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#MusicTherapyCreator - Lapbook Progress

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During the Music for Kiddos symposium on Friday, I started a lapbook template to make the creation of my lapbooks a bit more standardized. It is nothing fancy - it's just blocks at the moment, but it is a place to start. I have to tweak it a bit because my measurements did not quite fit the space available, but it is a start. I am all about working smarter and not harder, and I have found that making templates are easy ways to streamline some of my creative processes. Having a structure to work with helps me work. For the lapbook, I have a template for pieces to put together into the books for different ideas and different themes. To make things easier for me, I also print out things on sticker paper. It takes away the gluing step for the inner portions of the folder which is helpful. So, I am going to keep working on this idea, even through other types of creativity and work. I have made a pledge to myself that I am going to get to work on time this week. So, I have to work throug...
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Sunday Song: Assimiliation

I am finishing up the last session of the Music for Kiddos Symposium before I head over to complete the course evaluation and get my certificate. I could not face that session on the day - it was just a bit too much to concentrate on during that specific time. I just needed a small break after the six presentations that I watched on Friday. Today, I have to get through all of this just to finish it all. I have started some things that I should (goblin alert) have done many years ago. I registered my "business" as an LLC yesterday. It was a payment and a form filed with the State. That was it, as far as I can find these days. I will have to do some business things with the city - DBA, and licenses - but those cannot be accomplished until I have an Employer Identification Number and some new bank accounts. Those are tasks for this next week.  It is time to get my "business" going. I've had the website for 30 years, and I have not made it into anything that makes m...
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Fun Friday: Professional Development

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It is the Music for Kiddos symposium day! I am at home, sitting in front of my computer in my pjs, and getting ready for a day of learning. I do not have to go to work today, so I am taking a leisurely morning. I will have 11 hours of continuing education to get through by the end of today. That's lots of time to sit in front of the computer, so I might not watch everything today. I prefer watching things live, but if my body cannot handle it, then my body cannot handle it. It is always nice when there is an opportunity to watch via recording later on. I wonder if I can get my little laptop to stream while I use my big computer for working on other tasks... Ideally, I would be able to watch the symposium on my television, but I haven't figured out how to screencast things to my older televisions. I know that there has to be a way, but I have started this a bit too late to figure it out right now. A quick search of my Roku has identified some screen mirroring apps, but they requ...
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Thoughtful Thursday: Being Cozy is Essential for My Well-Being

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I am always happier in this time of year than I am in the summer months. For some reason, my seasonal affective depression is related to the sunshine. I don't know if this is because of my vitamin D deficiency, or if I was conditioned due to my early years in Texas where it was hot and humid, but summer is not a good time for me. I flourish so much more in the autumn and winter months when it is chilly, cold, and dark. I know that more people have the opposite response to this time change and the upcoming season. I am seeing so many conversations about how it is difficult for them to navigate these dark days. Meanwhile, I am gaining energy. This has been a typical week in my music therapy life. Kids have been up and down when responding to what I am sending out into the music therapy session. Many of the students have entered the room in full-out tantrums. I don't know if they were angry about having to come to music therapy or if there were other things happening, but it was m...
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Wednesday: Late to Work Because of a Mistake

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I have to take a late day today because I did not take my evening medications until late last night. I'm glad I remembered them when I did because they have some withdrawal symptoms that I do not want to have to go through during my Wednesday sessions.  Anyway, that means that I have some leftover symptoms that interfere with my driving, so I have to take a late day. This means that I will not arrive until around 7:45. My large chunk of time for yesterday's documentation is gone when I arrive at this time, but I have been early (before 7am) the other two days of this week, so I feel like I have given my extra time this week already. I have a meeting after school, so staying for my 8 hours will not be a chore. I got a stack of laminating back from our work-ready program, so I am set to make more educational visuals for clients in their classrooms. That is my happy place at work these days - making visuals in my office area while listening to shows on my Kindle. I have a little b...
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TME Tuesday: How I Describe My Process to Other Music Therapists

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So, as you know if you have been reading my blog for some time, I have a way that I organize my ideas into therapeutic music experiences (TMEs - my verbiage for the things that I do with my clients during our sessions). It is a way that helps me reflect on my processes, music and use of musical elements, and how I can assist my clients in reaching their goals. This form and process has changed over the years - stretched to accommodate my understanding of music as a therapeutic medium as well as contracting to change how I present said ideas to others. It continues to do so, but the basic structure is the same. For today's post, I am showing you how I explain this process to other music therapists. This is a written medium, so it seems a bit dry when reading, but I hope that this resource offers you some insight into what each section means for me when I am sitting down to design TMEs for my clients and for other clients out in the world. Comments, reactions, and questions are alway...
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Make It Monday - Floundering in Plans Without Moving Forward

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I have ideas.  I have so many ideas for what I want to do as well as for how to do it, but I am stuck in task paralysis and can't find the impetus to start anything. So, here I am. looking at all the stuff to make my ideas come to fruition, but without anything to show for it all. Once I start the process, things go really easily, but getting started can be daunting. For the moment, I am just collecting ideas without getting too nervous about not making them realities. This is a good time of year for me. I do much better in the cool and the cold than I do in the heat and humidity. It is a cozy time of year, and I enjoy that. There is the promise of getting home and being all snuggly in my craft space where I can experiment with paper and laminate visual aids and make new things. I did work on a page in my art journal yesterday. It is not quite finished yet. I have to glue things down and decide if I need more to add or not. I also prepared some prism crystals to add to my current l...
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