Where are we going?

I often wonder what the professional of music therapy will look like 40 years from now. Why 40 years? I figure that the last of my generation of MTs will be dying and in assisted living facilities, and I like that number. That's all. I get an insane giggle that bubbles up in my throat when I think of the music that MT students will have to learn as "typical repertoire" for working with folks my age. Early Madonna, Guns and Roses, songs by Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. No more You Are My Sunshine for my crowd!

I also wonder about how technology will change our profession. Will MTs have to be in the same room as their clients? Will we have become isolated to the point that all interaction will be electronic and remote? I think we will lose lots of skills as humans if we get to that point. Can therapy occur if there is no human contact? Will we get used to the idea of isolation? Is this making any sense at all?


Just some musings for this Thanksgiving Weekend.

Crossing the Line

I think that we, as music therapists, must be aware of habits and attitudes that interfere with our growth and development as professionals. One such attitude is that of "if a music therapist isn't present, then others cannot use music as a medium for therapy." This attitude is often presented when we feel threatened that another professional can do our jobs simply by adding music into psychotherapy or into speech-language treatment. I feel that any use of music in any form of therapy is a good advertisement for music therapy - familiarity with the power of music as a therapeutic medium often opens the door for a music therapist.

The issue for me comes when professionals from other disciplines state that they offer "music therapy." I am often approached by educators on how to incorporate music therapy into their educational programming. When I talk to them further, they reveal that they do not want to pay a music therapist to facilitate therapy, but want to incorporate music into their schedule. I then explain that they are practicing "music-enhanced education" rather than music therapy. I often write programs for educators to use to enhance student learning. After all, every music therapist is aware of the power of music for memory enhancement and recall. I do stress and insist that they do not refer to their programs as "music therapy."

I feel that we need to educate and "hook" possible and potential funders with tastes of music as a therapeutic medium in order to encourage them to add music therapy to the treatment of clients.

We, as a profession, need to get rid of our professional jealousy and then start to work within the system.

My two cents...

AMTA CONFERENCE 2009

I am in San Diego, on day 2 of the AMTA conference.

I love conferences as they are generally a time for me to reflect and celebrate the reasons that I became a music therapist and reinforce the dedication that I have to my job and vocation. I often find myself absolutely exhausted after the 6-day event, but I also tend to be renewed by the opportunity to share "war stories" with others who go through the same hassles, issues, joys, and musical collaboration that I go through. There is comfort in knowing that other music therapists experience the same kinds of things that I experience daily, whether it be the excitement that a client gets when they learn how to play their first chords on a guitar or the frustrations that can also occur when trying to explain or adapt that same set of guitar chords for a client who is having difficulty with the motor component of guitar playing.

The camaraderie and social aspects are wonderful, but there is lots of work to be done. I serve on one of the committees as a regional representative. My committee is comprised of regional representatives and a committee chairperson. We all share one specific music therapy experience in common, and that commonality is the reason why we are on this specific committee. Within that commonality, however, we have lots of variation and a wealth of experience. The midwestern rep (me) has a very different experience of music therapy than the rep from New England. These differences serve to enrich the committee and allow the members to really think about music therapy as a whole, rather than from our own skewed viewpoints.

I encourage anyone and everyone to become involved in the music therapy organization at any level - local, state, regional, and national. There are so many things that you miss if and when you refuse to be a member and then refuse to serve. The time commitment can be significant, but the rewards are often great.

The most difficult part for me is that my committee work starts well before the rest of the conference. By the time the opening session begins, my committee has been in meetings and training courses for two days and are often EXHAUSTED! This exhaustion sets in before the conference officially starts and keeps me from really wanting to participate in the rest of the concurrent sessions and social interactions. I often want to sleep as much as possible.

This is the official opening day of the conference. Music therapists from all over the world are converging on the San Diego area even as we speak. The excitement is building. Stay tuned for more details.

Bongo Barry

I heard yesterday that a colleague, Barry Bernstein, passed away on Wednesday morning. Barry was an acquaintance of mine from my undergraduate days who remembered me 15 years later when we met at Camp Encourage this summer. We played a little music and led a campfire over the 4 days of camp. I was impressed and inspired by the things that he did with the campers. My thoughts and prayers are with his family as they mourn the loss of their father and husband.

