Rise Again - A Gift For Me

This is a strange therapy week. I was gone on Monday for a post-surgery appointment and x-rays, and yesterday, I had no voice, so singing was completely out of the question. I still have no voice today, so my session plans very much revolve around karaoke and Peter and the Wolf, things I can run without having to sing or talk. I think I am feeling better, but my throat is still sore and my voice is completely uncooperative. The medication I am on hasn't really done much to kick out this yuck, so I need to go back to the doctor this afternoon (oh joy!!).

I am hoping that my issue from last Wednesday was resolved in a meeting on Monday. I need to check in with the administrator to see what happened during the meeting so I know what the plan is for a particular client. He will NOT be happy with the options that I have available for me right now in music therapy, so it would be nice to know what the intervention plan is to run as soon as he walks into the therapy session.

I received a joy in the mail yesterday. One of my favorite songbooks in the world is Rise Up Singing by Annie Patterson and Peter Blood. It is a quasi-fake book (how's that for a term?) that has chords to 1200 songs. I love that book because it comes arranged by themes, has great indices, and just works the way I think. I have worn out one copy, bought two more, and love that book.

The joy that I received was Rise Again, another songbook by the same folks! It has the words, chords, sources, and topics for 1200 NEW songs! I am thrilled with the songs that are in the new book - there are songs from Wicked, Frozen, the 2010's. The scope of this songbook is much more based on popular music forms than the last (which had all sorts of folk songs and older songs - which I love, by the way). There are topics and themes based on musical styles as well as on generational shifts. I wonder if Annie Patterson and Peter Blood know any music therapists - these books are wonderful for me in my thematic programming. I bet others would like these books as well.

If you are interested in learning more about Rise Again or Rise Up Singing, I suggest you look at the website for these folks. (NOTE: I do not get any financial or other type of benefit from recommending products on my blog. If I like something, I let you know about it. If I don't like something, I tend to keep my mouth shut! So, if you order a book from these folks, they get all the profit.)

How I wish I could sing right now! I would be spending all of my extra time singing through this book, but I can't, so I will wait until my vocal health is significantly better before launching into these songs.

Happy Wednesday, all!

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