music, therapy, and me

I was scrolling on my Instagram feed, the way that I do, and saw a post from a teacher speaking about using a kite flying analogy to teach a math concept to her high school students. They did not understand, and the teacher finally realized that it was because her students had never flown kites. She bought a bunch of kites and had the students fly them outside to get that experience. This post made me think a bit about experiences. One of the things that all humans do is assume that their lived experiences are similar to the lived experiences of all humans. In fact, there is a developmental process where children start to be aware of similarities and differences between them, their families, and the families of others. It is easy to assume that every person has flown a kite at least once in their lives, and this assumption also applies to us in the music therapy world. As a vintage music therapist, I have been involved in the music therapy world as both a student and professional for 3...

It is Graduation day at my facility, and we will be celebrating the shift from student to young adult transitioning to the work world for four of our clients today.  Graduation used to be a transition out of the facility and into adult programming, but now we have a transition program, so that doesn't happen as much anymore. In fact, I think that one of our clients will be pretty angry when the realization comes across that this day does not mean leaving and doing what is wanted where and when but means about four more years of potentially being part of the program. The other three students are following similar patterns, but they don't really seem to mind. It is always humbling to be part of this ceremony. It is the one time where I get to see family members of my clients. Isn't that strange? Unfortunately, the music therapist is not someone that is seen during conferences or sought out at other times at my facility. So, this ceremony gives me a glimpse into the family sys...

Oh, reader of mine, I have finished my last Talent Show at my job, and it was a doozy! Not for my performers, but for me! At 10am, my slipped discs moved into absolute pain stage. Things just pinged and were accompanied by sharp, deep pain. Of course, the talent show started at 1:15, so I had to hobble to my desk and request assistance from my big kids to take things down to the gym. Then, none of the speakers worked with the adapters and cords that I had available. We ended up starting 15 minutes later than planned as I tried to get my pain-filled body to and from my music room to the gym more than I originally wanted to get some sort of music system happening. I finally rigged a microphone to the bluetooth speaker, but that's a really poor way to run music. No more! (I am going to order a bluetooth speaker system for the next music therapist to use. I am not going to pay for this one, but it is imperative that the next person does not have to struggle through the things I've ...

Today is the day. Today is the last Talent Show that I will run at my current facility. I have no idea if there will be a Talent Show next year, and I am okay with that thought - mostly. I have sixteen acts to coordinate and one of the students is coordinating a "surprise" for me that I will have to play guitar for... we'll see how it goes. I think I have run at least 29 of these shows. We even did virtual talent shows during COVID. It has been an interesting process of finding how I like to run things to provide my clients with opportunities to show off a bit. There is not one right way to run anything, and I've found that my attitude towards the talent show is that flexibility has to be the key. I've had students freak out about being looked at by everyone in the school and run out to pull the fire alarm. After that happened, the student sent someone to tell me that the student wanted another chance. I did not allow that. Sorry, but putting everyone in potential...

I know my "why." I know why I am leaving a good job after 30 years. I know why I want to move from full-time work to part-time work. I know why I want to work from home for a bit. What I am not quite sure about is "what" I want to do. Now, I am trying really hard to relax into the idea of not having a set plan, but my structure-seeking brain really wants me to know everything in my immediate future. The problem is that I am not exactly sure what I want to do. It is always an interesting situation to have no plan reaching before you. I was this way when I moved here back in July 1996. I knew I was going to graduate school, but I had no idea how I was going to support myself while I was doing that. The TA position I had been told I could have disappeared, so I had to find a way to support myself and my education habit while paying full tuition. The job that I scrambled to find did not start when I needed it to start - there was much turmoil happening at the facility w...

It is Tuesday again, so here is a therapy technique that I use when working with my current crop of children, adolescents, and young adults in a psychiatric residential and day school. Overplanning everything! Sound simple? It really is. For every session that I lead during my workweek, I have about twice the options of therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) available than I actually use. I use my session strategies like a menu. Students come in yelling at each other - that calls for some non-verbal interactions - let's play a game! Students seem exhausted - that calls for some alerting - let's do some stretching and movement. I have my options available for me at any time in the session. This means a bit of strategizing on my part. I have to know the materials that I have available to me during the session time. I hate having to get up to get materials out of cabinets during sessions, so I use my strategy to plan what I might want to use. I have ways that I accomplish this. Most...