The Music Therapist’s Secret Superpower: Mastering "Name That Tune" to Build Connections
In this blog post, Ananya shares a personal experience of using familiar melodies to engage a young autistic child in music therapy. Highlighting the importance of being versatile in musical knowledge, she explores how music therapists leverage their broad knowledge of songs to foster communication, build rapport, and achieve therapeutic goals with clients of all ages.
4/4/20252 min read
If you've ever played musical games like "Name That Tune" with music therapists, you might have noticed that we’re really good at it. As music therapists, we are often familiar with popular music from the 1920s to what’s trending today—our job depends on it! Through our training and experience, we are exposed to various genres and decades of music, tailored to the populations we serve.
One of the goals I’m currently working on in music therapy with a young autistic child is engagement. As we often see in children with autism, challenges with self-regulation and communication can make it difficult for them to engage with others. I began working with this particular client a few months ago, and right now, we are focusing on building rapport and sensory regulation. The first step in achieving this goal is to encourage the child to engage with me musically.
From experience, I’ve learned that this client doesn’t respond well to verbal questions or direct instructions. As a result, most of our sessions start with me laying out a few instruments and observing which ones they gravitate toward. I then engage with the client based on their choice of instrument. As their therapist, I view their interaction with the instruments as intentional communication, a way for them to connect with me.
In one particular session last month, the client was drawn to my tone bars (a xylophone-like instrument). They tapped along to the different notes, exploring the sounds the instrument made. This went on for about 10 minutes until they played C-C-G-G. If you're a music therapist who works with young children, you might already see where this is going. Without hesitation, I moved to the piano and began playing and singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The moment I started singing, their face lit up, and they joined in, singing with me! While this may not seem like a monumental achievement to some, as their music therapist working on engagement as the primary goal, it was a significant breakthrough for this client.
This experience got me thinking about how music therapists are trained to quickly recognize familiar melodies and use them to connect with clients—almost like playing a therapeutic version of “Name That Tune.”
Since most of my current caseload consists of children (preschool through high school) and older adults, it’s crucial for me to be familiar with songs they like or listen to. This is why I believe one of music therapists’ secret superpowers is being the best at musical games, like “Name That Tune!”