Thinking in the Dark
I went to see a movie yesterday - my second in three weeks, and something I do completely by myself on a less-than-regular basis. This summer, however, my movie theater and the Disney Movie Rewards program have teamed up to give me lots of extra points for watching Disney movies that I probably would have waited to see once they became DVDs but that I will see in the theater because of the points. (REALLY LONG SENTENCE!!)
ANYWAY...
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean V yesterday - Dead Men Tell No Tales. I sat in the middle of the luxury theater in a row by myself. There were five other people in the theater, but my theater is set up so other people are not really part of the movie watching experience anymore. We have these reclining seats and wide aisles. There is a wall between each row of seats. Every seat has an unimpeded view of the screen, even if the person in front of you is really tall or is wearing a hat or something (the walls really help). My theater now also offers sensory-friendly movie screenings, and I can see how the new set-up could help facilitate this type of experience better than the old stadium seat formation.
As I was sitting in my luxurious seat, waiting for the movie to start, I engaged in some thinking.
I admit, most of the thinking was more about me than music or therapy, but music therapy thoughts often intrude. This time around, I spent most of darkness thinking contemplating why I don't go to the movies more often. Then, the movie started and my thoughts strayed between listening to the music (and humming along occasionally - there was no one in my row or the two rows in front of me, and I LOVE the music) and enjoying the story (predictable, but fun nonetheless). I am going to see every movie that I want to see this summer. Most of those will be the Disney movies, but there may be a couple of other movies this summer that I want to see.
This has also led me to think about the power of movies in my life and in the life of my clients. I've found that many of my clients remember things from movies better than other forms of media, and those memories are often exact. I worked with a young lady who would act out all of Ariel's movements during songs from the movie. No one in her classroom recognized that. Me, with my movie obsession, was able to watch her for about 34 seconds before I recognized what she was doing.
There is a problem with using music from movies in therapy. For me and my clients, the primary problem is that the music is strongly linked to visual stimuli so as soon as the music starts, the client remembers the movie. I can't easily use music from movies to get my clients to shift their thought processes to other ideas when they hear the music. So, I have to embed ideas very slowly or not use the music at all for the therapeutic aspects of the session.
I often use the background music to those same Disney movies to introduce concepts such as coping skill development, motor coordination, and/or academic situations. Clients often recognize the music, but do not have the same types of reactions to the background tracks that they do to the featured song tracks. Then, we use the more familiar songs for TME breaks and for motivation.
I will spend my movie time thinking about how to bring the movie music into the music therapy session. For Pirates of the Caribbean, I think we may do some bouncing balls or tinikiling patterns to the 6/8 patterns in most of the music. I need to start writing these ideas down.
See you later! Will you join me at the movies? The next Disney one is Cars 3 - June 16th, all!
ANYWAY...
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean V yesterday - Dead Men Tell No Tales. I sat in the middle of the luxury theater in a row by myself. There were five other people in the theater, but my theater is set up so other people are not really part of the movie watching experience anymore. We have these reclining seats and wide aisles. There is a wall between each row of seats. Every seat has an unimpeded view of the screen, even if the person in front of you is really tall or is wearing a hat or something (the walls really help). My theater now also offers sensory-friendly movie screenings, and I can see how the new set-up could help facilitate this type of experience better than the old stadium seat formation.
As I was sitting in my luxurious seat, waiting for the movie to start, I engaged in some thinking.
I admit, most of the thinking was more about me than music or therapy, but music therapy thoughts often intrude. This time around, I spent most of darkness thinking contemplating why I don't go to the movies more often. Then, the movie started and my thoughts strayed between listening to the music (and humming along occasionally - there was no one in my row or the two rows in front of me, and I LOVE the music) and enjoying the story (predictable, but fun nonetheless). I am going to see every movie that I want to see this summer. Most of those will be the Disney movies, but there may be a couple of other movies this summer that I want to see.
This has also led me to think about the power of movies in my life and in the life of my clients. I've found that many of my clients remember things from movies better than other forms of media, and those memories are often exact. I worked with a young lady who would act out all of Ariel's movements during songs from the movie. No one in her classroom recognized that. Me, with my movie obsession, was able to watch her for about 34 seconds before I recognized what she was doing.
There is a problem with using music from movies in therapy. For me and my clients, the primary problem is that the music is strongly linked to visual stimuli so as soon as the music starts, the client remembers the movie. I can't easily use music from movies to get my clients to shift their thought processes to other ideas when they hear the music. So, I have to embed ideas very slowly or not use the music at all for the therapeutic aspects of the session.
I often use the background music to those same Disney movies to introduce concepts such as coping skill development, motor coordination, and/or academic situations. Clients often recognize the music, but do not have the same types of reactions to the background tracks that they do to the featured song tracks. Then, we use the more familiar songs for TME breaks and for motivation.
I will spend my movie time thinking about how to bring the movie music into the music therapy session. For Pirates of the Caribbean, I think we may do some bouncing balls or tinikiling patterns to the 6/8 patterns in most of the music. I need to start writing these ideas down.
See you later! Will you join me at the movies? The next Disney one is Cars 3 - June 16th, all!
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