Music, Therapy, and Me

When I started this blog forever ago, I wanted to find a title that would help me focus on what I really wanted to write about - the complexities of being a music therapist in this world. There are three pieces of this blog, and I find that, for the past year at least, I have been focusing more and more on the last part of this blog title - the me part.

I will still be writing about me - that's a part of this entire blog, after all, - but I want to also up my post count on the other two parts of this blog. I already have TME Tuesdays going, but I think I want to go back to what I used to do - offering ideas to you, fellow music therapist! I got away from that because I got sucked into some social media trolling that insisted that it was the responsibility of music therapists to give ideas and intellectual property to other music therapists without the expectation of payment. I find that I miss the opportunity to share ideas here, so I think I will go back to offering ideas - not the full TMEs - but the ideas. So, TME Tuesdays will look a little bit different so far.

In addition to wanting to change up my TME Tuesday posts, I also want to do more on the music side of things. I have all sorts of plans. We will see if they come to fruition, but it is fun to plan a bit.

Sundays are reserved for synthesis of what I am either reading or thinking or listening to at the moment. Tuesdays are all about TMEs (therapeutic music experiences). I think I may resurrect the Systems in Music Therapy series that happened a bit ago. I liked writing that series of posts - there is just something about identifying the way we do things that satisfies my little quest for organization and doing things smarter rather than harder. Maybe that would be a good thing to write about on Fridays - give myself a chance to figure out systems that I want to establish in my work and personal lives and acknowledge the systems that I already have in place that help me get what I want to get done.

Can you tell this is my last day of Winter Break? I can. I am chock full of plans and not really motivated to do the things that I need to get finished today. I want to think rather than work on the things that are calling my name like the dishes and the broken dishwasher and the slipper that I need to finish so I can put it in the UPS box that needs to go out today to get to CA pretty soon. Lots of things to do and lots of avoidance behaviors happening right here, right now.

So, in the interest of avoiding things completely, here is what I am currently watching - Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. It is shows like this that make me wish that everyone came with an audible soundtrack. Of course, if it did, it would make our jobs as music therapists moot, but it might be a good way to go into the world of clients tomorrow. What would be the soundtrack of my clients' lives? Lots of presumptions happening here, but isn't that what therapy is about? The therapist makes presumptions at times, especially when clients are unable to discuss emotions and ideas on their own. I think this is one of the reasons that I enjoy working with my clients within the musical environment - they get to convey their soundtrack a bit when they get to be in music therapy. Hm. I am sure that I am offending someone with this thought train, but I am still trying to figure things out here...so, be offended and don't read any more if you don't like this train of thought...

How about if I approach my life with the idea of a soundtrack? My current song would probably be something about trying to avoid the inevitable.

 

The good thing about being a music therapist is that I can write that song. The bad thing about being a music therapist is that I can write that song. Oh, look - someone already wrote that song. I think I may start my new year soundtrack with this song. Is this a thing? I think I am being influenced by Jennifer Buchanan's recent book on playlists (I haven't read it yet, but I am reading her posts on social media about this type of thing). I need to read that book.

So, my first entry on my playlist will be Avoiding the Inevitable by Banger. It is an instrumental song that has a pretty consistent and moderate tempo - I think I will use this as my first entry onto my personal playlist for this year.

See you tomorrow for a TME Tuesday post. I am thinking about what I will feature tomorrow... at 4 am when I have to get up and go to work to give a presentation and welcome an intern and offer an internship to another intern and go to other presentations and try to figure out what I am going to do later in the week when my clients show up for music therapy on Wednesday...