The End - AMTA16 is Over For Me

I am getting ready to take stuff out of my home away from home and start the process of driving back to my permanent home right now. I decided to wait until after sunrise to leave so I could drive unfamiliar roads in the light and familiar roads in the dark. I have a couple of hours to pack things up and prepare myself for the time in the car.

I bought an iPod charging cord, so I will have tunes and videos to listen to as I go across this country. I also have CDs, including a brand new one from the Athens County Community Choir (one of the presentations I went to yesterday) that has (shudder) holiday music on it. I'll probably NOT crack that one since I refuse to do the holiday music thing until AFTER Thanksgiving, but I have something new to listen to, if I need to do so.

I am glad to be on the end of this conference time. I enjoyed being able to attend presentations (something my former roles with AMTA did not really allow me to do). I was happy to agree to four different presentations this time around because I love talking to other music therapists about things. I think both of my solo presentations were well-received by the attendees. Both of the duet presentations went well as well, but we didn't have many people who heard about what we were talking about. I did meet someone that I knew - neither of us were sure how I knew her name, but I did - and she seemed REALLY interested in the Online Conference for Music Therapy. We have a new volunteer, everyone!!

I have about an hour before I want to leave the room I've been in since Tuesday. I have everything corralled and awaiting the last additions (like my nightshirt and water bottles) before I take everything down to the car and then check out. I have a new outfit to wear (I realized I really didn't pack a really comfy travel outfit, so I found a store and bought something) and my map is in the car. It is almost time to leave.

I missed friends who weren't here. I spoke to everyone who spoke to me. I was pleasant even when my emotional mind was screaming at me. I escaped to my room when I needed to, but found that I really didn't need to very often. I went to some concurrent sessions and CMTE courses that reminded me of things that I already knew, but had forgotten. My creativity was sparked over and over again, and I found that I had lots in common with other people sitting around me - and more than just our common professional title, music therapist.

I am glad that I have tomorrow completely off and at home. I am also glad that there are only six work days before Thanksgiving break. At that time, I will be able to completely synthesize the events of this past week and move forward on everything I've experienced and created here.

AMTA16 is over for me. See you in St. Louis next year!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sing A Song Sunday - The Time Change Song (Fall)

It's the time of year where most of us here in the states get to fall back one hour. This is a wonderful time as it gives us a chance to get an extra hour of sleep and to reset our internal clocks to be in sync with the earth's rotation a bit more than we are during the summer. I love this time of year and really dread moving to Daylight Savings in the Spring. Today' song is directed towards choir members and can be found here . There is also a spring version, and I'm sure I'll post a link to that one next year when we [shudder] spring forward yet again... Here is a YouTube video of a guy singing the song. I'm so very sorry for the pitch, but at least he's out there trying his best. Yipes. Anyway, the song itself is based on a hymn composed in 1907 by John Hughes. The words are by Dean McIntyre and were written in 1995. I find the song a bit tongue-in-cheek, but they give me a giggle every time I read them, so enjoy!! Sorry for the lack of diagram
Read more

Being An Internship Director: Why I Do Very Little Active Recruitment

Image
I am not someone who participates in every single internship fair or makes ads for my internship program to put on social media. I do not feel an obligation to anyone to fill all of the openings that I have every year. I operate on a "if you build it, they will come" type of viewpoint. I figure that the interns who are meant to be with me will find me. As a result, I do very little active recruitment. I will be part of the AMTAS Virtual Internship Fair this upcoming Sunday. I am not really expecting too many applications coming from this meeting, but I am interested in how it is going to be run. I decided to sign up because I want to see what others are doing and offering out there. So, this Sunday, I will be sitting in front of my computer, listening to what others share about their internships. One of the things that I like about being a National Roster Internship Director is that I have the ability to decide how many interns and when those interns work with me. I occasiona
Read more

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea
Read more