Therapeutic Uses of the Flute Within Music Therapy Practice

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to describe flute usage among current, professional music therapists. The broad term “flute” included any instrument with sound created by blowing air across or into an aperture hole. Members of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) were sent an electronic survey consisting of 25 questions pertaining to the flute and music therapy. Descriptive statistics describe how flutes were being used in music therapy sessions, and chi-square tests were used to determine whether music therapists who studied flute as a primary instrument used the flute as an instrument within a music therapy setting more frequently. Results showed that 42.4% of the 387 respondents were actively using flute music in some way within music therapy sessions while 67.8% of respondents reported using flute music at some point in the past. Flute-playing music therapists reported using flutes more frequently in a music therapy context than music therapists who did not study flute as a primary instrument. It appears that the flute is a viable instrument for music therapy practice.