University of Roehampton: Music Therapy

Name: Music Therapy
Price: 9175 GBP
Author: University of Roehampton

Institution	University of Roehampton View institution profile
Department	Psychology
Web	www.roehampton.ac.uk
Email	postgradadmissions@roehampton.ac.uk
Telephone	020 8392 3314
Study type	Taught

Summary

The Music Therapy programme offers training for competent, practising musicians to become therapists, bringing together their skills, education and other life experiences. On completion of the training, graduates are eligible to apply to the HCPC for registration, with the ability and flexibility to practice within the NHS, Social Services, education or private sector.

Music therapists draw on the innate qualities of music in order to support people of all ages and at all stages of life who are facing diverse challenges. Music therapy facilitates positive changes in wellbeing through engagement in musical interaction. Essential to music therapy is the relationship between client and therapist. At Roehampton we have chosen to base our Music Therapy training programme on the use of psychoanalytic ideas to inform our understanding of the therapy process and the ways the person in therapy uses the environment, the therapist and the music. Supporting theories and ways of working are also studied in order to equip students to meet a range of clinical need. Music therapy as practised in Great Britain is largely based upon improvisation, the music being the shared and spontaneous creation of the person in therapy and the Music Therapist. Other styles of music, including song writing, the use of technology and pre-composed music are also used as appropriate to the need of the individual.

The course emphasises your emotional development as a practitioner, together with clinical exploration through critical enquiry. In addition to this, students must be prepared to enter mandatory individual personal therapy for one year of the training.

Music Therapists work within a wide range of clinical settings, individual and group work. They work with people of all ages; from infants and young children through to elderly adults. Music therapy can benefit people with a wide range of difficulties or challenges, including mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism, dementia and neurology, as well as people experiencing serious illness such as cancer or those who have experienced trauma.

MA

Full-Time, 2 years starts Sep 2026

Level	RQF Level 7
Entry requirements	Applicants will normally be required to hold an honours degree, usually in music. Other clinically related disciplines such as psychology, teaching, nursing, or social work, and graduate level professional qualifications in appropriate disciplines such as the performing arts, Occupational Therapy and Social Work are also considered where music skills are demonstrably sufficient. Applicants need to evidence that they can meet the academic demands of a Masters degree and will be required to prepare and submit a written personal statement to support their application. A professional standard of proficiency on an instrument or voice, together with some keyboard skills (of at least grade 5) where piano is not the first study, and confidence with voice. The potential to use musical skills in professional Music Therapy practice and the ability to communicate musically. It is expected that applicants will have extensive experience either having worked professionally or having practiced extensively within their specific arts modality. An understanding of the nature of music therapy as a distinctive discipline (in particular as practised in the UK). Applicants should demonstrate a maturity of personality and self-awareness compatible with training as a therapist. Applicants need an appropriate degree of psychological mindfulness including the capacity to form and maintain appropriate empathic relationships with clients. They should also demonstrate emotional literacy, robustness and an ability to be self-reflective. This is addressed through a combination of assessments, including a health screening form, searching questions at interview related to different parts of the training course and experiential work at interview/audition. Applicants will be expected to have appropriate clinical experience of having worked within a setting and with clients relevant to the programme. This might include working with children, adults or older adults in the areas of learning disabilities, mental health, hospice care, dementia care, neuro-disability, homelessness etc (this is not an exhaustive list). This work can be undertaken either on a voluntary or employed basis. Applicants will be required to supply the names of two referees, normally one of these should be able to comment on the applicant’s academic suitability and the other the applicant’s clinical suitability for the programme. References are always taken up prior to offering a place. In addition to these requirements, all students must be prepared to enter mandatory individual personal therapy. Payment for therapy is separate to course fees. All successful applicants will need to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Payment for this is separate to the course fees.
Location	Whitelands College Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD

Part-Time, 4 years starts Sep 2026

Level	RQF Level 7
Entry requirements	Applicants will normally be required to hold an honours degree, usually in music. Other clinically related disciplines such as psychology, teaching, nursing, or social work, and graduate level professional qualifications in appropriate disciplines such as the performing arts, Occupational Therapy and Social Work are also considered where music skills are demonstrably sufficient. Applicants need to evidence that they can meet the academic demands of a Masters degree and will be required to prepare and submit a written personal statement to support their application. A professional standard of proficiency on an instrument or voice, together with some keyboard skills (of at least grade 5) where piano is not the first study, and confidence with voice. The potential to use musical skills in professional Music Therapy practice and the ability to communicate musically. It is expected that applicants will have extensive experience either having worked professionally or having practiced extensively within their specific arts modality. An understanding of the nature of music therapy as a distinctive discipline (in particular as practised in the UK). Applicants should demonstrate a maturity of personality and self-awareness compatible with training as a therapist. Applicants need an appropriate degree of psychological mindfulness including the capacity to form and maintain appropriate empathic relationships with clients. They should also demonstrate emotional literacy, robustness and an ability to be self-reflective. This is addressed through a combination of assessments, including a health screening form, searching questions at interview related to different parts of the training course and experiential work at interview/audition. Applicants will be expected to have appropriate clinical experience of having worked within a setting and with clients relevant to the programme. This might include working with children, adults or older adults in the areas of learning disabilities, mental health, hospice care, dementia care, neuro-disability, homelessness etc (this is not an exhaustive list). This work can be undertaken either on a voluntary or employed basis. Applicants will be required to supply the names of two referees, normally one of these should be able to comment on the applicant’s academic suitability and the other the applicant’s clinical suitability for the programme. References are always taken up prior to offering a place. In addition to these requirements, all students must be prepared to enter mandatory individual personal therapy. Payment for therapy is separate to course fees. All successful applicants will need to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Payment for this is separate to the course fees.
Location	Whitelands College Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD

