Music Therapist

Use music to reach people who talk therapy cannot: dementia wards, autism programs, palliative care. A music degree, a 1,000-hour internship, and a lot of contract work.

Typical pay: $71,000a year
Time to qualify: 4 to 6 yearsafter high school
Demand: Good
Licence needed: Nono licence to hold

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Quick answers

How much does a music therapist make in Canada?

The median pay is about $71,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $48,000 at the lower end to about $104,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.

How long does it take to become a music therapist in Canada?

4 to 6 years after high school, on the usual route.

What does it cost to become a music therapist?

$30,000 to $82,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.

Do you need a licence to work as a music therapist in Canada?

No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.

What is the job outlook for a music therapist in Canada?

Good demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.

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Music Therapist salary in Canada

What you earn and what it costs to get there.

What music therapists make

Median

$71,000

Lower end

$48,000

Upper end

$104,000

Job Bank's national median is $34 an hour, about $71,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($23) and upper end ($50) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group. Job Bank pools music therapists with all counselling and specialized therapists, and many music therapists piece together part-time contracts, so a real first-year income is often below the low end here. Contract work usually comes with no benefits and travel between sites.

Where pay is highest

$39.50 an hour

The median in British Columbia, the top province, about $82,000 a year

Alberta is next at $38.46 and Quebec at $38. The group's medians are higher in the territories. Full-time salaried jobs exist in hospitals, children's treatment centres and some long-term care chains. Many new grads start with part-time contracts instead.

What it costs to get there

Bachelor of music therapy (4 years): $7,000 to $12,000 a year
Graduate program after a music degree (2 years): $8,000 to $15,000 a year
Instruments: A decent guitar and keyboard, $1,000 to $3,000
Certification exam and annual membership: A few hundred dollars each

Roughly, all in

$30,000 to $82,000

Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel

The low end is a four year bachelor of music therapy at the cheaper rate, a guitar and keyboard, and the certification exam with a first year of membership. The high end is a music degree followed by a separate two year graduate program in music therapy, which is the route most people take when they come to this later. The 1,000 hour internship is unpaid or pays a small stipend, so plan for roughly six months of very low income after graduation. Instruments and annual membership keep costing money once you are working.

The 1,000-hour internship is usually unpaid or paid a small stipend. Plan for roughly six months of low income after graduation.

How music therapists get paid

Salary
Hospitals, children's rehab centres, school boards and some long-term care operators. These are the stable ones.
Contract
Long-term care homes and community agencies often buy a few hours a week. Many therapists stack several.
Private practice
Families pay directly, sometimes through provincial autism or disability funding.
Grants
Hospices and non-profits often fund music therapy through donations, so positions can come and go.

How to become a music therapist in Canada

The exact path from high school to qualified.

The path to becoming a music therapist, step by step

You need to be a solid musician first. The therapy training builds on that.

1
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Music at a strong level on at least one instrument, plus voice, plus piano or guitar. Programs audition you.
2
Music therapy degree
2 to 4 years
Six programs are recognized by the CAMT (Canadian Association of Music Therapists): Acadia, Canadian Mennonite University, Capilano, Wilfrid Laurier, Concordia and the University of Toronto. UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) also runs a French music therapy concentration that it says leads to the same credential. Some are 4-year bachelor's degrees, others are graduate programs for people who already have a music degree.
3
Clinical internship
About 6 to 12 months
1,000 supervised hours under an approved MTA (Music Therapist Accredited) supervisor, usually after coursework ends.
4
Certification exam
After the internship
Canadian graduates write the exam of the CBMT (Certification Board for Music Therapists), a US board, then apply to CAMT for the MTA credential.

High school courses that help you become a music therapist

Music
Instrumental, vocal and theory. Private lessons and ensembles matter as much as the class.
Psychology
Half the degree is psychology and human development.
Biology
Anatomy, the brain and how people age.
English
Clinical notes and reports.

Time and money, at a glance

Years after high school: 4 to 6, including the internship
Admission: Audition plus grades; graduate programs need a music degree
Total tuition: $30,000 to $80,000
Paid while training?: Rarely; internships are mostly unpaid

Not licensed, but the credential matters

No province licenses music therapists, and anyone can call themselves one. The MTA (Music Therapist Accredited) credential from the CAMT (Canadian Association of Music Therapists) is what hospitals and agencies look for. In Ontario, music therapists who do psychotherapy must also register with the CRPO (College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario), because psychotherapy is a controlled act there.

