music, therapy, and me

It is time to start my next project - the Rhythm to Results: Clinical Innovations in Music Therapy with Adolescents virtual conference!! This is another labor of love and something that I have wanted to do for a long, LONG time. It is now time, and I am starting the process. To begin with, we have a call for presentations open right now. We are seeking clinical music therapists to share techniques, interventions, therapeutic music experiences, and session ideas in our online format. If you work with adolescents, please consider submitting a presentation proposal by June 5, 2026 at 11:59 CDT! We intend to offer 9 CMTEs for this conference (pending CBMT approval, of course), and we also intend to make this available for $90.00 USD. Those who do not want to earn CMTEs will be able to purchase conference access for $20.00 USD. Presenters will get free registration and 8 free CMTEs in addition to CMTEs for their presentation. Are you interested in presenting? Check out this page on the web...

A Disney movie that I love is Meet the Robinsons . If you are not familiar with it, it is about science and experimentation and finding a family. It is a movie that is creative and not just a remake of something that Disney has already done (I am VERY anti-live action remakes of cartoon classics!). Throughout the movie, the theme of Keep Moving Forward comes up again and again, and is finally echoed in a quotation from Walt Disney (no date to attribution) -  “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” Curiosity is something that comes and goes for me. At the moment, I am curious about the world of music therapy beyond my role, but I am not feeling able to engage outside the four walls where I do music therapy. I have dreams for what I want to do, but limited knowledge of how to get there. I am still curious about it all. What do...

My apologies for not writing more this week. The urge was there, but the rants were just ongoing, and I felt that I did not need to express my angst and challenges in this forum. Blech. In the past five days, we have had tornadoes close to work, large hail that damaged work vehicles, lots of rain leading to flooding, branches down, kids in safety shelter past their bedtimes twice, crabbiness from everyone when asked to do basic tasks like sitting in a chair. Personally, I am still not feeling well - I feel better, but not well. I have not been able to get myself going or find any motivation to get anything finished. To top it all off, my gardeners broke my sliding glass door last night, so now I have to figure out how to navigate repairs. They will be paying to replace the door since they broke it. I feel bad that it will cost them so much money, but at the same time, I don't have money for something someone else broke. The best thing is that it just broke the outside panel so my h...

Yesterday, I returned to my office and email after a week of sick time. Buried in my emails was a request from the district office for information about what I will be doing after I retire from my school based music therapy job at the end of June. I am not entirely sure how to respond because I really do not know what I will be doing from July 1 on. To be honest, these types of questions cause me so much angst that I just shut down when asked. I don't know what I am going to do. All I know is that I am going to spend some time just resting and getting my house in order before I go outside of my house to find some employment. I find it a bit funny that the district office (which has completely ignored me for 25 years) now wants to know a bit about me as I am skipping out the door. For now, though, I am starting to get nervous about not having a plan. My financial advisor says that I can take a couple of years without needing outside employment, but I have no idea how that is possibl...

Sorry for my recent absence from blogging - I have been sick and completely unmotivated to do much of anything. I think I am back. At the very least, I am feeling better than I did last week at this time, so I am up and running this morning. This year's pollen season has been rough on me, and my nurse visit two Saturdays ago was unhelpful for the thing that I am doing here, so it took an entire week before I was able to address what was happening with me. I am no longer coughing up green mucus, so I think I am getting better. This is how it happens for me. I start off with a pollen reaction that ends up in bronchitis, fevers, and other responses. This happens about every three years here where I live, and I am a bit giddy with the possibility that it will not be happening next year (don't get too excited, KB. I still need to see if I can afford to move...). I am tired this morning. My sleep schedule has been messed up over the past week so it has been hard to get up and get goi...

One of the benefits of ripping my CD collection onto my computer is that I have the opportunity to dive back into the music that I have used over my career so far and the music that I have acquired that I love. I am currently working on one of my soundtrack cases - I have a couple of these - and I am reminded of why I purchased specific songs for specific reasons as I look over my collection. I have been taunted lately by a younger colleague (not at work, but a music therapist) for still having my CD collection. I admit, it is easy to stream music these days, but I still enjoy having the music available to hold. There is something more personal with CDs and records and cassettes. The convenience of streaming is wonderful until the wi-fi goes down, and then you feel pretty silly because you do not have alternatives. I will NEVER give up my CD collection!! I love it too much!! So, call me old-fashioned or anachronistic, if you must, but I will continue to use my CDs. I am just going to c...