A Functional Musicianship Assessment System for Internship-Ready Music Therapy Students

Abstract

In light of the AMTA Commission’s (2024) recommendations for increased consistency among music therapy training, we were driven to share functional musicianship assessment processes from one undergraduate music therapy program. We utilize the Transparency in Teaching and Learning (TILT) Framework (Winklemes et al., 2019) to support accessibility of clinical musicianship skill development for first-generation college students, transfer students, and students who do not have western classical music backgrounds. Specific resources are provided for music therapy educators, including our 66-item Functional Music Skills Checklist (FMSC) and grading rubric, which were highlighted as strengths of our program in our recent National Association of Schools of Music review. We speak to the development and continued refinement of the FMSC and related processes, as well as areas for future improvement. We hope these resources will provide concrete inspiration for other music therapy faculty looking to renovate their programs’ clinical musicianship assessments.