music, therapy, and me

My word for this year is "play." I select a word each year that helps me focus on self-improvement. In the past, I have had many words designed to inspire me to do more. Before this year started, I decided that I was tired of self-improvement, and I wanted to spend more time on things that I found fun. So, I decided that "play" was my word back at the end of 2023. As we enter the last quarter of 2024, it is time to start thinking about what I want to be doing this next year. I have enjoyed the focus on finding things that are fun and help me play with things and people. I want to continue this focus, so I will be looking at different words and ideas for what I want to do in 2025. One of the reasons I chose the word "play" as my focus is professional in nature. I was not feeling happy with how things were going in my music therapy practice. I was feeling creatively blocked at a level that is not my normal. I wanted to find my first love again - doing things

I am celebrating my life changes right now - giving up things that I no longer want to do and finding new things to help me fill some time. This process is not one that I was anticipating in this year, but I have learned to go with the flow of life rather than fight against it too much. Well, I still fight it as evidenced by my constant nattering about things in the music therapy world, but you know - I am getting better. There are so many things to feel grateful for in this point of my life, but there are also so many things to mourn. I am trying to do both at the same time while continuing my journey as a music therapist. I am enjoying the concept of changing my work schedule to work only my contract hours rather than internship hours. I like knowing that I will be able to leave my workplace at 3:15 every day. This means some more time at home each day which is taking some getting used to, but is nice. I like having more afternoon time. Right now, I want to fill up that time with som

Twenty-five years (to the day) from when I welcomed my first intern to my internship program, I closed the program. It is time for me to move back into being a therapist without the added stressors present when you are a solo internship supervisor and director. It has been about a year since I have had viable applicants. The one person who actually finished an application and went through the audition decided not to move to Kansas for her internship. So, I am taking the lack of interest and lack of support from our professional organization as the signal that now is the time to move into another way of doing this job. I am processing this decision and am grieving it at the same time. This has been a season of leaving things - a job, now my internship program. I am tired of things changing, but my rational mind knows that change leads to growth and difference which is not a bad thing, it is just a new thing to navigate. My sister and mom keep reassuring me that I will find other things

I have to be honest with you, I am running out of ideas for this theme. Actually, an idea just popped into my head, so here it goes. I live in a world of broken instruments. My clients are very good at destruction and not very good at being gentle with fragile instruments and materials. While I do work on proper playing techniques and making choices about which instruments my clients are able to use during sessions, there are times when an instrument breaks. In addition, most of my handheld percussion is over 20 years old, so things wear down and break due to being used. So, it is not unusual for me to have a bunch of instruments waiting to be repaired, replaced, or thrown out. I tend to be a repairer rather than a replacer. As a result, I have some things in my clinic that I cannot live without when it comes to repairing instruments. In no particular order, here is my list of things that help me extend the life of various instruments and materials: Super glue - oh, dear. This is a gre

My mother asked me, just last night, if I would ever host a music therapy intern again. I am running out of time to do this because I will be leaving my current job in one year and nine months, and I will not be accepting an intern after October 2025 for sure. It has been some time since I have had a viable candidate and the last one decided not to come to Kansas for her internship. With a lack of applicants who can follow directions and finish paperwork or tell me that they are withdrawing their applications, I am inclined to close up shop and be done. It is time to get into the National Roster Internship Guidelines and see what the procedure is for closing down. This attitude and decision makes me feel pretty sad due to the fact that I enjoy being an internship supervisor, but since no one is interested, there is no reason to stay open. I wonder how many other programs have closed because of this. I know that there used to be nine National Roster programs in my state and now there ar

There are times when I have little to no creative inspiration but still need to be writing music for clients. If I try to force things, I often feel more upset and more blocked than when I go through my techniques to help me figure out a way around or over my blocks. My favorite technique is writing a silly song. Silly songs do not have to make sense, they don't have to have any sort of therapeutic benefit, and they don't have to be shared or even written down (though my clients have often loved my silly song results, so I try to record the songs in some way - who doesn't love to be silly?). I usually start the entire process by focusing on something I can see. I tend to respond well to visual input, so looking at an item or a picture helps me in my process. I have a book of magazine objects that I have collected over the years that has provided lots of inspiration. I also just do random things that I see. Once I have the item selected, I just start my improvisation. The be