Bachelor's in Music???

[dfsquare]

So my future daughter-in-law wants to ultimately be a music therapist. She asked me today if she can get her bachelor's in music that same way I'm doing my BALS. I said I'd check with the experts.

My initial reaction is all the gen ed stuff thru SL/Saylor/Study but all the music stuff will need to be done thru another route. Maybe local community college? 

So??? Experts....GO!

Thanks in advance. You all are awesome. Oh and I'm blowing thru BALS thanks to you all; should be done by May.

Dawn

[bjcheung77]

It's a workable degree, the gen ed can be done through the methods as you mentioned or through the local community college. If you want another route to get the music courses, the local community college/university is the best route. For you daughter-in-law, she may want to PLA those music credits if she's very familiar with the topics and have experience to document them.

Review this thread for info: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/showthr...?tid=24699
Check this one as well: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/showthr...?tid=26283
Continuation of post #2: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/showthr...?tid=26346
Sister board: http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distan...-tesu.html

[SDO]

Community college music courses would not meet the upper level course requirements in the Area of Study.

[DavidHume]

There are UL music credits available at https://online.berklee.edu/courses but ~$500/credit

http://www.vcsu.edu/academics/music/vp.htm?p=3579 @ ~$275/credit

There are others but nothing in the super cheap categories that I know of

[cookderosa]

That's a board certified career in most (all?) states, so I'm 99% sure she has to attend a school that qualifies her to sit the exam - but if she has an undergraduate degree in something (liberal arts, music, psychology, etc) she can get her qualifications via master's degree. I found a link that might help her:

https://www.musictherapy.org/careers/employment/

It looks like there are 70 schools that qualify. She will also need clinical hours- a lot of them.
If she only wants a bachelor's, she needs to go straight into an approved program.
If that's the case, what you CAN do for/with her is to go through the list of 70 schools and see how and where you can take shortcuts. If I were in your shoes, I'd encourage her to try alternative credit earning through AP and CLEP for her gen eds. I'm sure some of the schools are a lot more credit friendly than others. In addition, see if she can earn lower level credits via community college too.

If she plans to attend grad school, she can earn her non-music therapy degree like you are, and then enter a graduate program (masters/doctorate) as long as she meets THAT school's admission requirements and has a strong GPA she should qualify.


EDIT to add (also from the above link)

"Professional Requirements for Music Therapists
A professional music therapist holds a bachelor's degree or higher in music therapy from one of over 70 American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) approved college and university programs. The curriculum for the bachelor's degree is designed to impart entry level competencies in three main areas: musical foundations, clinical foundations, and music therapy foundations and principles as specified in the AMTA Professional Competencies. In addition to the academic coursework, the bachelor's degree requires 1200 hours of clinical training, including a supervised internship. Graduate degrees in Music Therapy focus on advanced clinical practice and research.

Upon completion of the bachelor's degree, music therapists are eligible to sit for the national board certification exam to obtain the credential MT-BC (Music Therapist - Board Certified) which is necessary for professional practice. The credential MT-BC is granted by a separate, accredited organization, the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT), to identify music therapists who have demonstrated the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to practice at the current level of the profession. The purpose of board certification in music therapy is to provide an objective national standard that can be used as a measure of professionalism by interested agencies, groups, and individuals.

In addition, music therapists who currently hold the professional designations of ACMT, CMT or RMT are listed on the National Music Therapy Registry (NMTR) and are qualified to practice music therapy. For information on current holders of the ACMT, CMT or RMT designations, please contact the NMTR at (301) 562-9330."

[dfrecore]

She could look at the BALS, take a few courses at CC's/4-yr schools to get a GPA, and then do a master's program. Saving time and money now so that she can use her money to get the master's is probably the best idea for her.

This is one of those degrees where she needs to work backwards from her ultimate goal. Figure out what degree she wants, then make sure she checks off all of the boxes to do that. If she wants a Master's, then she needs to make sure she figures out what's needed for the master's program that she wants, and then make sure she checks those boxes on the way to the program.

Also, if it's Music therapy, might she be interested in a Psych degree instead of a BALS? No idea here, just sounded like it might work.

[sanantone]

Normally, any degree will do to get into any kind of masters program in counseling or therapy, but it helps to have a few psychology courses. Some programs will require intro to psychology, developmental psychology, abnormal psychology, and/or statistics.

You should see what your state requires. I don't know how other states work, but Texas does not license music therapists. Art therapists must be licensed professional counselors and be certified as art therapists. Looking at the job ads, music therapists don't seem to have this requirement for whatever reason. Employers are only requiring a bachelor's degree and board certification.