MUSIC THERAPY BOARD CERTIFICATION EXAM UPDATED
QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
Music therapy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅"The clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions
to accomplish individual goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has
completed an approved music therapy program" (AMTA, 2015).
Education for All Handicapped Children Act - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Public Law 94-142; passed in
1975 to call for mainstreaming of students with disabilities into public schools in the United States ("free
and appropriate" education)
Individualized Education Program (IEP) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Developed in 1978 through IDEA to
improve the education of students with disabilities who are qualified for special education in the United
States; written plan that includes an assessment of the student's strengths and limitations, concrete
goals and objectives for education, a list of the people administering the program, related services, and
methods for evaluation
American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The national organization
that represents the field of music therapy in the United States today; promotes awareness of the
profession, advances clinical and scientific knowledge in the field, and sets and maintains the standards
of music therapy practice
Iso principle - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The concept that music should be chosen to initially match
the mood state of a client and adjusted gradually to the desired mood state; described in Kircher's
(1602-1680) theory of temperaments and affections, in the dissertation of Samuel Mathews in 1806,
and by Esther Gatewood in 1920; termed in the 1940s by Ira Altshuler
National Association for Music Therapy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Established in 1950; first national
organization to represent the field of music therapy; signaled the birth of the music therapy profession
American Association for Music Therapy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Established in 1971; originally
called the Urban Federation for Music Therapists (UFMT); the second national organization that
represented the field of music therapy; merged with the NAMT in 1998 to form the AMTA
,Board Certification exam - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Established in 1985 by the NAMT and the AAMT
to increase the credibility of the field of music therapy; an exam taken by a music therapy student to
measure his or her knowledge of music therapy principles and foundations, clinical theories and
techniques, general knowledge about music, and professional roles and responsibilities
Sensorimotor - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The first stage of Piaget's theory of development that takes
place between the ages of zero and two; the child learns through his or her senses and motor
movements
New musical activities: listening to lullabies, listening to speech and environmental sounds, being
rocked, vocal play, babbling, and moving rhythmically to music
Infant-directed speech - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅An innate speech tendency used with infants that
is characterized as high in pitch, exaggerated in affect and speech contour, and drawn out
Preoperational - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The second stage in Piaget's theory of development that
takes place between the ages of two and seven; the child's language and conceptual skills and
interpersonal awareness increase
New musical activities: playing musical instruments, coordinating gross and fine motor movements to
music, singing songs, improvising melodies, and participating in musical games
Parallel play - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The mode of playing during which two or more children
engage in the same activity without interacting with each other
Beat competency - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The ability to follow and maintain a simple, steady beat
Concrete operations - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The third stage of Piaget's theory of development
that takes place between the ages of 7 and 11; the child can think systematically and solve problems
within his or her reality
New musical activities: learning and playing an instrument, reading musical notation, performing in an
ensemble
,Formal operations - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The fourth stage of Piaget's theory of development
that takes place between the ages of 11 and adulthood; the child can think abstractly; new musical
activities: composition
Elements of music - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Pitch, intensity, duration, and timbre
Functions of music - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Proposed by Alan Merriam in 1964; physical
engagement, communication, emotional expression, aesthetic enjoyment, entertainment, integration of
society, conformity to social norms, validation of social institutions and religious rituals, symbolic
representation, and continuity and stability of culture
Tactile - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Referring to the sense of touch
The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A music therapy
approach created by Hellen Bonny that involves listening to classical music from a relaxed state and
experiencing internal imagery while a music therapist provides verbal guiding interventions in order to
expand self-awareness, enhance creativity, develop spirituality, and achieve a healthier state of being
Attention - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The act of attending to a stimulus of interest; this can be
shifted, divided, or sustained
Perception - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The brain's way of processing information received through
the senses; involves recognition, organization, synthesis, filtering, and meaning
Good Gestalts - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅According to Gestalt psychology, the principle that figures
and patterns tend to be perceived in the most stable form as sensory input will allow; a whole
Memory - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The storage and retrieval of information in the brain
Retrieval - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The re-accessing of long-term memories stored in the brain
, Encoding - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The storage of memories
Mnemonic device - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A memory tool
Long-term memory - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Information that is rehearsed and stored in the brain
and is accessible for a long period of time, sometimes throughout life
Safety valve function - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The use of music to express disapproval of a social
reality or deep-felt emotions
Extramusical associations - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A thought, emotion, or sensation experienced in
response to a sound that represents something nonmusical; e.g. linking a bell tone to the end of class
Cultural convention - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A set of common standards or social norms in a group
of people; e.g. in Western music, the dominant triad leads to the tonic triad
Referentialist philosophy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The principle that music finds its meaning in the
symbolic representation of nonmusical ideas or events
Iconicity - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The use of musical structures to represent a feeling, object, or
event; i.e. word painting, tone painting, text depiction
Isomorphism - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅In Gestalt psychology, the principle that there is a parallel
between Gestalt perception of a pattern and the actual experience of the pattern structure in the brain;
in music, the principle that the structural characteristics of music can mimic human emotions or
behaviors
Association through contiguity - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The connection between two events that
occur in proximity; e.g. hearing a piece of music that stimulates memories of an event during which the
piece was heard
QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
Music therapy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅"The clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions
to accomplish individual goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has
completed an approved music therapy program" (AMTA, 2015).
