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Recently, I had the opportunity to be the very first music therapy student at the University of Vienna to study abroad for one semester of my course. Before taking classes at the University of Melbourne, Australia, I finished my 2nd year (out of 4) in the Diploma Studies of Music Therapy.Probably the most important aspect of my experience is the realisation of how different music therapy application and education in these two universities is. While music therapy studies at both universities are taught in small classes, in Vienna there is always only one class with ten students where all of them participate in the same subjects at the same time, also undergoing Music Therapy as clients. Melbourne offers a more self-directed system. Students are flexible when it comes to their subjects, and there is also the option of being a blended learning student or to study part time, which further mixes up the student groups. In Vienna, the first three years of the music therapy course are more similar to school than university, with many subjects focused on different areas, such as music, medicine, psychology and music therapy as a whole. Presence is mandatory for nearly 30 hours a week, whereas in Melbourne there are only four main subjects that require students to work independently and in groups in their own time. The Viennese University teaches according to the Viennese School of Music Therapy, which is more focused on the psychodynamic framework, whereas the University of Melbourne promotes an eclectic approach to suit the clients and the various contextual factors.An additional skill I honed during my time in Melbourne was songwriting, which only plays a minor part in Vienna and is not taught in detail. In Vienna, the preferred method of musical interaction is improvisation. Clinical application of music therapy follows this pattern, as far as I experienced it.While songwriting and musical skills are paramount in Melbourne and switching frameworks is allowed to suit the client, Vienna focuses more on a psychodynamic approach and “in-the-moment” music creation. Different instruments are used in both countries.Apart from personal development, this semester abroad also extended my knowledge about music therapy and made me even more curious about the vast methods that exist in the world of music therapy. I can see the importance of learning and comparing different systems clearer now, and I definitely gained valuable input for my music therapy career. I am already planning my next semester abroad to broaden my horizon further in this matter and can only advise any music therapy student to do the same.Johanna Doblinger, Music Therapy Student at University of Vienna
