Bonus Post: From the Other Side of My First CMTE

Can I get all fan-girly for a moment?
 
I just finished my first CMTE course as a participant in a very long time, and I have to rave about the presenter, Cathy Knoll. Cathy embodies who I want to be when I grow up - passionate, caring, and cogent. While I wish I had more things to take back with me after the time spent in the course, I did remember some very important things about working with my students that I needed to hear again.

It has been a long time since I was able to take advantage of the free continuing music therapy education courses (CMTEs) offered during the AMTA conference. I signed up for two of them - Music Therapy Interventions with Children with Autism and Ethics, Music Therapy, and Spirituality. They are separated by 8 hours of napping, watching television, developing new ideas for the website and business, and working on my own presentations. I may spring for a room service pizza later - who knows! After dinner, I'll go down to talk ethical thought. It will be past my bedtime, but I think I'll be able to stay awake (especially if I get that nap that I really want right now!).

 I'm dealing with small anxiety moments - mainly associated with specific people - in a variety of ways. Some of the ways are mature - others, not so much. I am looking forward to having time to be alone. The "Privacy Please" tag is in the door lock, so I am going to try my best to do some relaxing in a place where I know I won't run into anyone. I have some snacks, too!

 Cathy Knoll gave me some things to think about and some inspiration as well - things to offer other music therapists. I have all the materials I need to work on those projects, so I know what I'll be doing (after I review my presentations) - creative stuff! I love it!!
 


Time to nap - keep an eye out here. I'll write more occasionally. Here are some pictures of some of the things I've seen so far...
I'm also keeping an eye out for SMU students who need selfies... Haven't met any yet, but the conference hasn't started yet.

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