Education for All Handicapped Children Act - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Public Law 94-142; passed in
1975 to call for mainstreaming of students with disabilities into public schools in the United States ("free
and appropriate" education)
Individualized Education Program (IEP) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Developed in 1978 through IDEA to
improve the education of students with disabilities who are qualified for special education in the United
States; written plan that includes an assessment of the student's strengths and limitations, concrete
goals and objectives for education, a list of the people administering the program, related services, and
methods for evaluation
American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The national organization
that represents the field of music therapy in the United States today; promotes awareness of the
profession, advances clinical and scientific knowledge in the field, and sets and maintains the standards
of music therapy practice
Iso principle - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The concept that music should be chosen to initially match
the mood state of a client and adjusted gradually to the desired mood state; described in Kircher's
(1602-1680) theory of temperaments and affections, in the dissertation of Samuel Mathews in 1806,
and by Esther Gatewood in 1920; termed in the 1940s by Ira Altshuler
National Association for Music Therapy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Established in 1950; first national
organization to represent the field of music therapy; signaled the birth of the music therapy profession
American Association for Music Therapy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Established in 1971; originally
called the Urban Federation for Music Therapists (UFMT); the second national organization that
represented the field of music therapy; merged with the NAMT in 1998 to form the AMTA
,Board Certification exam - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Established in 1985 by the NAMT and the AAMT
to increase the credibility of the field of music therapy; an exam taken by a music therapy student to
measure his or her knowledge of music therapy principles and foundations, clinical theories and
techniques, general knowledge about music, and professional roles and responsibilities
Sensorimotor - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The first stage of Piaget's theory of development that takes
place between the ages of zero and two; the child learns through his or her senses and motor
movements
New musical activities: listening to lullabies, listening to speech and environmental sounds, being
rocked, vocal play, babbling, and moving rhythmically to music
Infant-directed speech - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅An innate speech tendency used with infants that
is characterized as high in pitch, exaggerated in affect and speech contour, and drawn out
Preoperational - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The second stage in Piaget's theory of development that
takes place between the ages of two and seven; the child's language and conceptual skills and
interpersonal awareness increase
New musical activities: playing musical instruments, coordinating gross and fine motor movements to
music, singing songs, improvising melodies, and participating in musical games
Parallel play - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The mode of playing during which two or more children
engage in the same activity without interacting with each other
Beat competency - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The ability to follow and maintain a simple, steady beat
Concrete operations - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The third stage of Piaget's theory of development
that takes place between the ages of 7 and 11; the child can think systematically and solve problems
within his or her reality
New musical activities: learning and playing an instrument, reading musical notation, performing in an
ensemble
,Formal operations - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The fourth stage of Piaget's theory of development
that takes place between the ages of 11 and adulthood; the child can think abstractly; new musical
activities: composition
Elements of music - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Pitch, intensity, duration, and timbre
Functions of music - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Proposed by Alan Merriam in 1964; physical
engagement, communication, emotional expression, aesthetic enjoyment, entertainment, integration of
society, conformity to social norms, validation of social institutions and religious rituals, symbolic
representation, and continuity and stability of culture
Tactile - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Referring to the sense of touch
The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A music therapy
approach created by Hellen Bonny that involves listening to classical music from a relaxed state and
experiencing internal imagery while a music therapist provides verbal guiding interventions in order to
expand self-awareness, enhance creativity, develop spirituality, and achieve a healthier state of being
Attention - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The act of attending to a stimulus of interest; this can be
shifted, divided, or sustained
Perception - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The brain's way of processing information received through
the senses; involves recognition, organization, synthesis, filtering, and meaning
Good Gestalts - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅According to Gestalt psychology, the principle that figures
and patterns tend to be perceived in the most stable form as sensory input will allow; a whole
Memory - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The storage and retrieval of information in the brain
Retrieval - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The re-accessing of long-term memories stored in the brain
, Encoding - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The storage of memories
Mnemonic device - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A memory tool
Long-term memory - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅Information that is rehearsed and stored in the brain
and is accessible for a long period of time, sometimes throughout life
Safety valve function - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The use of music to express disapproval of a social
reality or deep-felt emotions
Extramusical associations - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A thought, emotion, or sensation experienced in
response to a sound that represents something nonmusical; e.g. linking a bell tone to the end of class
Cultural convention - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅A set of common standards or social norms in a group
of people; e.g. in Western music, the dominant triad leads to the tonic triad
Referentialist philosophy - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The principle that music finds its meaning in the
symbolic representation of nonmusical ideas or events
Iconicity - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The use of musical structures to represent a feeling, object, or
event; i.e. word painting, tone painting, text depiction
Isomorphism - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅In Gestalt psychology, the principle that there is a parallel
between Gestalt perception of a pattern and the actual experience of the pattern structure in the brain;
in music, the principle that the structural characteristics of music can mimic human emotions or
behaviors
Association through contiguity - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅✅The connection between two events that
occur in proximity; e.g. hearing a piece of music that stimulates memories of an event during which the
piece was heard
