And Today Shall Be a Day For Working

Yesterday, I gave myself a day away from content production and allowed myself to work on non-video projects. I also allowed myself to wallow in any emotions that arose without worrying about whether my red, swollen eyes would be distracting on camera.

Today, though, I need to get my content production up and going again. I have posted four of my videos this week, and I want to finish up four more by the end of business today.

For me, I find that the best way to create content is to just sit down and do some singing into the camera. Some of the things that come out of my mouth are old, familiar songs that I have know forever, and other things are completely new! Since most of the therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) that I do with my clients incorporate lots of client direction, most of our "regular" interactions are not easily transferred to preproduced video segments. I have had to think about what I am doing for all content to avoid situations where my clients cannot respond. I have looked at some models for programming, and I feel like I am starting to understand the formula for how to put these things together in a way that supports my end goal and looks decent. We will see.

I also printed out some of the files that I have from Teachers Pay Teachers. I have not finished these projects up yet, but I intend on making some file folders and some community-focused books that need songs to go along with them to supplement some of my theme ideas. I also want to develop some theme session strategies and packets for different months of the year for school music therapists like myself - things that are a bit more appropriate for older learners rather than the plethora of things for young ones. I have tons of ideas and little incentive to get going on them! I also want to arrange my theme boxes a bit more than they are now - something with an instrument focus, a musician focus, and then some books to shape topics for exploration. The final component will be coping skill development - a different skill for each month. All of this will probably not be done much in my music therapy program, but maybe I can figure out a way to make this something that my interns can use as a guide as well. I just don't like forcing them into doing things "my way" because I think we all miss out when we are forced into "this is THE way we do this..."

I wonder if there is a CMTE opportunity in this...put it on the list, MJ. 

Thank you for being someone who reads this blog. You are appreciated, and I hope that it gives you an insight into the world of music, of therapy, of music therapy, and of me. 

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