TME Tuesday: Back to the Basics of What I Know

I spent yesterday listening to the thunder of gathering and bass drums. We drummed in every session, and we will be drumming in today's sessions as well. Rather than going into a completely new therapeutic music experience (TME), I decided to go into the basics of my music therapy training.

My TME of choice this time around is simple. I get out my gathering drums, one of my bass drums, and enough mallets for everyone in the room. I turn on my favorite drumming music - Planet Drum by Mickey Hart - and off we go.

We drum in small groups. I put no more than four people at each drum, and it is fun to watch the community start to form. My clients start to entrain to each other - it may only be for short periods of time, but there is social awareness there. When the interest in drumming starts to flag, I place a shaker egg on top of the drum. Interest renewed. After that, I place wrist bells on the top of the drum.

We don't talk. We drum.

We're going to do the same types of things today and for the rest of the week until everyone has done this experience. I have to switch out the big drums for small drums tomorrow because one of our team members cannot hear when the drums are going - he arrives on Wednesdays and has to hear what people say to him. We'll do some small drum challenges - passing eggs without touching them, doing relays - we won't get the same feeling of community, but that's what you do when you are part of a team.

When I find myself trying really hard to find things to do with my clients, I turn to the basics - rhythm, drumming, instrument play, community building, and things that offer great therapeutic benefit with little therapist intervention. I didn't have to sing or create anything new, but my clients left the sessions more relaxed than when they started.