By the middle of the 20th century in many countries all over the world, music therapy was finally formed into a modern science study supported profession and discipline. Music therapy has been introduced as an academic course in colleges, universities and nowadays many countries have an effective system of music therapy service for the work with different target groups, i.e. people with physical, intellectual, psychological or mental dysfunctions or disabilities also people striving to new forms of self-expression and consciousness.

This paper analyzes the spread of music therapy application techniques in social, health care and special education institutions and demand for these services. It aims to find out in what field professionals use music therapy, what kind of client groups get the service, how many hours per week are allocated for music therapy services and how many additional hours would be in demand. A problem of shortage of professional specialists and lack of competence meeting the growing demand for music therapy services is raised. The main conclusion was made: it is high time professional music therapists started to be trained in our country.

The article deals with the experience of application of music therapy in neurology all over the world and presents the situation in Lithuania. The concept of neurologic music therapy is disclosed on the basis of theoretical research methods and the range of music therapy application options in neurology is overviewed. Analysis of the situation in the country is given by processing the survey data from health care institutions providing adult medical rehabilitation and sanatorium treatment for neurological diseases, and non-governmental organizations uniting the persons with nervous system diseases as well as the members of Lithuanian Music Therapy Association. Current research work taking place in the context in question in Lithuania is overviewed.