Synthesis Sunday: I Did Some Reading!!! Finally!
I am reading Wellness, Wellplayed The Power of a Playlist!! by Jennifer Buchanan. This book is not a music therapy text - it is not written for someone who has studied music therapy. It is written for everyone else, and I really enjoy those types of books. My first ever foray into the world of music therapy was a book called, The Music Within You by Katsch and Merle-Fishman, and that book was also written for people who were interested in music but who weren't music therapists either. I like to think of ways to get other people to incorporate music into their own lives purposefully. I am of the opinion that music is for everyone and can help people reach goals without the presence of a music therapist, and this book really resonates with that concept and idea.
Jennifer (I feel like I can call her that because we are Facebook friends and have worked together through the Online Conference for Music Therapy [tickets are on sale, by the way]) illustrates how curating playlists can enrich and enhance the lives of those who try. She touches on some of the basic music therapy concepts of preference and changing as well as constantly reminding readers that music therapy is more than a playlist. This book (so far) does a wonderful job of teaching others to listen to music, to find what works, and to try different ideas with goals in mind. I could give this book to a friend and they would start to understand what it is that I do when I am working with my clients.
This is also a fast read. I spent part of an afternoon reading this book and am already on page 82. Jennifer says that one of her favorite exercises is coming up on page 85! I will be getting there the next time I open up my copy of her book.
I included my picture of my word of the year in
this post because I feel that reading this book is allowing me to work
on one of my goals - exploring ideas in the world of music therapy. This
book is not really challenging my ideas - Jennifer and I seem to feel
the same way about music and music therapy - but it is helping me
remember things that I have become complacent about in the past several
years. There is a danger in forgetting what I know to be true - I slip
into that danger every so often, so it is good to have another voice
telling me that I know these things. I am seeking to explore my own
relationship to music. This is a constant quest for me because I do not
really experience music the same way I used to. I am missing the
community. I am missing the ability to lose myself in a piece of music
rather than analyzing it in the back of my head. I am seeking to enrich
my own relationship to music through reminding myself of what music
means to me.
By the way, I added to my own playlist today. I am trying to put the Mandalorian Theme onto my playlist on Spotify, but the version I found is insisting on living in its own playlist for now. I enjoy that music, so I think I may purchase it from iTunes so I can listen to it when I want. In fact, I think I will purchase all of the music that I find on my Spotify list so I can use the playlist in the way that I intend to use it - for my own music listening. I do not stream things from my phone, so having a paid account on Spotify does not really help me out. I do better with older school technology - iTunes and CDs. I also feel that I need to pay for my music, so I limit what I do with Spotify in favor of the system that I have used for many years to purchase and arrange music - iTunes. I can take the music and burn it onto a CD so I can listen to it the way I want to - on speakers, booming around my house and without having to stream anything at all!! I know, that places me firmly in my generational identity, but there's nothing wrong with selecting an identity, right??
I am enjoying both the book and the playlist creation, and I am looking forward to the exercise on page 85, whatever it ends up being.
Happy Sunday, everyone!
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