World Music Therapy Day Date in the current year: March 1, 2024

According to the definition provided by the World Federation of Music Therapy, music therapy is “the professional use of music and its elements as an intervention in medical, educational, and everyday environments”. Its main goal is to improve the communicative, emotional, intellectual, physical, social, and spiritual health and well-being of patients.

A music therapy session may involve singing, songwriting, improvisation, drum circles, guided imagery, lyric analysis, therapeutic performances, and other techniques depending on the patient’s needs. It should be noted that music therapy cannot substitute music lessons; while patients do acquire certain music skills, this is a means and not the end.

Music therapists use music to help their patients reach a variety of goals. This type of therapy can help boost self-confidence, cope with loss, express emotions, facilitate relaxation, improve motor skills, improve social skills, and increase concentration. It can also be used as an auxiliary treatment for acute and chronic pain syndromes, Alzheimer’s disease, brain injuries, certain mental health conditions, and substance abuse problems.

Music therapists can work in many professional settings such as community centers, correctional facilities, daycare centers, halfway houses, hospices, hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, rehabs, senior centers, schools, etc. Professional requirements may vary depending on the country, but like any other health profession music therapy typically requires special education and certification.

World Music Therapy Day was launched in 2016 by the World Federation of Music Therapy, a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting music therapy throughout the world. It was established in Italy in 1985 by a group of music therapists from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Every year on March 1, professional organizations for music therapists and individual specialists organize various event to educate the general public on the benefits of music therapy, and their patients share their love for music therapy and stories about how it has helped them.

How can you join the celebration of World Music Therapy Day? There are many ways to participate in the day. You can learn more about music therapy and its benefits, reach out to the music therapists you know to thank them for their work, send your music therapist a greeting card or a gift basket, or donate to an organization providing music therapy programs for disadvantage children, seniors in nursing homes, etc. And don’t forget to spread the word about the holiday on social media with the hashtags #WorldMusicTherapyDay and #WMTD.

World Music Therapy Day should not be confused with Global Sound Healing Day. The latter is observed on February 14 to raise awareness of the healing properties of sound and send a sonic valentine to Mother Earth.