The music that gets your friend into the zone leaves you frazzled. The practice routine that works for your colleague feels like a chore. You're not doing it wrong — you just have a different music motivator.

When someone finally lets themselves say it — I'm a musician — something clicks. Not because anything about their playing changed. Because their relationship to where they are changes.

When we stop something, we almost always reach for the same explanation: lack of willpower. Lack of follow-through. Some character flaw dressed up as a lifestyle pattern.

Its an easy answer. But it's also almost never true.

A question I get a lot is, “So, what IS music therapy?”

Here are seven quick facts about the field of music therapy and who can benefit from it: