The Same Old Same Old Gets Shaken Up a Bit...

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year.

It is Star Wars Day tomorrow (May the Fourth, you know), so I am taking one of my favorite things in the world to work - my R2-D2 robot! He is voice-activated and stubborn as all get out, which I absolutely LOVE! We do some experimentation with offering commands and waiting for responses and then we let him do his thing all over the music therapy room. He is a great tool for some discussion about listening, about conflict, and about how it feels when people do not listen to you.

In addition to playing with R2, we are going to use some mini flashlights that I bought from Oriental Trading Co a long time ago - they have constellations on them! We are also going to listen to John Williams' music. There is nothing that I disapprove of this week! I love it all!

This is a good way to start the last month of our regular schedule. I get to let my nerdy, fan-girl side out and still justify all this as a therapeutic event!

So, this week's session strategies basically wrote themselves. Opening TME, introduce R2 to everyone, let R2 do his R2 thing, and then sit back and watch it all happen. I intervene as needed for each group, but there really isn't much that I have to do. That little robot takes over! The addition of my flashlights and the John Williams music is to extend R2's time into a full 60 minutes of interaction for some of my groups - most of them will have only 30 minutes with me, so I can fill that up with R2 alone. My intern will be doing the other 30 minutes of session interaction this week for most of the groups.

This has become a tradition for my long-time students. They start to hint about seeing "that robot" in sessions about January, and I have to remind them to wait until it is time. They will bring excitement to the ones who haven't been with us for an entire year because R2-D2 is back, and, I have to admit, he is pretty cool! They will try to use the voice control with him, will fail, will be reminded to wait after giving him a command, will still fail, and will enjoy the entire situation.

i love watching my students play. 

We will not be doing music therapy in the same old way this week...Happy Star Wars Week! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going on a Squeegee Hunt

One of the songs that I sang over and over and over again as a song leader in Girl Scouts was "Going on a Squeegee Hunt ." Now, you may be wondering what a "squeegee" is - good question! It is an imaginary creature that was probably invented by some obscure girl scout in Southern California many, MANY years ago! Anyway, similar to the traditional children's song of " Going on a Lion/Bear/Tiger Hunt ," the song takes you through a sequential process over, under, around, and through various obstacles towards a goal. Today, as I am sitting here writing, I am thinking about the poor squeegee being hunted. It is just in its cave, trying to do its squeegee things without interruption, when suddenly, BOOM! Some Girl Scout arrives to poke it! The poor squeegee does what it can - it jumps up and chases the Girl Scout all the way home!! This has not been a good work week. It is amazing how people will make mountains out of molehills. Here is the deal. I se...
Read more

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Client Goals First and Foremost

Image
When I am writing music, I tend to do one of two things. I either start with a specific client in mind and write for that client's goals and objectives, or I start with an idea and let the idea grow regardless of the clients that I am serving at the time. I spend time with lots of hypothetical clients - thinking about the vast number of clients and their unique goals as I develop songs and therapeutic music experiences (TMEs). Today, though, I would like to start with the first focus - that of a specific client and his or her or their goals. Currently, I am sharing a wall with a class of students who are experiencing lots of life and school changes. Two students have transferred from residential care to home care and are now day students. One student is brand new to the classroom. Another student recently left the class. All of these changes have shifted the dynamics in the classroom group, and old behaviors of concern have reemerged as well as finding new behaviors to contribute. ...
Read more