Music Therapy

MUSIC THERAPY INTERNSHIPS - MUTX 449

Download the Microsoft Word version of requirements

Do you plan to pursue a national roster internship or a university-affiliated internship?

National Roster Internship:

  • Choosing a national roster internship means that you may initially apply to four internships. Refer to the American Music Therapy Association website links below to find information about these internships. You will want to write to all internships in which you are interested to obtain information about them. Take your time to look through this listing carefully, reading the descriptions.

http://www.musictherapy.org/handbook/internship.html

http://www.musictherapy.org/handbook/ctindex.html

  • Meet with your advisor to help discuss your interests and try to narrow down your choices.
  • Once you receive responses from all of the internships, you will choose and apply to up to four of them. If you receive a rejection letter, you may then apply to another internship, but you may only have four applications out at once.
  • You will apply one year prior to when you want to begin the internship.

University-Affiliated Internship:

  • You need to let your music therapy advisor know several months in advance if you want to create a university-affiliated internship. The internship must be within a few hours drive of Eau Claire as site visits are a requirement. It is your responsibility to submit your portfolio notebook 90 days prior to your desired start date.
  • Advantages of a university-affiliated internship include the ability to target specific populations, techniques, and goal areas, and to put together pieces from different settings, and even in different cities, allowing for breadth of experiences. If you have special areas of interest/strength or weakness which you desire to target, a university-affiliated internship will allow you to really focus on your own personal needs.
  • Students who choose a university-affiliated internship must be able to function independently and are expected to design the internship instead of entering an internship which has been designed for you. The ability to communicate and work effectively with the staff of the internship setting(s) is of prime importance. You will also want to work closely with your music therapy advisor during this planning process.

National Roster Internships:

If you are planning on applying for a National Roster internship, you will need the following items completed:

My Status on the AMTA Professional Competencies:

  1. I have met the following competencies as noted:
    • Please include setting and dates when you targeted each competency.
    • Attach your listing to this document and label as competencies met.
  2. I plan to target the following competencies during my internship:
    • Please include setting and dates when you will target each competency.
    • Attach your listing to this document and label as competencies to be targeted.

My Updated Baccalaureate Portfolio:

  • Include your e-portfolio work.

Special Internship Project

Description of Special Project/s – A special project is required for your internship. If your national roster internship already includes a special project, completion of that project will meet this requirement. If your national roster internship does not require a special project, work with your advisor to design a special project for your internship. This music therapy project may be a program proposal, a grant, a presentation, development of a video training tape, creation of a website, development of a handbook, etc… It should be something which will be useful to you in the future in your work as a music therapist and which can also be used by university students and other interns in the future. You may choose to make photographs with a how-to description for objects created that cannot simply be copied and given to the university and the internship setting.

Three Reports Due to the University Advisor

For both university-affiliated internships and national roster internships three reports are required to be submitted in typed format to your university advisor at the end of the first third of your internship, the second third of your internship, and the completion of your internship. These reports should contain a description of what you have been doing, any comments about your internship that you would like to share, a description of what content from your university education has been useful, and a description of content that you wish you had from your education that you did not have.

National Roster Report Requirements

For national roster internships you are required to complete a self-evaluation report at the end of three months and again at the end of six months. Your clinical supervisor/s will also complete evaluations for you at the end of three months and at the end of six months and will send copies to your university advisor. At the end of the internship you will also complete an evaluation of the internship which will be sent to the American Music Therapy Association

Contact Information

Please make sure the faculty member has the following contact information.

Name:

Telephone

Blugold ID:

Email:

Home:

Mailing Address:

Cell:

 

University Affiliated Internships:

If you are planning on applying for a University Affiliated Internship, you will need to include the following items in your portfolio notebook which serves as an application for a university-affiliated internship. Submission of this document means that you are not applying for any other internships and are committed through a contractual agreement to follow through and complete your internship in that setting.

My Status on the AMTA Professional Competencies:

  1. I have met the following competencies as noted:
    • Please include setting and dates when you targeted each competency.
    • Attach your listing to this document and label as competencies met.
  2. I plan to target the following competencies during my internship:
    • Please include setting and dates when you will target each competency.
    • Attach your listing to this document and label as competencies to be targeted.

My Status on Clinical Music Repertoire and Skills:

  • Include your videolog to demonstrate your repertoire and skills.
  • Include a written description of your strengths and weaknesses along with the videolog.

My Musical Repertoire Notebook

  • Include your notebook/s cross-referenced for therapeutic use with a variety of populations.
  • Sections need to include:
    • Songs on which I am competent.
    • Song sheets which I can use/need to learn songs.
    • Music Therapy session plans – cross-referenced for future use

My Updated Baccalaureate Portfolio:

  • Include your e-portfolio work.

My Log of Clinical Hours

  • Refer to your PPG.
  • Click here to print Log of Clinical Hours.

