Song Conversion Sunday: Week Two - Analyzing the Music

So, since I selected "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls last Sunday, this song has shown up at least daily in my everyday encounters. It is somewhat spooky, but I'm choosing to take this as a sign that it is time to focus on this song. There you go.

This week's post is all about analyzing the musical elements that are present in every song that we use in music therapy. I spent some time with my favorite graphic organizing software (Inspiration - love this program!!), and here is the song chart.
I do these charts because they help me figure out what sorts of options I have when I use this song with my clients. This reminds me that I can change the tempo if my client needs the song faster or slower. I can alter the timbre to accommodate client preferences. Since this song has lyrics, they can either remain as is to illustrate something that a client is addressing, or I can change the lyrics and use other parts of the music to go into other goal-based interactions.

I find that thinking through all of this stuff helps me when it is time to facilitate the session with my clients. I can look this over and start to frame the musical experience in my head before clients arrive. Once they show up, I can start to change these elements to best fit the clients' moods and attention spans. 

I did not fill out the therapeutic uses section yet. That's for next week. Thanks for going on this journey with me. See you soon!

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