Iso-Principle

I am challenged by having to explain Altshuler's Iso-Principle to someone who is a music therapist, but who has never heard the term before. This challenge is one that I will undertake, mainly because I think the Iso-principle is one of the most essential tenets in music therapy theory. It amazes me how many music therapists have never heard of the principle or who have not heard about Altshuler.

The iso-principle, as I understand it, explains that people will pay attention to music that best matches the mood they are in at any given time. An agitated person will respond better to music that he or she associates with agitation (e.g., "angry music") better than music that does not have an association with that particular emotion. Engagement in the music therapy procedure or technique will be quicker if the therapist shapes the music to the individual's emotion rather than attempting to shape the individual's emotion to music the therapist thinks will be best. Once you engage the individual in attending to the music, you can change elements of the music to vector the first emotion into a different emotion.

I use this idea often with my students on the Autism Spectrum. An agitated student may come to me wandering around the music room, unable to sit down, and having difficulty attending to external stimuli (my voice, for example). To engage the student, I often stop talking altogether and sit down at the piano. I improvise a song that has a tempo matching the speed and rhythm of the client's movements around the room. When the client stops, I stop. I am attempting to engage the client in recognizing my presence through the music - external stimulus. Once the client starts to show signs of engagement, I start to change my musical contribution to the environment. I play different patterns when the client moves in different manners. I change my meter to see if the client will change his or her movements to match. I change tonal centers, melodic contour, and dynamics to further engage the client in the environment. This pattern of engagement and adaptation continues until the client is less agitated and paying attention to the music and, by extension, to me.

I often find that the choice of music is not as important as the form of the music. My clients do not engage in music more if the music is familiar to them if the form of the music does not match their internal tempo or emotion. If clients do respond best to a particular song, the song presentation has to change to initially engage their attention. A client who responds to A Whole New World from the Disney movie, Aladdin, will often respond more quickly when agitated when the therapist sings the song faster than the recording.

Maybe we call the iso-principle engagement these days. I think that engagement requires conscious participation on the part of the client rather than the iso-principle which may not require as much conscious awareness.

Pipe Dreams

I bought lotto tickets today. The jackpot is up to $213 million, and my dad likes the idea of buying chances when the jackpot gets that high. So, I have been escaping into fantasies of what I would do with a portion with the money.

The first thing I would do is give my parents a portion for their retirement. They could pay off the house, take a trip, and stop working! Mom could finally craft and garden all the time, and Dad could drive her crazy!!!

The second thing that I would do would be to split up the rest of the money into retirement accounts for myself and my siblings. With my part, I would buy this gorgeous complex that is for sale across the street from my facility. It is an old convent with beautiful buildings. I would like to turn it into a conference and retreat center. We would offer CMTEs on a monthly basis. It would be a good challenge.

Aaah. Now all I have to do is win tomorrow. Won't happen, but I am having fun dreaming about it.

Creative Flow

There are times when I have a rush of ideas that just come flowing out of me. It usually coincides with the full moon - imagine that - but I become almost manic when it comes to creating interventions, cleaning my home, and thinking of new things that I "should" be doing during my time away from work.

I am currently writing this blog entry, but I did many other things today. I washed dishes and cleaned off my countertops in the kitchen, washed my bedding, made homemade cards, learned about my new music notation program, wrote a couple of Therapeutic Musical Experiences, emailed my academic advisor with several projects, enrolled for field studies at school, paid tuition, and annoyed the cat. My day is not finished. For the first time in weeks, I did not feel like I wanted to take a nap at 3pm.

The downside of this upswing is the new moon period. I have always (according to my mother who has known me the longest) had mood swings that followed the waxing and waning of the moon. When the moon is dark, I have less energy and creativity. It is interesting to track the times when I compose and when I struggle. I wish I could bottle the extra energy for use during the dry periods.

Off to do something else - more song ideas are floating around my head. Gotta get them down in the computer.