Just a Song Sunday: The Songs of My Life

All of my career, I've been fascinated by the idea that music plays a strong role in identity, remembrance, and interaction. I have studied incidental learning based on the presence of music. I have spent much time asking clients about their musical preferences and I've thought lots about my own musical preferences and what they will mean for my future music therapists.

I am sure that many of you music therapists out there have been involved with and in music for most of your lives. I've been a singer for as long as I can remember. My family lore includes knowing every single song presented at preschool but refusing to sing at the performances - just standing in the middle of the group wailing at the top of my lungs. A magic dress changed all that - all of a sudden my social anxiety cleared up, and I found my voice!

My love of music led me to sing in various church choirs, and I eventually decided to play cornet in band. I had to choose between being in band and in choir at my school - there wasn't room for both in my school schedule. I became "Trumpeter #2" at school and then shocked everyone when they learned that I knew how to sing! The band directors at school were the most shocked at my musicianship. I guess I made sure that band musician was my only identity at school - there just wasn't room for my vocal life to enter school. At church, I was known as both an instrumentalist and a vocalist.

This legacy of musicianship has led me to having a very eclectic list of musical associations and preferred music. I know that, when I am in my assisted care facility, my music therapist will find my musical associations to be varied. That music therapist will need to be able to play 60's and 70's folk songs (my musical legacy from my parents), 80's alternative and pop songs (not much from Duran Duran, please), and music from throughout my career as a music therapist. I hope I am able to tell that music therapist what I want to hear and engage in during sessions.

One of the things that I know is that there are times when the song itself makes a session.

There are some music therapists who do not use music recordings in sessions. I am not one of those therapists. I think that there are times when you need to hear the original artist singing/performing the song in its original presentation (especially when preferred music of clients is rap and you are not able to replicate the music the way the client wants/needs you to). I would rather listen to A-Ha sing Take On Me, than hear myself try to make it sound the same.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that there are specific songs that are more important to me than others. Those songs provide me with rich memories, challenging thoughts, and different emotions. I would hope that my future therapists will spend time to get to know my history and my relationship with music in order to be able to provide me with services that are meaningful to me. I hope, as a current therapist, that I always remember that music can and does have an almost subliminal effect on my clients and that I use that knowledge to enrich my clients' lives the way I hope to be enriched later.

What are the songs of your life? How do you use them to enrich your own existence?

Here are some of mine - in no particular order...
  • Top of the World by the Carpenters
  • Take On Me by A-Ha
  • You're the Inspiration by Chicago
  • The Unicorn by the Irish Rovers
  • Mozart's Requiem
  • The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
  • Anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • The World Ain't Slowin' Down by Ellis Paul
  • To Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan
  • We Are Young by Fun
  • If I Had a Million Dollars by the Barenaked Ladies
  • Boom Chicka Boom - camp song
  • The Princess Pat- another camp song
  • All Praise to Thee by Thomas Tallis
  • Countless others that I'm not going to write down at this moment but that also have significance in my life...
I could probably get along quite nicely with this playlist later on in my life. Take note, future music therapists. This are (some of) the songs of my life.

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