.jpg)
Music therapy is my major, but I don’t know why I chose it when I was a high school student. I just wanted to be a member of college at that time; it is hard to get an acceptance from a good school in China. So I picked music therapy even though I didn’t know what it was.
2008 was a special year for me because I learned what music therapy was and that I loved it. 2008 was a miserable year in China. The earthquake in Sichuan province attracted all of the Chinese attentions. How lucky that I had the chance to be the one of volunteers to explore music therapy with Professor Tian Gao. When I sang a song with the people who were suffering greatly, the smiles showing on their faces made me feel like I was already a music therapist. This was the first time I was really experiencing music therapy. This was the beginning of my realization of the power of music therapy. Though the people lost their parent(s), homes and everything because of the earthquake, the smile came out from their faces and made it seem like they had found part of a wonderful world again. Suddenly I found myself because of this, the realization of the meaning of music therapy.
2008 was an amazing year for me because I had the chance to go abroad to study music therapy in a different country and experience a different way to study so that I could absorb music therapy in a different culture. It was a great experience to study music therapy with Dr. Boyle and Professor Dennis at SUNY New Paltz. They were so nice and kind to teach me how to be a music therapist and what to do in a session. Now I can combine the theory I learned in U.S to make my practicum experiences better and better. Now I feel more empowered to be a music therapist.Qi Young, Music Therapy Undergraduate Student of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China
