MHTP graduates are Certified Music Practitioners (CMPs)
A graduate of MHTP is called a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP). This specially-trained musician provides live acoustic music at bedside, one-on-one, for therapeutic purposes. A CMP’s work is focused on the patient with the aim of bringing in-the-moment comfort to the patient’s whole being—emotional, spiritual, mental, and physiological—simply by having the patient be in the presence of the music. A CMP uses only live music, and has no goal other than addressing a patient’s immediate needs to provide a healing environment.
A CMP has met strict specific competencies for certification. A CMP works within the CMP Scope of Practice and adheres to the MHTP Code of Ethics and Conduct.
How does a CMP use music therapeutically?
During the five MHTP modules, a student learns how to use live music therapeutically by:
Applying elements of music to meet an individual patient’s condition in-the-moment
Developing improvisational abilities
Developing musicality, intonation, dynamics, and expression
Understanding and applying Heart-Centered Awareness and entrainment
Understanding the power of silence
Using appropriate types of music to play/sing for specific conditions of individual patients
Is a CMP the same as a Music Therapist?
In a word, No!
Music Therapy is an allied health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, psychological, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, the client's abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of his or her life. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Music therapy differs from other bedside music. Research in the music therapy profession supports the effectiveness of music therapy in many areas such as facilitating movement and overall physical rehabilitation, motivating people to cope with treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for the expression of feelings.
Source: AMTA website, 2022, Go to the AMTA website for more about what music therapy is➚.
Music therapists, who receive college degrees, often actively engage patients in the music-making process; they have a rehabilitative plan of action and a measurable restorative goal for each music session. Music therapists frequently use recorded music. Healing comes from engaging the patient in music and music-making. Early music therapists were ridiculed for claiming that music had healing properties, so the discipline became much more focused on using music clinically for behavior modification.
Source: Prof. Barbara Crowe, Director of Music Therapy at Arizona State University and former President of the National Association for Music Therapy, NAMT
It is critical that all students of MHTP and CMPs understand and honor this distinction.
CMPs must never call themselves a music therapist, nor even allow anyone else to call them a music therapist.
Are you ready to start your journey?
Apply to become a student with MHTP.
Still have questions? See what other potential students ask before they apply, and ask your own questions. Attend a live Q&A forum for becoming a Certified Music Practitioner via phone or videoconference, utilizing the same system MHTP employs for live videoconference modules.
You can also contact us for any answers you need.