospital.
  • Provide individual music therapy sessions which are adapted as needed based on medical diagnosis.

9. Social Work

Here's how music therapists use social work:
  • Developed treatment plan that worked directly with the clients social worker, speech and language therapist, and doctors.
  • Collaborated with nurses, chaplains, social workers, music therapists, families, and staff at varying facilities.

10. Autism

Here's how music therapists use autism:
  • Provide individuals with autism and related disorders comprehensive and science-based treatments through intensive individualized instruction.
  • Fall 2010: Davis Park Elementary School - weekly 1:1 sessions with a student with autism alongside speech and language pathologist.

11. Developmental Disabilities

Here's how music therapists use developmental disabilities:
  • Created and implemented individual and group music therapy programs based on the individual needs of students with developmental disabilities.
  • Provided therapeutic interventions with preschool children, older adults, and people with developmental disabilities using music.

12. Individual Therapy Sessions

Here's how music therapists use individual therapy sessions:
  • Facilitated individual therapy sessions for an adult with developmental and intellectual disabilities
  • Implemented both group and individual therapy sessions.

13. Neurologic

Here's how music therapists use neurologic:
  • Collaborated and implemented a Neurologic Music Therapy evaluation tool for children with ASD.
  • Completed 4 day, 30 hour workshop providing advanced clinical training and scientific knowledge in the field of Neurologic Music Therapy

14. Substance Abuse

Here's how music therapists use substance abuse:
  • Implemented Music therapy group services for children whose parents were mandated to attend a substance abuse treatment program
  • Provided mental and behavioral health monitoring crisis prevention and intervention training and supervised clients in a residential substance abuse facility.

15. Compassion

Here's how music therapists use compassion:
  • Use compassion and encouragement to implement a recreation therapy program on a long-term, pulmonary unit with 35 beds.
  • Provide support and compassion for the families and loved ones of the residents during the transition.
top-skills

What skills help Music Therapists find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on music therapist resumes?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Factors, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Strong analytical skills are a must. This includes both logic and reasoning skills, but also data analysis skills. For many jobs, the ability to collect and scientifically evaluate data will be vital, if not an absolute necessity. Similarly, a strong understanding of experimental methods can put a candidate in a great position to be able to help a company evaluate existing programs and chart a path forward for new ones. Finally, I would say that a strong ability to write is critical. Those graduates who are able to effectively and persuasively communicate in writing are setting themselves up for success at any company and allowing the company to leverage them for increasingly important tasks.

What soft skills should all music therapists possess?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Factors, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Students need to be able to read individual and group dynamics in order to act appropriately in any given situation. This includes not only the interactions with one's bosses but also peers and subordinates. Similarly, being comfortable with networking can help any company, but networking skills shine through in interviews.

What hard/technical skills are most important for music therapists?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Factors, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Technical skills like the ability to perform statistical analyses are critically important for most Psychology-related jobs. This allows a candidate to collect and analyze data but also to interpret and understand other existing data. A strong statistical background can also help set a candidate apart from their peers in the application process. This includes understanding when and how to use various parametric and nonparametric statistics to be able to answer questions regardless of the data one is working with.

What music therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Sonia Manuel-Dupont Ph.D.Sonia Manuel-Dupont Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Associate Professor, Utah State University

If a student takes a gap year, I advise them to look for opportunities to build the skills listed above. Often this comes from community engagement and volunteer work. If the work situation does not align with the intended graduate work, the student should look for volunteer work to practice these skills.

What type of skills will young music therapists need?

Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D.Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Professor, The University of Texas

Graduates of the social work profession need to be able to work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and mobilize communities to bring about social, economic, political, or environmental change, in addition to being involved in social policy development.

Skills in research, to study social issues, with the intention of developing social policy or micro-level approaches to practice to improve people's lives, and training in relation to multiculturalism, cultural competence, cultural humility practice is vital.

Key skills include:

  1. Collaboration

  2. Critical thinking

  3. -Ethics in evidence based-practice

  4. Assessment, intervention, and evaluation

  5. Social work competencies to inform behaviors.

  6. Administration and management

  7. Community practice

  8. Policy practice

What technical skills for a music therapist stand out to employers?

Dr. Edward Kahler Ph.D.Dr. Edward Kahler Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Associate Dean, Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities, Professor of Music/Director of Music Therapy, West Texas A&M University

Yes all of our music therapy students must do a six-to-nine-month music therapy internship at a facility of their preference. Many of the internships are very competitive and our students do very well securing them. The interns work full time (often unpaid) with a music therapist for the entire time. After the internship they must take a national certification exam to practice as a professional music therapist. A very interesting item. I have a current intern who will finish up in April. She has just received two job offers prior to finishing her internship. That is an example of how well our students do entering the profession.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about music therapist

List of music therapist skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a music therapist resume and required skills for a music therapist to have include:

  • Patients
  • Interdisciplinary
  • Rehabilitation
  • Music Therapy
  • Mental Health
  • Adolescents
  • Music Therapy Interventions
  • Music Therapy Sessions
  • Social Work
  • Autism
  • Developmental Disabilities
  • Individual Therapy Sessions
  • Neurologic
  • Substance Abuse
  • Compassion
  • Mental Illness
  • Group Therapy Sessions
  • Eating Disorders
  • IEP
  • Pain Management
  • Memory Care
  • Memorial Services
  • Alzheimer
  • NMT
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Social Interaction
  • MDS
  • Intellectual Disabilities
  • Songwriting
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Applied Behavior Analysis
  • Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Learning Disabilities
  • Physical Disabilities
  • Developmental Delays
  • Group Homes
  • Individual Clients
  • Early Intervention
  • Stress Management
  • ADHD
  • Integrative Medicine
  • Emotional Expression

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs