#MusicTherapyMaker - Music Preference Books
It is Monday again, and I actually made something for use in my clinic this weekend. I wrote a bit about it on Saturday (see this post for more information), and I finished it up yesterday. I thought I would write about it - the process and the purpose - today.
I have been toying around with an idea about making books out of these little booklets that i've been picking up at my Target Dollar Spot. I get eight of them for three dollars - a good price and something that I am naturally drawn to - empty booklets. I have had several books in progress that I've started over the years. Some of them have to do with instruments, others are specific songs, and I try to make them as useful and accessible as I possibly can,
I have one classroom that is now constantly changing, and I have some new clinical challenges that are happening because of this change. As a result, I find that I cannot focus on the "new" clients as much as I like to because everyone is "new." Prior to this year, I've been able to run routine therapeutic music experiences with my music therapy "oldies" while interacting with the "newbies" to get valuable assessment information. Now, everyone is "new," and I am challenged to figure out how to get the information that I want about my clients.
One of the things that I want to know about my clients is their musical preferences. This is just one of the many things, but it is important for me. I need to be able to find these things out without lots of sitting and waiting, but I also need an accurate representation of genres as well as specific artists. As I've been working with this population over the years, I've found that there is no easy way to do this particular task, so I continue to try new things.
My thought process was to use these books as a music preference set. I sat down and thought for a bit about what my clients could do with a book of musical choices, and my thoughts started to develop into a strategy (and you know me and my strategies).
Each of these books has 16 pages. The pages are really thin and delicate, so I knew that I would have to laminate them to increase their sturdiness. I really do not want to have to remake these books every other day. I thought I would try to make one version of this book to see if things would work the way I wanted them to work.
So, I started with the easiest book to make - Classic Disney.
My thought was to include specially made CDs that had options for music selection. Each book would be a different genre - Classic Disney, Newer Disney, Country, Rock, Hip-Hop/Rap, Popular Music, Relaxation, and an as yet unnamed playlist. I wanted to include a list of the songs available as well as pictures to indicate either performers or specific songs. Classic Disney was the easiest to start with because I already had the pictures and the playlists going. I used my Disney compilation CDs and started going.
The end result looks great and came together nicely. I am hoping that it will work with clients, but I'm not quite ready to offer this book to them. I think I will make the Current Pop Music book next and then introduce both to clients.
I decided to include the CD for each playlist on each page, so I took some of my CD sleeves and adhered them to the pages. I did a trick that I learned from some of my YouTube watching and made the inside of the pockets laminated as well as the outside (in the hopes that this will increase durability and longevity of the page itself). On the left side, there is the playlist and some of the pictures of the movies that the songs come from. My thought is that clients will look at the songs/pictures, choose the one that they want to hear, and then use the CD player and headphones to listen.
Here are two of the pages. As you can see, I've tried to color-code (another surprise?? Probably not!) the CDs with the playlists and the envelopes as well. This should assist folks in placing things back where they belong without too much interference from me.
At the end of the book, I have two blank pages and two empty CD envelopes. These empty spaces will allow me to add additional CDs as appropriate. I think that this will be more important for the categories of "newer popular music" and "newer Disney" than for this particular category, but I like the idea of having room to change what clients can choose. I also have a vague idea about using a more traditional PECS system, but I haven't figured that out yet.
I've bound the books together using an elastic band (this is the part that I'm unsure will last for long, but it can be replaced and will be, if needed) because I do not have an easy way to use staples and because staples are not encouraged around my facility. I hope that my rippers and tearers will not be able to rip or tear things easily, but that's one of the risks I take every time I introduce any sort of visual aid into my music therapy space.
Okay. It is time to take my ideas out into the music therapy world and see if they work.
#MusicTherapyMaker
I have been toying around with an idea about making books out of these little booklets that i've been picking up at my Target Dollar Spot. I get eight of them for three dollars - a good price and something that I am naturally drawn to - empty booklets. I have had several books in progress that I've started over the years. Some of them have to do with instruments, others are specific songs, and I try to make them as useful and accessible as I possibly can,
I have one classroom that is now constantly changing, and I have some new clinical challenges that are happening because of this change. As a result, I find that I cannot focus on the "new" clients as much as I like to because everyone is "new." Prior to this year, I've been able to run routine therapeutic music experiences with my music therapy "oldies" while interacting with the "newbies" to get valuable assessment information. Now, everyone is "new," and I am challenged to figure out how to get the information that I want about my clients.
One of the things that I want to know about my clients is their musical preferences. This is just one of the many things, but it is important for me. I need to be able to find these things out without lots of sitting and waiting, but I also need an accurate representation of genres as well as specific artists. As I've been working with this population over the years, I've found that there is no easy way to do this particular task, so I continue to try new things.
My thought process was to use these books as a music preference set. I sat down and thought for a bit about what my clients could do with a book of musical choices, and my thoughts started to develop into a strategy (and you know me and my strategies).
Each of these books has 16 pages. The pages are really thin and delicate, so I knew that I would have to laminate them to increase their sturdiness. I really do not want to have to remake these books every other day. I thought I would try to make one version of this book to see if things would work the way I wanted them to work.
My thought was to include specially made CDs that had options for music selection. Each book would be a different genre - Classic Disney, Newer Disney, Country, Rock, Hip-Hop/Rap, Popular Music, Relaxation, and an as yet unnamed playlist. I wanted to include a list of the songs available as well as pictures to indicate either performers or specific songs. Classic Disney was the easiest to start with because I already had the pictures and the playlists going. I used my Disney compilation CDs and started going.
The end result looks great and came together nicely. I am hoping that it will work with clients, but I'm not quite ready to offer this book to them. I think I will make the Current Pop Music book next and then introduce both to clients.
I decided to include the CD for each playlist on each page, so I took some of my CD sleeves and adhered them to the pages. I did a trick that I learned from some of my YouTube watching and made the inside of the pockets laminated as well as the outside (in the hopes that this will increase durability and longevity of the page itself). On the left side, there is the playlist and some of the pictures of the movies that the songs come from. My thought is that clients will look at the songs/pictures, choose the one that they want to hear, and then use the CD player and headphones to listen.
At the end of the book, I have two blank pages and two empty CD envelopes. These empty spaces will allow me to add additional CDs as appropriate. I think that this will be more important for the categories of "newer popular music" and "newer Disney" than for this particular category, but I like the idea of having room to change what clients can choose. I also have a vague idea about using a more traditional PECS system, but I haven't figured that out yet.
I've bound the books together using an elastic band (this is the part that I'm unsure will last for long, but it can be replaced and will be, if needed) because I do not have an easy way to use staples and because staples are not encouraged around my facility. I hope that my rippers and tearers will not be able to rip or tear things easily, but that's one of the risks I take every time I introduce any sort of visual aid into my music therapy space.
Okay. It is time to take my ideas out into the music therapy world and see if they work.
#MusicTherapyMaker
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