The aim of this study is to analyze and describe how musicians who are also music therapy students separate music as artistic performance from music as a therapeutic tool. The data consist of 18 written reflections from music therapy students that were analyzed according to a phenomenographic method. The findings are presented as four qualitatively-separated perceptions that describe differences in the purpose, symbolic value, professional competence and perceived reception of music. The underlying meaning is discussed as a difference between intuition and reflection. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)