Full-Time, 2 years started Sep 2025

Level	RQF Level 7
Entry requirements	Applicants will normally be required to hold an honours degree, usually in music. Other clinically related disciplines such as psychology, teaching, nursing, or social work, and graduate level professional qualifications in appropriate disciplines such as the performing arts, Occupational Therapy and Social Work are also considered where music skills are demonstrably sufficient. Applicants need to evidence that they can meet the academic demands of a Masters degree and will be required to prepare and submit a written personal statement to support their application. A professional standard of proficiency on an instrument or voice, together with some keyboard skills (of at least grade 5) where piano is not the first study, and confidence with voice. The potential to use musical skills in professional Music Therapy practice and the ability to communicate musically. It is expected that applicants will have extensive experience either having worked professionally or having practiced extensively within their specific arts modality. An understanding of the nature of music therapy as a distinctive discipline (in particular as practised in the UK). Applicants should demonstrate a maturity of personality and self-awareness compatible with training as a therapist. Applicants need an appropriate degree of psychological mindfulness including the capacity to form and maintain appropriate empathic relationships with clients. They should also demonstrate emotional literacy, robustness and an ability to be self-reflective. This is addressed through a combination of assessments, including a health screening form, searching questions at interview related to different parts of the training course and experiential work at interview/audition. Applicants will be expected to have appropriate clinical experience of having worked within a setting and with clients relevant to the programme. This might include working with children, adults or older adults in the areas of learning disabilities, mental health, hospice care, dementia care, neuro-disability, homelessness etc (this is not an exhaustive list). This work can be undertaken either on a voluntary or employed basis. Applicants will be required to supply the names of two referees, normally one of these should be able to comment on the applicant’s academic suitability and the other the applicant’s clinical suitability for the programme. References are always taken up prior to offering a place. In addition to these requirements, all students must be prepared to enter mandatory individual personal therapy. Payment for therapy is separate to course fees. All successful applicants will need to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Payment for this is separate to the course fees.
Location	Whitelands College Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD

Fees

England	9175 GBP for Year 1
Northern Ireland	9175 GBP for Year 1
Scotland	9175 GBP for Year 1
Wales	9175 GBP for Year 1

Part-Time, 4 years started Sep 2025

Level	RQF Level 7
Entry requirements	Applicants will normally be required to hold an honours degree, usually in music. Other clinically related disciplines such as psychology, teaching, nursing, or social work, and graduate level professional qualifications in appropriate disciplines such as the performing arts, Occupational Therapy and Social Work are also considered where music skills are demonstrably sufficient. Applicants need to evidence that they can meet the academic demands of a Masters degree and will be required to prepare and submit a written personal statement to support their application. A professional standard of proficiency on an instrument or voice, together with some keyboard skills (of at least grade 5) where piano is not the first study, and confidence with voice. The potential to use musical skills in professional Music Therapy practice and the ability to communicate musically. It is expected that applicants will have extensive experience either having worked professionally or having practiced extensively within their specific arts modality. An understanding of the nature of music therapy as a distinctive discipline (in particular as practised in the UK). Applicants should demonstrate a maturity of personality and self-awareness compatible with training as a therapist. Applicants need an appropriate degree of psychological mindfulness including the capacity to form and maintain appropriate empathic relationships with clients. They should also demonstrate emotional literacy, robustness and an ability to be self-reflective. This is addressed through a combination of assessments, including a health screening form, searching questions at interview related to different parts of the training course and experiential work at interview/audition. Applicants will be expected to have appropriate clinical experience of having worked within a setting and with clients relevant to the programme. This might include working with children, adults or older adults in the areas of learning disabilities, mental health, hospice care, dementia care, neuro-disability, homelessness etc (this is not an exhaustive list). This work can be undertaken either on a voluntary or employed basis. Applicants will be required to supply the names of two referees, normally one of these should be able to comment on the applicant’s academic suitability and the other the applicant’s clinical suitability for the programme. References are always taken up prior to offering a place. In addition to these requirements, all students must be prepared to enter mandatory individual personal therapy. Payment for therapy is separate to course fees. All successful applicants will need to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Payment for this is separate to the course fees.
Location	Whitelands College Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD

University of Roehampton

The University of Roehampton offers a diverse range of postgraduate taught and research programmes that are industry-relevant, career focused and taught by leading experts and researchers.

Our research has shaped national policy, supported communities worldwide, championed a fair and just society, and led to advances in health and wellbeing. It is fundamental to our university and will play a key role in what you learn here at Roehampton.

Based in southwest London, we are just 30 minutes away from central London, providing you with a wide range of employment opportunities.

Roehampton

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