music, therapy, and me

Today is the day that I return to my extended school year sessions. We are heading back into the modified schedule of late, working for four hours with clients and then heading home to try to do more work at home. I am not successful at working at home. The good news is that my interns (that's right, after today I will have two of them again) will get to be with me (as long as they have been taking their temperature and isolating a bit) as we start to figure out the new normal.
There are so many rumors out there. Budget cuts and layoffs looming for everyone. Going to split live interaction classes - half the class present for in-person interaction and half the class engaged in remote learning. No singing forever. The information is multiplying and difficult to keep track of, and I am tired of trying to figure out ways forward to have them dashed by administrators and legislators and heads of state who really don't have a clue what it is like to be constantly wondering about wha…

These are not happy times in my country. There are riots happening in various parts of the territory and people are engaged in a pissing contest about who is right and who is wrong and who has what power and who will bend first. I am sinking under the weight of it all.
I strive to be a good person. I strive to be inclusive and I strive to focus on each person as a unique and special person who offers so much to the world. I am a person of privilege, and I acknowledge that fact whenever I write about situations where biases are prevalent and that cause friction. I cannot and will never understand the situations that others live in and through every day. I know this, and I find a bit of shame in the fact that anyone in this world is treated with less than compassion in every single interaction with every single person. I tend to internalize this shame and it is fed by constant triggers from social media and the outrage of others.
I feel powerless when it comes to speaking out about gender…

I have an arbitrary rule for myself and my storage space. It is not something that I based on anything other than my tendency to collect things and head towards hoarding, ESPECIALLY with music things, but it has been handy in the 27 years that I've been a professional music therapist. Six things to do before buying/keeping/storing.
Simply put, this means that I have to come up with six goals or therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) in which I use the material in order to keep it in my storage space. Since this is my guideline, I strive to make things that can be used in many different ways so I can justify keeping them.
Here's how this goes... I see something new, and I start to think - "Can I afford this?" "Do I want it because I just want it?" "Can I think of six things to do with this thing to justify buying it?" The questions start to come fast and furious...What is it? Would it be something I could use in my current music therapy job? (If the answ…

It is time to start my summer music therapy reading list. I have a new notebook for taking notes (I filled up the first one!), and I am looking at some more time with my modified work schedule, so I want to do something productive for my professional development.
I go to my music therapy bookshelf to find something to read and think about...
I think I will start with information from the Neurologic Music Therapy training by Michael Thaut. I took this course a long time ago, but I know that some of the information offered then will still be relevant. I would like to purchase some of the more recent texts that Thaut has produced, but I'm not going to spend the capital at the moment. I will start with the information that I have at hand.
My first foray into professional development reading will be the Training Manual for Neurologic Music Therapy.
Time to get my supplies ready.
Five different types of post-it notes (I have LOTS of cute ones because of my stationery subscriptions). I think …

I have a small box that sits on my computer desk that I look around every day. You know, the type of thing that sits there but that you don't really pay attention to all that much?
I have had it for many years - it came from a box from Music Therapy Mailingsa long, long time ago, and I have used it ever since. I flip to a new quote when I am paying attention to it which is not often. Today, though, it caught my notice, so I flipped to a new card.
It is a bit difficult to see, but this quote by Gloria Steinem was the one that I flipped to. It says, "the future depends entirely on what each of us does every day."
Hmm. This makes me stop and think a bit about what I do on a regular basis. I work with children and adolescents in a residential and day program for persons with intellectual/developmental diagnoses and chronic psychiatric symptoms. I am not often all that future oriented when it comes to what I do every day, but I do think about where my clients will be going once …

It has happened.
I have reached the middle of my break, and I am slipping into my mid-break slump. I woke up today with a headache and a general feeling of "ugh." Nothing seems all that appealing to me right now. Turn on the television? Nah. Get something to eat? Nah. Make a book out of paper? Nah. Write a blog post? Well, I've tried that now three times. Is anything going to stick long enough to be published?? We shall see. I am not motivated to do much of anything.
My remedy for when this type of feeling takes over is to fill my environment with things that I love. This morning, I did something that I don't usually do - I reached for my iPod. My iPod is the only iThing that I allow in my home. We have come to an agreement - I will backup and update the thing as long as it keeps my commutes full of tv shows, movies, and podcasts. I have some music on it as well, but I don't usually reach for music to fill my silences. Many times it is just too much for me, so musi…