At Least I Started a New Therapeutic Music Experience...


I went back to work yesterday after a (sorta) restful five day weekend. I was greeted by about 70 emails (not bad for being gone for 3 work days), and the news that several students had left and new ones had arrived. In other words, a typical return after being gone. My office was a bit more cluttered than usual, thanks to an order for the student incentive store, but I could still get where I needed to get and was able to do some stuff. I settled in to figure out my morning, and readied myself to watch some therapy. The first three groups went very well. We do five groups a day, so I'm sure that you can extrapolate what I am trying to say here.

During my morning, when things went well and kids seemed to enjoy being with us, I was able to do some journaling. I'm trying something that I have never done before while I am at work. I'm actually doing some daily journaling and bullet journal type tracking of my mood and my productivity. In my home journal, I don't do these things - I've found a way that works for me, and it does not include that type of journaling - that's what this blog is for. At work, however, I am finding that taking some time to do some written processing is valuable to me. I am using my lesson planning book for therapeutic music experience (TME) ideas and my journal for tracking my chores, my moods, and my thoughts. 

As I sat down yesterday morning, I started to plan out my observation/office time for the day. Over my mini-break, I realized that one of the things that is going on in my life right now is ennui (I love that fancy word for "boredom, tedium" - it sounds so much more interesting in the French!). I want to have more variation in my life, but I also want to have routine. I guess what I really want is a purpose...something that makes me think and grow and try new things.

 So, I have a new challenge for myself.

 I am going to use a "new to me" TME every day. I want to keep my brain going so I don't fall into a rut. So, what this means for me is that I will be thinking more and more about TME development and therapeutic purpose for my clients while I am at work. I will get a ukulele from the closet, and I will practice when I can - learning the musical structure of my "new to me" TMEs. If I write my own, GREAT! If I don't have that creative spark, that's okay. I can use the work of someone else to achieve my challenge. I have tons of resources that I've barely tapped in my work over the years, so I have TMEs available for every sort of situation imaginable. I also have tons of my own TMEs that I haven't used recently. Time to pull them out of the corners and get them going - those will not meet the "new to me" criterion, but it will be nice to revisit old TMEs with my current clients.

 Yesterday's "new to me" TME was based on an old camp song/choir vocalise that I've sung for about 40 years now but never used in the music therapy setting. The song is called, One Flea Fly, and it has tons of articulation tongue twisters as the verses. I have a couple of ideas of how to use the song - letter recognition, articulation drills, and a game where they have to find the letter indicated. I was in the process of teaching the song yesterday when all things went wonky in the session. I had to change my plan in a flash, so I didn't get what I wanted to do done with my clients (this is a typical situation with this particular group), but I did start the process. Hopefully, we will be able to move into the next step of the TME during our next session.

 I'm not sure what today's "NTM" TME will be. One Flea Fly will no longer be "NTM," so I need to find something else for today. That won't be a problem. I have all of my resources with me today, and I'll tap into one of them. It could be a new opening or closing TME, or maybe it will be a new coping skill strategy song. Who knows?

Comments

  1. Joan Pack8:57 AM

    I like this challenge, I have aimed to do this in my session planning and implementation in practicum from week to week. I am transferring this idea to my weekly life now that my academic work is done. I want to continue to grow as I apply for internships. I love seeing that there are always ways to grow, even over years of doing music therapy. Thank you for sharing!

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