Basic verbal skills are necessary for effective and competent practice at every level of music therapy. This innovative new text provides a clear and practical foundation for understanding how words and verbalization can be used in a variety of ways in music therapy to meet the individual needs of each client across a range of settings. The focus is on giving music therapy students and young professionals a roadmap for deciding why, when, and how to use basic verbal skills in their work.

Music therapy educators will find it particularly useful with its clear framework, clinical scenarios, and samples of word use that are directly tied to music therapy scope and level of practice. The book takes an inventive approach to understanding how to make informed clinical decisions on using words and gives examples and exercises within four different categories of verbalization – Verbal Framing, Verbal Exchanges, Verbal Interactions, and Verbal Interventions. Chapters also look concisely at defining communication, reviewing current music therapy literature on verbal skills, and understanding how verbalization fits into scope of practice, ethical standards, and music therapy regulations. The final chapters examine the influence of music on words, and words on music. Each chapter also includes exercises to help readers reflect, increase word repertoire, and rehearse verbal skills.