Forever Young

A good friend of mine just made a comment that she was starting to like songs by Hannah Montana (AKA Miley Cyrus) and the Jonas Brothers. While the comment made me laugh, it reminded me of a pivotal A-HA moment in my own development as a music therapist.

I was in a session at a National Conference - can't remember the year or the location - where the primary topic was not centered around geriatric music therapy, buy was led by a person who worked primarily in geriatric settings. The leader wanted us to practice some vocal techniques so he/she asked us to sing "In My Merry Oldsmobile, the song that everybody knows." I started off singing with the rest of them, belting out the first line of the chorus, and then realized that I did not know the rest of the song.

In utter humiliation, I stopped singing and attempted to look busy taking notes. I also started my usual self-defeating inner talk.

"I SHOULD know this song. I'm a failure as a music therapist. Why didn't I learn songs for this population? I NEED to go home and memorize all the songs that therapists use in sessions for folks in geriatric settings."

The self-talk went on for a while as I scanned the therapists in the crowd.

I started to feel pretty down on myself. All of a sudden, I realized that while I was not primed towards music from the turn of the twentieth century, most of the folks singing "In My Merry Oldsmobile" were CERTAINLY not familiar with songs by popular music artists, - it was Britney Spears and N Sync at that time - and I was! I was EXTREMELY familiar with those songs - heard them in my sleep - played them and sang them daily.

I took a deep breath and settled down for the rest of the session.

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