music, therapy, and me

Research This is my stumbling block, my weakest link, my bugaboo. I am not able to clearly organize research. Unfortunately, in a Ph.D. world, research is king, research is all. I struggle with understanding what I statistical analysis I should run to find answers to my research questions. I struggle with clear reviews of literature, I struggle with finding interesting topics - EVERYTHING is a struggle for me. Having said that, I do enjoy asking questions and hearing what others think. I like descriptive research, especially surveys of clinicians working with interns and practicum students. I feel so lonely in my rural school, away from other therapists, and I like to know what others are doing. I want to know the answers to many different questions. For example, What is the greatest challenge that you face as an internship supervisor? What skill is most important for interns to know before starting your site? Just a sample of what is to come from me.

New Blood... I had a new intern start her internship yesterday. I am always a bit apprehensive about a new intern fitting in to the mix of characters at my facility. I tend to pace, I don't sleep well, and I am very concerned about the interns that are currently at the facility getting along with the new one. I think this one will be perfectly fine, but I still had all of the same old doubts. My population is children and adolescents with developmental and psychiatric disorders. They are notorious for less than desirable social interaction skills, so I always warn visitors and interns that they will need to model appropriate introduction skills. My students are more likely to talk about a person rather than introduce themselves. Two interns ago, I had just finished with my talk about how students would be likely to talk about the intern in front of her face rather than using appropriate skills such as introducing themselves, when we had to go to an inservice. We sat down in the roo...

Music for relaxation...and me So, I am a music therapist, so it would stand to reason that music would be relaxing to me, right? You would certainly think so, but I find it not to be the case. I have found that music has become a puzzle rather than a completely sensory experience. This has shifted what I do to relax away from listening to music and into speech-related stimulation. The other night, I was experiencing some insomnia. I kept waking and then lying in bed waiting for sleep to come. As I waited, I got more tense about not sleeping. This led to more insomnia. My mom, an OT, gave me a combination yoga, aroma, music sleep system that proports to enduce delta wave patterns in the brain and assist with sleep. I'm game for anything, so I put the CD on and started the process, The music was very predictable, the sounds flowed through my auditory system, and I remained wide awake. I attempted progressive muscle relaxation with the music (PMR being the only relaxation technique th...

Relearning Relaxation In the life of a therapist, choir director, student, daughter, and friend, there are many obstacles to the art of relaxation. I dart from place to place and rarely sit quietly without working on some project. There are things that I want to do, things that I need to be doing, and things that SHOULD be done already. So, it is rare when I get or have to sit quietly. Yesterday was one such day. I did not sleep well and when it was time to go to work, I found that my lower extremities ached to the point of incapacitation. Now, I have been recently exposed to Fifth Disease, a little virus that causes joint pain and malaise, but I also have a tendency towards arthritis, so was not sure what the situation was with me. I called in on the first therapy day of the new year. I spent the day on my back under every heavy blanket and pillow that I could find, seeking some relief from the pain in my legs and back. The day was spent seeking sleep rather than finding it. I also re...

New Year, New Focus It is time for new thoughts and new goals. The new year offers me an opportunity to establish professional goals and evaluate the types of treatment that I offer my clients. I will offer my professional goals here on this blog in an effort to keep myself on track during 2008. We shall see how it works... I will update my Therapeutic Musical Experience file for the benefit of my session planning process and for my interns. I will focus on goal identification when I am arranging the file. This is an ongoing process and an ongoing goal. I will complete my 3 publishable products in the spring semester, allowing me to continue onto my dissertation. Each of these products will be outcome-based training oriented and will increase knowledge of clinical training techniques in the music therapy field. I will design several methods for teaching music theory to persons with developmental and psychiatric diagnoses. I will test these methods with my clients, refining and compilin...