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I’m a graduating undergrad student from Indonesia, where music therapy is still in its early seeding stage of development. Although I had truly enjoyed my training, I was very unsure of what steps I had to do to jump into my first professional career as a music therapist. I had just concluded submissions for my final project days prior to traveling 18 hours from home last June, to what must have been one of the most exciting moments throughout my music therapy journey.
Arriving at the picturesque city of Heidelberg, I had the opportunity to attend a two-week music therapy summer school program conducted by the SRH Hochschule Heidelberg in Germany. Aside from learning about music therapy approaches & practices in Germany, I am grateful to have befriended 19 students/music therapists from USA, Jordan, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, and Czech Republic; whom I have genuinely enjoyed myself connecting with - both as individuals as much as fellow music therapy practitioners. It was a very large and international group compared to what we have back in Indonesia, so it was immensely exciting and eye-opening to listen to the culturally diverse perspectives each region had.
One of the biggest takeaway that I got is that although music therapy in my homeland is still far from prominent & had often made me and my colleagues feel small, we share the same struggles in different scales as music therapists. I am inspired knowing that despite it all, there are so many fellow music therapists fighting towards the same goal. I go home not only with a better understanding of music therapy practice from all around the world, but also a stronger desire to work and apply the knowledge acquired to further contribute to the Indonesian society.
Novelyne Faustine
Universitas Pelita Harapan
Conservatory of Music
