Inspiration Strikes Anywhere and Everywhere

musictherapyworks.com
Found at the Dollar Tree - I hope I can find more!
Have you ever found something that just makes you start to think about music therapy with that specific client who would really appreciate this something, and the ideas just start coming?

It happens to me sometimes, but hasn't for a long time. I am happy to note that that spark seems to be back again. 

In addition to finding ideas for things in my thought process again, I am thrilled that my song composition spark seems to be back as well. It's been on hiatus lately, but the ideas are back, and I'm starting to write them down again! Hooray!

Over the years, I've found that I have periods of creativity and times of maintenance. Lately, I've been in maintenance. I've missed the time when ideas just come really quickly, building on each other, and fighting to be labeled. I am nurturing that creative spark, building on it generally, and hoping that it will continue for a nice long time.

Anyway. I found these books at my local Dollar Tree. 

(By the way, I don't have any affiliate links on my blog - everything that I recommend is based on my honest opinion and does not earn me any type of anything - not money, not goods, not anything at all. It is just my honest opinion, and I don't talk about something that I don't know well.) 

Anyway, I found these books at my local Dollar Tree. One is the Sorceror's Apprentice and the other is Chicken Little. I will be returning to the Dollar Tree today to see if I can find three more copies of each book as I want to cut them up for visual aids and think that purchasing more copies is a more ethical thing to do than to scan them and print them off - copyright and purchasing sensitivities, you know. Now I have the root of some theme ideas.

My creative process is something that varies from situation to situation and from time to time. Lately, my creative process has been focused on making things. I've made file folders. I've made pictures and tools. I've basically been making things to supplement what I've composed or created before. At the moment, though, my creative process is moving back into new ideas.

This round of creativity was sparked (I like that term when I am talking about creativity - sparked) by the books that I found. I wanted the books. They are well done, beautifully illustrated, and I can see some therapeutic benefits to the morals conveyed by the stories, so I started my brainstorming process.

Does this make me think about one specific client? Not really in this case, I thought more about generalities rather than a specific client.

Does this make me think about one specific goal domain? Definitely fits in the emotional/behavioral domain, and I can adapt things and/or increase the therapeutic impact into other domains as appropriate for different clients.

Is there music already associated with this thing? One yes, and one no. 

What types of activities do I think about when I look at this thing? Sequencing, story interpretation, morality tales, fix the situation, identify the crucial decision point.

Are there any musical elements present in the use of the thing? There is a specific rhythm in the Chicken Little book - the sequence of situations and the responses. Not as much in the Sorceror's book, but there is music already associated with the story.

I'm off. The ideas start to arrive, and I am in search of my TME database to start writing ideas down so I can develop them later on. I envision interactive stories where kids can work on sequencing. I envision story comprehension interventions. I think about songs that I can compose to go along with this thing in front of me. Then, I start to think about the other things that I could put with these TMEs. We could use the Chicken Little Book TMEs and then supplement the idea of the chicken with several of the other songs that also have chickens in them. C-H-I-C-K-E-N is an old camp song. I Had a Rooster - another camp song. We could also expand into Old MacDonald Had a Farm and other farm-type TMEs. Boo-ya! Multiple session strategies in just a couple of moments.

Who would have guessed that one trip to the Dollar Tree would spark so much inspiration and creativity?

Inspiration strikes when it strikes. Write down the ideas and go for it!

Happy Saturday. I think I may take a nap now. 

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