TME Tuesday: Currently In My Ideas Book - Waiting Transfer to the TME Book

As you know, I have a system for writing my therapeutic music experiences (TMEs). This system has many different parts and sequences that I go through to get from inspirational spark to finished TME, and I have been using this system, tweaking it, adapting it, and finding ways to make it more relevant for myself since before I graduated as an undergraduate decades ago. It is something that just plain old works for me.

Now, this is not going to be yet another post about my system. You can find many of those types of posts on Tuesdays in the recent past. Today's post is going to be more about the ideas that I have and the ways I move those ideas from the ideas book to the TME book and into my database.

My ideas book is nothing all that remarkable. It is just the latest effort of mine to contain my ideas into one place for me to act upon them in a way that keeps them present in my mind. So, I often have inspiration strike in strange places - driving to and from work, in the shower, as I am wandering around a store looking at things - so, I always have some post-it notes with me. I write down a brief description or outline a melody or some words on the post-its and then continue with what I am doing. Before, these post-its would be placed in a random place in my home until I found them again. Now, these post-its have a home in my ideas book until I make them official.

I write in my ideas book as well. I use a line in between ideas to help me organize a bit, and I also am color-coding things so I can easily see what goes with each idea. It's not all that elegant, but it works. That's what is most important to me!!

Currently living in my ideas book is the start of my Anti-Bullying digital resource for the month of October. I have a list of songs that I need to record and post on my YouTube channel. I have another list of resources that are already out there that other creators have made. Those ideas sit there until I finish them and move them from ideas to realities. I have some lyrics for an emotion recognition song that do not have a melody to go with them yet. There are post-its from last week and from a decade ago. (Seriously, sometimes ideas just sit in one place for a very long time until they make sense to me again.)

Here is what is in the pages of my ideas book - use of the song "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield to do some piggyback songwriting; my current need for a Promethean Board icon in my communication project; a set of lyrics about not being able to read my mind; an update on my communication project - structural expectations and action steps; dog designation rhythm cards like my dinosaur card set; the start of a thematic unit about the movies (really should get on that - it is a good idea); some thoughts about what I want to do with kids and how to move my treatment towards that idea; and a song about a manners garden. I have finished all of the parts of my ideas book that are relevant for my September digital file - I can cross them off. In my TMEs book, I currently have two very old CBMT post-it notes with chord progressions and a closing song idea. I have transferred my "You Can't Read My Mind" song into the TME book so I can finish the melody and chord progression. All of my September songs are in that book and CHECKED OFF!

I take these books with me to work and from work. They stay in my backpack and will be traveling with me across the country so I can keep up with the ideas that come quickly sometimes. Other times, the idea stream dries up and then I have my ideas ready to be worked on. It moves things from the abstract to the concrete. I have the ideas sitting there with clear steps to finish them up which is the type of thing that I need when I am in a creative slump. I can focus on writing a melody instead of having to figure out an entire TME from scratch.

I have quite a bit of time ahead of me, all alone, in the car. I have a stack of post-its and some pencils to keep in my glove box for any ideas that show up. I have my books to store any ideas that come to me. I will have some time to flesh out some of the ideas that I already need, and I think I will be able to find a keyboard app to help me hear whether I have the melodies and rhythms matching my way of singing the songs. I have some nights in hotel rooms to think and create some new ideas. For the moment, I am going to pack up my ideas book and my TME book into my backpack and start my journey to work. I am sure that I will not be doing much with the book today, but I will have it, just in case.

Time to check the to-do list and get started on my chores for today - recycling needs to go out and sheets need to be stripped. Time to go.