I Wrote a Song...


I took some of my snow day, stuck at home because I'm too chicken to take someone else's car onto slick and untreated roads, and started using my music notation software. This is not something that I do enough - composing and then notation of what I've composed - and yesterday was a bit of an aberration. I had the time and the song popped into my head ready to be set on paper, so I did it!

I've decided that I'm taking my laptop with me when I go on my next trip. I hope to have some time to compose - I know that I'll have lots of time in the early mornings when I wake up at an ungodly hour since I'm waking at ungodly hours here at home and my destination is 2 hours behind. My sister likes to sleep in during her breaks, but my body just doesn't sleep in...at all. So, I'll have about five hours every morning to blog and compose and make visual aids and do all that stuff. I can then leave all of my other electronic devices at home.

Anyway, the reason that the laptop is my device of choice for this upcoming trip is to bring my notation software and all of my visual aid clip-art with me. When inspiration strikes, I will have the tools that I want to have near me.

Yesterday's song is something that I think some of my clients will enjoy and others will not. It is the end of an idea that I have had for a long time - about a zoo and being the person who runs the zoo. I want to incorporate some writing prompts and fill-in-the-blank sheets for the visual file that I am making for my Teachers Pay Teachers store and for the TME that I'm writing. After all that gets finished, I'll post the file in my store, and I'll make my own copies as well.

I enjoy writing songs, and I try to challenge myself to do this as much as I can. I make my interns write 25 original songs to include in their Therapeutic Music Experience files because I think that we should all be able to write music to accommodate whatever challenge our client brings to the session. If that means improvising music to match a tantrum to assist with calming, then that means writing something that uses the ISO-principle to match observable behaviors to start the adaptation process. If that means writing a song about the steps of a particular task to help folks remember those steps, then that's my job as the therapist.

My word of the year for 2019 is "COURAGE." I've made strides towards doing things that challenge me. I've just finished my contact information to be an exhibitor at the Midwestern Region AMTA conference. I'm stepping out of my comfort zone for this one, but I'm committed to this next leap. My next word will be revealed closer to the start of the new year, but this is something that can be part of that new word as well. Songwriting is a challenge for me as well, and sharing them in my subscription service is the courage step for me.

I hope that you write songs on a regular basis and that you share them with your clients. I am going to head into work this morning after two snow days away from everything and see what is waiting for me. I have four groups to lead this morning, and I'm hoping that I can find a way to engage the clients who are around me. We will see.

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