Our administrative intern, Haley, sat down to talk with Sarah Clewett, a music therapist at ITA currently working in Chicago Public Schools, to learn a bit more about her background, her work with ITA, and what it means to be a music therapist. To learn more about Sarah’s work, find her bio linked here: https://itachicago.org/sarah-clewett-ma-mt-bc/
Tell me a little bit about your background. What made you decide to pursue music therapy?
I went to Lawrence University for a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. During my time at Lawrence, I started to explore what music therapy was. The summer after my sophomore year, I did my administrative internship at ITA, where I was able to shadow music, art, and drama therapists. It was a big learning experience for me in a lot of ways, getting to work with different individuals with learning and developmental disabilities, as well as those with physical disabilities. In high school, I felt like special education classrooms were very sectioned-off, and I wasn’t able to interact with students in those classrooms, so it felt like I had never had that experience before. This got me very interested in what it would take to be a music therapist.
I studied abroad in London in my last year at Lawrence, and I met with the director of the Nordoff-Robins Music Therapy Center. Nordoff-Robins is a very specific type of music therapy, very music-centered, and focused on the inner musical child. It opened my mind even more to what therapy could be and made me curious about if music itself could be the main source of therapy. Nordoff-Robins makes music the space for therapeutic change, and a lot of their goals are music-related. Talking to the director of the program at the time, Simon Proctor, I started to get really interested in music as therapy, and how music really is the way that those who may not be speaking in the way that we know how to speak, are able to communicate.
When I graduated, I became a behavior therapist for autistic children, one-on-one in their homes, practicing ABA therapy, which was a very behavioral approach. I then worked as an early childhood music instructor, and I taught piano lessons, and then I started applying to grad schools in music therapy. I ended up going to NYU for two years and got my Master’s in music therapy. I did my internship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and I worked with cancer patients and their families, one-on-one. This was very eye-opening, and a lot of the work I did was focused on quality of life, and processing end of life, and then also supporting family members in their processing of what it means to be losing a loved one to cancer. That really, again, opened my mind to what music therapy can do for different people during different parts of their lives. And then I graduated, came back to Chicago, and now I’m here at ITA.
What does a day in your life look like as a music therapist?
Right now, and for the last year, I have been working in Chicago Public Schools, in their special education cluster classrooms, in group sessions with up to 13 kids. I always like to prep ideas of what I wanted to bring in beforehand, and then once I talk to the teacher to make sure what I have aligns with what the class is doing, I’ll go ahead and start a music therapy session. This typically looks like starting with a hello song if they’re younger, or some type of emotional check-in or breathing to show that this is our music therapy space, we’re starting something different.
And then typically, I would do some type of group intervention, something that brings everyone together. Right now, I’m only working with high school students, so a lot of the things I’m bringing in are more “game-oriented”. The intervention is usually a way to use musical instruments to work together as a team, to collaborate, or make choices, having to agree on something together. And then after that, I usually go into some type of instrument exploration, or instruments for sensory needs, or some type of instrument intervention where we’re really focused on entraining the body. Usually, I have about 5-6 sessions in a day, and then come home at the end and do my data, because every student has a goal that they’re trying to meet.
I’ve learned a lot. And I am grateful that this is my first job out of music therapy schooling, because it’s taught me a lot of things that I think are important to continue no matter who my client is, or who the population is that I’m working with. Especially with groups, learning how can you create cohesion, but also work individually with your clients.
Do you have any favorite, or most effective interventions that you like to implement during your sessions?
In terms of favorite intervention, I think the one I go to a lot, especially working with high schoolers at the moment, is active listening, and listening to their music. I bring in a lot of recorded music, I mean, I can do the best I can with some types of music, but I’m not able to replicate all styles in music. And sometimes it’s about the way that someone sings something, or about the way music is played, that can be really important. So, I do a lot of active listening to music and maybe discussion afterwards, of why they picked a song. That gives me really good insight about who they are, or when they use music in their lives, but it also gives them a chance to be vulnerable in a way that is safe, because they can pick a song that they kind of listen to, or maybe that they love, but you know, there’s a lot of music that we listen to. But it’s a way to check in with someone without them having to say anything explicitly. Instead of saying “I’m feeling sad”, they can just pick a song they listen to when they’re feeling sad. That’s an intervention I go to a lot, where everyone can pick a song that they listen to, and through that, there can be dance parties, or sing-alongs, or maybe they will want to play an instrument along with it. So, there’s a lot that can happen through just listening to preferred music.
How does music play a part in your life outside of music therapy?
I think that my relationship with music continues to change, especially because I use music more and more every day, within therapy. But, I’ve learned, especially after this last year, that using music in music therapy for me works very differently, because I’m the one aware of a lot of things happening at once. And maybe I am connecting with others through music, but it’s in a way that is supporting them, and helping them with wherever they need to go. So, I need that as well.
So that’s where I am realizing the biggest gap for me right now, in what I’m trying to find, is a space to have connection with others through music. Just being in the here and now with other musicians and being focused on playing, and creating, and expressing together. I’m learning that there is a distinct difference between being in a music therapy session as a music therapist and being a musician with other musicians. But I do find that creating music with others, whether that is playing classical oboe, or improvising in the moment, is where I find reprieve, in my expression and my support. I play piano and guitar, I’m currently taking jazz lessons on piano as well, and then I do a lot of singing, and I enjoy singing. And I do enjoy movement, and dancing in a way; very free movement and improv, dancing for fun.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.