Bathing in Music
For the past couple of days, I've been working on a couple of presentations while I've been driving to and from work, so I've been playing music during my commutes. This is unusual for me as I typically listen to television shows or podcasts rather than music, but it's been good for me.
I'm sure that I'm quite the sight, driving down the highway at 70+ mph, talking to myself, but that's a lot less unusual nowadays than it was 10 years ago. I get involved in practicing what I want to say during my presentations, but then the music interferes.
I have a playlist on my iPod titled "Favorites - Me." It has my preferences in it. I periodically go through my iTunes library and put things on the playlist. To make it on this particular playlist, a song has to have a couple of specific characteristics - specifically, it has to be something I know really well, and there has to be an emotional response elicited by the music.
I haven't updated the playlist from the expanded library for a while now, so there are only 128 pieces on the playlist at the moment.
I have been putting the music on and then letting my mind wander as I explore ways to talk to my upcoming audiences. Every so often, though, the music takes over, and I am gone.
I call this bathing in music. The music takes over my thoughts, actions, and attention. I can feel the music working in and on my body. I often have to listen to these musical pieces a couple of times before I can start to work through the physiological and psychological responses that I experience.
This is the purpose behind the playlist. I want to experience these things, but I don't use the playlist often - only when I need that catharsis or background. When it happens, though, I appreciate the music I love on a deeper basis than I usually get to do during music therapy sessions.
I mentioned once to a bunch of interns that part of my self-care routine is to keep specific songs completely to myself. I don't share those songs in therapy with clients. It sometimes feels a bit selfish, but on the other hand, I have such a visceral response to those pieces that I don't think I could be an effective therapist while sharing the music. So, those songs stay on my iPod for me and only me.
I doubt that there will be much direct music listening for me this weekend, but I may beef up my playlist a bit through adding more music to the library and finding more of my favorites (there are lots of them!).
What songs are yours and yours alone?
One of mine is by Dar Williams - What Do You Hear in These Sounds?
I'm sure that I'm quite the sight, driving down the highway at 70+ mph, talking to myself, but that's a lot less unusual nowadays than it was 10 years ago. I get involved in practicing what I want to say during my presentations, but then the music interferes.
I have a playlist on my iPod titled "Favorites - Me." It has my preferences in it. I periodically go through my iTunes library and put things on the playlist. To make it on this particular playlist, a song has to have a couple of specific characteristics - specifically, it has to be something I know really well, and there has to be an emotional response elicited by the music.
I haven't updated the playlist from the expanded library for a while now, so there are only 128 pieces on the playlist at the moment.
I have been putting the music on and then letting my mind wander as I explore ways to talk to my upcoming audiences. Every so often, though, the music takes over, and I am gone.
I call this bathing in music. The music takes over my thoughts, actions, and attention. I can feel the music working in and on my body. I often have to listen to these musical pieces a couple of times before I can start to work through the physiological and psychological responses that I experience.
This is the purpose behind the playlist. I want to experience these things, but I don't use the playlist often - only when I need that catharsis or background. When it happens, though, I appreciate the music I love on a deeper basis than I usually get to do during music therapy sessions.
I mentioned once to a bunch of interns that part of my self-care routine is to keep specific songs completely to myself. I don't share those songs in therapy with clients. It sometimes feels a bit selfish, but on the other hand, I have such a visceral response to those pieces that I don't think I could be an effective therapist while sharing the music. So, those songs stay on my iPod for me and only me.
I doubt that there will be much direct music listening for me this weekend, but I may beef up my playlist a bit through adding more music to the library and finding more of my favorites (there are lots of them!).
What songs are yours and yours alone?
One of mine is by Dar Williams - What Do You Hear in These Sounds?
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