The Music Must Play On: The Music Therapy Sessions that Should not Have Stopped

Seventy-six-year-old Rose was referred to me for music therapy with a diagnosis of residual schizophrenia. Rose was very passive and only wanted to listen to French chansons. After two years, I ended the therapy out of a belief that our music therapy sessions were not meaningful for her. About a year later, I took on more work hours and Rose surprisingly returned to the therapy room and requested to listen to music. I now realize that I was wrong to believe that the absence of active participation indicated a lack of meaning. A receptive state is not a passive state, and a relationship with a client can also be formed by listening to music together.