Inspiration

I am a borderline hoarder. I have lots of stuff and have difficulty throwing things out, but you can still see carpet and flooring in my home, so I feel pretty good about my borderline status. The only reason that this is relevant is that I want to write about inspiration and my home contains most of my materials.

One question I get asked lots is, "Where do you get your ideas?"

The answer to that question is difficult as I do not have any one place or technique that I use to find ideas. I engage in some mindless wandering, directed brainstorming, and feverish writing to get all the ideas down.

So, my house becomes my inspirational starting point.

As you can see, I have lots of stuff. I have poetry books, stuffed animals, and instruments within reach of my desk. There are pockets of instruments scattered around the front room. I have random bits of whimsy on the shelves, the walls, hanging from the ceiling. I use all of these things to help me find inspiration when I am stumped.

What does that process look like, you may ask? (Of course, you may not be interested in this topic at all and have stopped reading so you never got to this point at all...)

So, let's say that I have no good ideas, everything that I use in sessions is stale, and my clients (ages 5-22, diagnoses of both developmental and psychiatric disorders) are bored with our typical therapeutic musical experiences (TMEs). It is time to find some inspiration somewhere. I start to pace around the front room (that's where I keep my music therapy stuff). I pace until I see something that makes me take notice. Some days it is a book. Other times it's an instrument or a prop (like the arm hanging on the wall pictured here). I then take the object from its storage space and start my process.

I start with some directed brainstorming. With something I can touch, I start with sensory brainstorming. What do I see? What can I feel? What happens when I try to make sounds with the material? Are there any unique qualities or characteristics that can be interesting or novel to my clients? I write these down because I have learned that I can NEVER brainstorm without writing things down. If you don't document, it never happened. That is sadly true for me in my clinical practice.

So, I write it down and then continue with the brainstorming process. What goal areas come out of the sensory experience and information offered by the material? Once I have figured out the goal areas, I start to link my material, goal areas, and preexisting songs into TME plans. If I cannot find any preexisting songs, it is time to start composing. So, I start to compose a song that encompasses as many of the goals and ideas as possible. My songs are often simple, repetitive, and jazzy as I feel that my clients respond best to a specific style of music. I practice the song while I am writing the TME plan for my file. Then it is time to try it with my kids to see what they think.

When I get to the point where I just cannot see anything new or interesting in my environment, I start a blog stroll. It is amazing what you can find if you type in phrases like "therapeutic activities with adolescents" or "music therapy activities for children." Now, some of the stuff out there is absolute hooey - not at all appropriate or even interesting, but you can occasionally find some gems. Look around, ask for help, use your resources, and follow your inspiration!