Supplemental Sunday: Look What I Got!!

I am home from AMTA 2015, and I am feeling exhausted, full of thought, and contemplative. Yesterday, I bought myself two ukuleles. I've never really had a good uke before and I figured it was time to plunge into the world of ukuleles. I trudged around the conference with my big West bag containing my two new instruments, and, when the day was over, I brought them home to find my first Music Therapy Mailing waiting for me by the door! This is the first time that I've signed up for something like this, and I can tell you that I a)wish I had had this idea because I've loved the thought since the beginning and b)loved the things that arrived. They started a inspiration cycle just before I fell asleep last night.

Here's one of my ukuleles, sitting on top of my Music Therapy Mailings envelope. The uke is a Kala Waterman - it is made out of plastic but is surprisingly good sounding. It is also waterproof and easily cleaned. This is an essential in my world.

It is green! One of my two favorite colors. (There weren't any yellow ones, unfortunately.) It was also cheaper than the other colors for some reason. I just wanted the green one, so the cheaper price actually ended up being a good thing for me. I like green, but I guess others don't. Good thing for me!!! 
 
The stuff in the envelope was fun, surprising, and inspiring. There is a turkey kit that has inspired the beginnings of a song, file folder activity, and "help the turkey find his feathers" TME idea. There is also an Autumn activity board with some stickers and stuff. I got a slide whistle, Christmas BINGO cards, four reindeer clips on small clothespins, and some hand sanitizer. The last thing that I got was the box there in the left corner. This is an inspiration box with 230 different quotations to use for inspiration.

I've mentioned before that I really like this idea (and wish I had had it first!). I've never been able to sign up before, but I have been anticipating this package for the past month. I hope that the other months that I've signed up for will be just as inspiring!

If I have time, I'll flesh out my ideas for the turkey file folder this week in order to post it soon. We'll see how the week goes.

Have a wonderful week, all!
 

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