Going to Kentucky, I'm going to the fair, to see a senorita, with flowers in her hair...
I am in Kentucky on the Indiana border, in the great town of Louisville! I have never been to Kentucky before, and I am hoping to see it in the sunshine before I leave. It has been very dark and gloomy for the time I've been here. I hope the sun will shine soon.
Anyway, I am here for the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) National Conference. We always choose an exotic location and then descend upon it like locusts for a weekend. A glut of music therapists is an interesting phenomenon for any city block. The singing, serenades, research presentations, and sessions start today as 1200+ MTs arrive from all over the world. My life in the professional world is rapidly becoming that of mentor (as a long-time friend of mine pointed out yesterday, much to my surprise!!). I always feel inadequate when I see what things are happening with the profession. I have to remind myself that I am also doing important work for the profession. This is always reinforced when I am leading sessions that are packed full of therapists who crave information about things to do with kids! I am not anticipating the same response this year as my presentations are less clinical and are more training oriented, but I might be surprised. That is a great thing about conference. Sometimes things happen that are unexpected!
The week has been busy so far. I serve on a national committee, and we had a marathon meeting on Wednesday. The committee is in the second year of a leadership transition, and we are all familiar with the process now. The meeting was extremely productive, down to making concise decisions, and making plans for the improvement of our purpose in the Association. It was wonderful!
Today is full of meetings, classes, and networking. I have to get all professional in my dress and demeanor. It makes a nice change from jeans and a t-shirt, but I really do prefer my jeans over panty hose any day! Off to get gussied up and meet and greet!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more