Special Internship Project

Description of Special Project/s – A special project is required for your internship. If your national roster internship already includes a special project, completion of that project will meet this requirement. If you are doing a university-affiliated internship or if your national roster internship does not require a special project, work with your advisor to design a special project for your internship. This music therapy project may be a program proposal, a grant, a presentation, development of a video training tape, creation of a website, development of a handbook, etc… It should be something which will be useful to you in the future in your work as a music therapist and which can also be used by university students and other interns in the future. You may choose to make photographs with a how-to description for objects created that cannot simply be copied and given to the university and the internship setting.

Three Reports Due to the University Advisor

For both university-affiliated internships and national roster internships three reports are required to be submitted in typed format to your university advisor at the end of the first third of your internship, the second third of your internship, and the completion of your internship. These reports should contain a description of what you have been doing, any comments about your internship that you would like to share, a description of what content from your university education has been useful, and a description of content that you wish you had from your education that you did not have.

Internship Structure

  1. Choosing a university-affiliated internship means that you will independently accept the responsibility to structure your internship ahead of time. You will need to submit the form below along with the rest of the requirements above to request permission to enroll in a university – affiliated internship.

Days/Times

Place

Total hours

Supervisor

Signature of Supervisor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

etc…

  • For each different setting, describe the number of hours you plan to accrue and delineate how you plan to spend your time in each of the following activities:
    • Type of client interaction
    • Hours devoted to session planning
    • Set-up/take-down time for session materials
    • Documentation time
    • Supervision time

Contact Information

Please make sure the faculty member has the following contact information.

Name:

Telephone

Blugold ID:

Email:

Home:

Mailing Address:

Cell:

 

When Can I Take the Certification Exam – how soon after completing my internship?

 

Once you have successfully completed your internship and your advisor has received your grade, you are eligible to take the Music Therapy Board Certification Examination. The CBMT will need verification from your internship supervisor of your successful completion of the internship and verification from your university advisor that you have successfully completed all course requirements for graduation as a music therapy major. Letters are sent and e-mails are used to confirm this eligibility status. You do not need to wait until your graduation is official as graduations occur only at the ends of semesters. You could technically take the Certification Exam the next day after completing your internship. Most students choose to study for a period of time before taking the exam. Students who are pursuing an alternate route to certification are required to use the CBMT application form to show that you have the equivalent of each course in the curriculum by presenting evidence of your work to be eligible to take the exam.

 

Registering for your Internship:

MUTX 449.830

Students in a full-time internship that involves 40 hours weekly register for MUTX 449 section 830.

MUTX 449.801

Students who are spreading out their hours over time and are completing internships on a part-time basis register for MUTX 449 section 801.

Full-Time Student Status During Internship

Financial aid lasts through the duration of your internship. Sometimes your insurance company will request a letter to verify your full-time student status. Find out if the letter needs to come from your program director or from registration. Then either contact Lee Anna or Registration Services to obtain your letter.

The duration of your internship lasts longer than the duration of a semester. At the end of your semester, you will receive a grade of either NR for No Report or PR for In Progress. At the end of your internship, your internship grade will be submitted and will replace the previous grade. You remain a full-time student throughout the duration of your internship. As soon as your grade is submitted, you are elligible to take the Music Therapy Board Certification Exam.

Do I need to Register for My Internship for 2 Different Semesters?

It depends on the time span covered by your internship.

If you begin in January – March and go through August or September, you will register for 6 credits for the Spring semester. If your internship begins in June – September and goes through December or January, you will register for 6 credits in the Fall semester. However, if your internship spans across the Fall and Spring semesters from October – March, you will register for 3 credits during the Fall semester and for 3 credits during the Spring semester. You will need to complete a Full-time Internship Verification form which you may pick up in Schofield 128. Your major advisor and the Dept. Chair will need to sign this form which verifies that you are working at least 30 hours weekly during the semester. Your internship in a national roster internship is a minimum of 1040 hours, so if you add up the hours across any 3 months it averages out to more than 30 hours a week. The semester is only based on 16 weeks at 30 hours/week, and your internship is based on an average of 24 weeks at 40 hours/week. You will need to meet with a financial aid advisor to make sure that you complete your financial aid paperwork correctly for your full-time working status across the internship. Also, you should check with your family as well as examine any of your own personal insurance policies about being covered during the internship because sometimes your insurance policy requires verification that you are a full-time student during the internship course since you are not registered for at least 12 credits.

At the end of your semester, you will receive a grade of either NR for No Report or PR for In Progress. At the end of your internship, your internship grade will be submitted and will replace the previous grade. If you register for two different semesters for 3 credits for each semester, you will receive a grade for each semester. If you are a full-time student, you will remain a full-time student throughout the duration of your internship. If you are a part-time student, you will remain a part-time student throughout the duration of your internship. As soon as your grade is submitted, you are eligible to take the Music Therapy Board Certification Exam.