Promoting Socialization through Music Therapy
Waving, laughing, smiling, sharing, taking turns, and playing; these are all social skills. Social skills are learned behaviors that help us interact with peers, strangers, and family. We don’t often think about it, but social skills aren’t innate skills we are born with. While some people may be more outgoing or charismatic than others, we still learn how to engage with other people through similar ways: watching, listening, mirroring, repeating, and being around other people. For some people, the acquisition of social skills is more difficult and complicated for a variety of reasons. For example, people with disabilities and/or mental health issues like autism, depression, anxiety, or intellectual and/or developmental disabilities may be isolated or have limited opportunities to interact with peers or other people.
Music provides a unique opportunity for people of all abilities and backgrounds to interact. Perhaps you were (or are) in a band or choir in school or you and your friends started a garage band to hang out more. These group opportunities help teach how to work as a team, make friends, be a part of a community, and problem solve. You may learn how to communicate preferences, compromise, advocate for yourself, or protest an idea that you don’t like. Just the act of making music with others promotes a sense of meaning, purpose, and community.
Music therapy groups combine the purpose of music making with therapeutic principles to target building social skills in a safe, open, and non-judgemental environment. Music therapy social groups may focus on writing music, creating a band, or playing instruments together. For children’s music therapy groups, music therapy interventions can focus on taking turns playing instruments, sharing instruments, playing with others, and learning how to communicate with others, both verbally and nonverbally. In these scenarios, the music therapists provide opportunities to try out social interactions or support people to let their voice be heard in a large group.
Research behind social skills-based music therapy groups show that music therapy is an effective medium to teaching social skills. In a study by Pasiali & Clark (2018), music therapy interventions such as improvisation (spontaneous music making) and teaching skills through song lyrics are salient interventions for school-aged children (https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/thy007). An article by Pavlicevic et al. (2013), highlights how long-term music therapy groups help young adults with disabilities build confidence, self-esteem, and friendships, as well as provide them and their families with a community (https://doi.org/10.1177/1744629513511354). An article by Baines (2003) reports that one of the most valuable elements of a music therapy program for adults with mental health difficulties was socializing and relationship building (https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/1658/1418).
