Song Conversion Sunday: Back to the Basics

I've been out of the habit of looking at songs and making them something to use in a therapeutic environment lately. That's because this summer, I've been bored out of my skull with all things routine, so I haven't done my usual writing themes, but the summer is almost over for me (school will be back full-time in 21 days), so it is time to get back into what gives me some structure...back into my routines!

Over the past year, I've tried to take my Sunday mornings for some cognitive exercise. Specifically, I have selected a random song from either my sheet music collection (wow, I have LOTS of sheet music) or from my iPod (and, I have LOTS of recorded music as well) and then analyzed it the way I like to analyze therapeutic music selections - looking at all of the various elements of music available to be selected, adapted, and used. 

I have a graphic organizer set up in my computer files that helps me with this concept. **NOTE: If you are interested in getting a copy of this organizer, I'll be posting it to my Teachers Pay Teachers store later today (after I make it a bit more user friendly) for the low price of $2.00. For that amount, you can download the form and start using it for yourself. Why this form? It helps me, as the music therapist, to realized what types of changes I can make to the musical structure to best assist the client in front of me through and within the music.

This works for me. I know that others don't think like I think, and that's okay, but some folks out there will think like this as well, so please feel free to share this post and the link to the Teachers Pay Teachers store to other music therapists out there! 

It is time to get back into this particular habit, so I'm going to start by pulling a music book off the shelf and then opening it up to a random page...here I go!

I'm back. The songbook that I selected was 100 Greatest Love Songs from VH1 (I know -it is THAT old), published by Hal Leonard. You can purchase this book from the Hal Leonard website for $27.99 USD. (By the way, I get absolutely NO financial benefit from recommending products from other companies. If I recommend something, it is because I use it and find it beneficial!) I opened it up to page 265, and found one of my favorite songs (but not something I've ever used in therapy - hmmm), Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Released in 1998, this song was popularized (at least for folks like me) when it was used in the movie, City of Angels.

I will start the process of getting everything into my Music Analysis Chart next week, but I will start listening to this song again to familiarize myself with the music all over again. Maybe it will be one of my "NTM" TMEs this next week - who knows?!?

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