Useful Software in the Field of Music Therapy

By: Erin Welch

iPlayMusic & TablEdit 2.65The first teaches individuals how to play guitar by downloading

software onto an iPod.

The second helps individuals learn new songs on guitar by allowing therapists to communicate music to those who don’t know how to read music.

Why Guitar is Important The guitar has been described as an “indispensable” tool to Music

Therapy (Primadei 2004) and is the main instrument of choice for therapists and clients alike (Romanowski 2003).

Using guitar as motivation in therapy can help with pre-academic needs, such as concentration and incentive to complete a task.

The guitar, being portable, is easy for the therapist to take to any session to use with any client.

The guitar can be played before even speaking to client to establish a connection or to interest a patient who is withdrawn.

The timbre is soothing, and it is difficult to make the guitar sound bad. Thus, it is common to let the patient try to play the guitar….the good sounds that will almost inevitably be produced can be very encouraging.

Music played on the guitar (and the interest of watching someone play it) can be a very good distraction for patients, especially those who are hospitalized and children.

Examples of Guitar Use in Therapy Hanser (1999) reported working with a 12-year-old boy attending a special needs school

who would not attempt anything about which he doubted his success- he had a very low frustration level. However, he really wanted to play guitar, so achievable tasks were made for him, and the chance to learn new skills was an incentive to pay attention during guitar sessions and during regular class time.

Williams (2003)- case study with a 2 ½ -year-old female burn victim. She was in extreme discomfort during dressings until the therapists came and played guitar. The little girl was very intrigued, learned the names of the strings, and strummed the guitar even with a splint on her arm. It proved to be the perfect distraction from the discomfort.

Kennedy (1998) investigated the effect of guitar lessons on adolescents and noted a large increase of self-esteem in the subjects.

I have read several examples of therapists teaching patients to play the guitar, even though they were missing figures, have muscular impairments, or did not have full use of their hands. However, the first of these software programs cannot be aimed at these particular patients because it only teaches guitar in the traditional form.

I played at a preschool for abused children last semester…

How iPlayMusic Workshttp://www.iplaymusic.com/mac-demo.html

There are 3 DVDs that can be bought and installed to your computer, and then is transferred to an iPod.

There are over 4 hours of video lessons on each DVD, an 80-page printable e-book, and more than 25 popular song lessons.

Video lessons include scrolling chords/lyrics, slow motion, and looping that allows you to learn songs at an individualized pace.

Benefits and Faults of iPlayMusic This could be a very good incentive for patients to concentrate and cooperate by allowing

them to learn new songs each time they do. There are two problems with this: Sometimes clients are only seen for one session,

however music therapists can work with a client for 2 years or longer. If this program is used to motivate such patients, the therapist will run out of songs, because currently, there are only 2 discs with 25 “hit” songs.

Also, the program will teach the patient to be a “song-specific” guitarist. Meaning, they are not taught the skills needed to play the guitar- they are only mimicking what someone on a screen does in order to play a specific song. When therapy is ended, the patient will not have the needed skills to continue to learn new songs if they desire to (unless they seek other guidance).

Because this is downloaded to your iPod, it is portable, which makes it very convenient. This would make it easy to pass on to patients (but only as long as they have an iPod) and allow them to take it home to learn at whatever pace they feel comfortable.

Because there is a social aspect that accompanies playing the guitar, being able to play “popular” songs is very likely to boost self-esteem and establish a sense of accomplishment belonging among peers.

This might not fit the learning style of a particular client, which could lead to frustration. It probably would be difficult for some people to learn by simply watching a person’s hands move. Because of the hand positions, sometimes it is hard to tell which strings the fingers are on.

About Tablature EditorThis program allows you to create, edit, print, and listen to

(via MIDI) tablature and notation for guitar, as well as other fretted, stringed instruments.

TablEdit has an extremely long list of features…some of them include: offers multitrack editing and printing, is available in several languages, it can print chord diagrams and head sheets, alternate tuning, transposition… and the list goes on.

Benefits of Tablature Editor There are many, many people who do not know how to read notation, so tablature

is the easiest way to help them communicate a musical idea. Normally, when creating TABs, there is no way to convey the rhythms of the song,

but with this program, the notation is right above it, so the rhythm is shown. Also, if the patient is interested in reading music, this could be a tool to help them do so.

It is printable. If I hear a song that I think a particular client would like, or if a client requests a song I don’t know, I could go look it up and learn it, and then create the TAB, print it out, and bring it to our next session to share.

Like Finale, you can add or delete measures after you have started working on the piece.

Also like Finale, the up, down, and side-to-side arrows can be used to move around quickly on the “strings”.

Entering pitches is simple- just place the cursor on the desired string as use the number keypad to enter the fret number (then use the arrows to move to the next string needed and continue the process).

Essential elements, such as dynamics, up- and down-strokes, and fingerings can be added to the TAB.

The piece can be played back and exported as a WAV file.

Faults of Tablature Editor Unfortunately, like most other programs, only the demo is free. And if you choose to use

the demo, it will only save 16 measures at a time. So if using the demo (like I did), wait until you have enough time to enter the entire song and then print it.

Although it is simple to enter pitches, it is very tedious to change the duration of a note. If the program is set to entering eighth notes, and you want to enter a quarter note, you have to set your cursor and then go to the toolbar, and choose the note duration each time the rhythm changes. So, for a song with complicated rhythms, this process could take a while.

Entering words is also very tedious because they must be entered syllable by syllable. And it associates specific syllables with specific notes, so once the syllable is there, it cannot be adjusted. This causes a problem if a word is even somewhat long, because the next word will be set on top of it…causing the first word to be cut off. The one upside is that it keeps a pool of syllables once they’re entered, so if any of the words repeat, you don’t have to retype every single one of them.

TablEdit 2.65Screen shot of me entering a Jim Croce song into the Tablature Editor.

Entering Text

Top: the pool of syllables that expands as you create syllables.

Bottom: the window to type a new syllable.

Changing Note Value

Under the tab Note in the tool bar, note durations are listed: from whole note, ½ note, ¼ note, etc. until 1/64 note.

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Pages 1&2 out of 4.

Works Cited Hanser, S.B., “The new music therapist’s handbook”, Berklee Press,

Boston, 1999 Kennedy, J.R., “The effects of musical performance, rational emotive

therapy and vicarious experience on the self-efficacy and self-esteem of juvenile delinquents and disadvantaged children”, 1998, University of Kansas

Krout, Robert E. EdD, “The attraction of the guitar as an instrument of motivation, preference, and choice for use with clients in music therapy: A review of the literature”, The Arts in Psychotherapy, 34.1

Primadei, A., “The use of guitar in clinical improvisation”, Music Therapy Today, 2004

Romanowski, B., “Men and guitars- Personal experience with the guitar in music therapy”, Music Therapy Today, April 2003

Williams, K., “A child with burn injury at a pediatric hospital: A music therapy case study”, The New Zealand Journal of Music Therapy, 2003, p. 31