Dr Frans Schalkwijk studied psychology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. He continued for a number of years in studying the organ at the Sweelinck Conservatorium of Amsterdam. He is a freelance psychotherapist and a researcher into Music Therapy at the Nijmegen Hoogeschool.
He became a doctor at the Katholiek Universiteit of Leuven with the doctoral thesis, Muziektherapie met geestelijk gehandicapten. Besides various articles, he has published Grondslagen van Muziektherapie and was a joint-editor of the anthology Methoden van Muziektherapie.