TME Tuesday: I've Said It Before...

...and I'll say it again.
There is no wrong way or place to find ideas for therapeutic music experiences. There is no WRONG!
As part of my break during this summer from sharing TMEs (I'm WAY behind on getting them transcribed, so I'm allowing myself not to share until I get caught up!), I am going over my process for writing TMEs. Today's topic is "Finding Ideas!"

My interns often ask where I come up with my ideas for TMEs. Now, I have the benefit of 25+years of coming up with ideas for working with people - babysitting and working as a camp counselor as well as a lead teacher in day camp after day camp - so coming up with ideas is pretty easy for me. Not everyone has the same experience, so let me just say that everything has the potential to be a music therapy experience - you just need to investigate through the lens of a music therapist.

I look at children's books, television shows, movies, educational materials, curricula, toy stores, the time sucking Pinterest, lots of blogs, Amazon, my sister's beautiful classroom, every other music therapy resource I can find, and in my own archives (that sounds so much fancier than hoarding piles). There are ideas everywhere.

I would like to be able to sit at home all day making things and coming up with ideas for other music therapists, but I do need a salary, so I go to work to use the ideas that I come up with. I do try to share those ideas with others, but no one really seems to want what I have to offer. Sigh.

Anyway, I have a rule that there are no wrong ideas for TMEs. There may be groups that don't respond the way you think they will, but that is not all down to the TME idea. Sometimes clients are interested. Sometimes clients aren't ready to engage in what the TME asks of them. Sometimes the idea needs more refining before it really clicks with a group of clients. None of those things means that the TME idea is wrong - it is just not for this group or that client.

I always have a pen or mechanical pencil along with either index cards or post-it notes with me. I write down snippets of melodies and ideas as they come to me - in the middle of the Dollar Tree or while driving to work. I keep those small pieces of paper until the TME becomes more formal - sometimes those small pieces are all that I have in my files for years and years. The TME idea is not wrong, it's just not ready.

So, go out into the world and find ideas. Write them down somewhere and find the way into therapeutic intervention as is appropriate for your client population.
 THERE IS NO WRONG! 

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