Quebec routeIn Quebec? The route is different. 2 more cards.

The path in Quebec

Quebec has a French bachelor's at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) and an English graduate diploma at Concordia, and no Quebec licence.

1
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
Keep up a main instrument and your voice, and learn piano or guitar. Concordia asks for playing at the level of a music degree graduate.
2
DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
2 years
A pre-university DEC at a CEGEP (public college) comes before any Quebec bachelor's. Music and psychology courses help with both routes.
3
French route: UQAM
About 3 years
The Baccalauréat en musique (bachelor of music) with the musicothérapie (music therapy) concentration, code 7201. 90 credits, about 3 years, with three clinical placements.
4
English route: Concordia
4 years in all
Any bachelor's with 24 credits of music, 24 of psychology and an intro to music therapy, then the 1 year Graduate Diploma in Music Therapy: 28 credits, 1,200 practicum hours. Apply by December 15.
5
MTA (Music Therapist Accredited) credential
After training
As in the rest of Canada: the CBMT (Certification Board for Music Therapists) exam, then the CAMT (Canadian Association of Music Therapists) credential. Quebec has no professional order for music therapists.

Psychotherapy in Quebec

In Quebec, psychotherapy and the title psychotherapist are reserved. Anyone who is not a doctor or a psychologist needs a permit from the Ordre des psychologues du Québec (the Quebec order of psychologists), which requires 765 hours of university psychotherapy training and a 600 hour supervised psychotherapy internship. The MTA (Music Therapist Accredited) credential is not that permit. Concordia also urges students who plan to work in Quebec to learn working French.

What helps you get ahead as a music therapist

Things you don't need, but that help.

Training that opens doors

Registered Psychotherapist status in Ontario
Lets you offer psychotherapy and bill under that title. Needed for many mental health jobs.
Neurologic music therapy
A specialized certification for stroke, brain injury and Parkinson's rehab. Hospitals like it.
Palliative and hospice care training
Hospices and palliative units hire music therapists.
Master's degree
Concordia and Laurier offer graduate music therapy degrees. Needed for research and teaching.

Nice-to-haves

Guitar and voice
The two instruments you will use every day, whatever your main one is.
A driver's licence and a car
Contract work means driving between care homes.
Volunteer time in a long-term care home
Shows you can be with people who are confused, sick or dying.
Business basics
Invoicing, contracts and marketing, because you will likely be self-employed for part of your career.

What being a music therapist is really like

Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.

What a music therapist does day to day

A morning group in a dementia unit: familiar songs, drumming, watching for who joins in. A one-on-one session with a palliative patient, playing what they ask for. Drive to a children's centre for sessions with autistic kids working on communication through songs. Notes after each session. Contract therapists might visit three sites in a day. Salaried hospital therapists spend more time in team meetings and charting.

The honest pros and cons of being a music therapist

The good

You get paid to make music with people
Reaches patients who cannot be reached any other way
Growing recognition in dementia and palliative care
Flexible mix of contracts and private clients

The hard parts

Few full-time jobs; most careers are patchworks
Internship is long and mostly unpaid
Emotionally heavy work with dying and grieving people
You will have to explain what you do, constantly

Work life

Typical hours: Varies; many therapists work 25 to 40 hours across several sites
Remote work: A little virtual work
Physical demand: Low to moderate; carrying instruments
Unionized: Only in hospital and school board jobs

Similar paths

Things nobody tells you about being a music therapist

Things people don't tell you.

The exam is American

Canadian music therapists earn the MTA (Music Therapist Accredited) credential from the Canadian association, but the exam they write belongs to the CBMT (Certification Board for Music Therapists) in the US.

Part of a big therapy group

Job Bank counts music therapists with all counselling and specialized therapists: about 69,900 people in 2023, with a good outlook in most provinces.

How a music therapist compares

Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.

Highest paying healthcare careers in Canada74 of 101

More health careers in Canada

Mental health first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.

Where these numbers come from

Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.