Dear AMTA

Sometimes Things Don't Work Out

There are times when things just don't go as planned...at all.

I had a day like that last Friday. I was already tired but everything else did not go as planned either. Kids were cranky, I was cranky, and I ended up crying all the way home.

I don't know what was at work, but on days like that I spend lots of time trying to figure out what I did wrong.  

This week has been better. Sessions have flowed smoothly, even though some of the students have been pretty wild. People screamed all day yesterday, until they started laughing hysterically. It was strange, and not at all what I expected.

I am a big proponent of the THERAPEUTIC TRIAD. (Did you hear a trumpet fanfare when you read that? I heard one when I wrote it! Does that make me a music therapy geek??) I firmly believe that the therapist, the music, and the client work together in order to create a therapeutic environment. There are days when my contribution to the session is minimal. There are days when I try so hard to pull the other two elements in my direction that I am not an effective therapist.


The trick is finding balance between all three elements of the triad in order to participate in the most authentic therapeutic exchange. The client and the music should be the two most important parts of the experience. The therapist contributes, but the therapist should not be taking over all of the music while expecting the client to just go along.


I expect that my sessions that have gone all wonky lately have been due to a disconnect between my plans for clients and their own plans for music. I have spent time watching and listening to my clients as they make music this week. I have tried to pull away from "guiding" and have just experienced. 


Many times, I think new professionals have the concept that the therapist has to know what is going to happen through the entire session. Hence the focus on session planning rather than improvisation in many plans. I have grown in my intervention styles and find that I can plan strategies rather than specific interventions for sessions. It is more genuine and authentic when I plan to observe behavior patterns and link them into an iso-principle experience rather than charting all of the songs that I am going to sing.


When I consciously take a strategy method to sessions, I feel that the sessions are more beneficial to my clients. I just have to be reminded every once in a while that I am not the center of the universe...or the music therapy session.