Thoughtful Thursday: Music Therapy and How Things Change

One of the benefits to getting older in this profession is the ability to remember how things used to be and to compare and contrast them with how things are now. There is a bit of nostalgia that is included (sometimes), and there is also a bit of "history repeating itself" that also sneaks in there.

To preface all of this, let me tell you that my facility is undergoing a major change in how we do things with our students. This change is significant and will affect all of the things that we do - there will be changes in our student population, in our classroom configurations, and in what my job entails. This change is happening but no one has really thought through the implications for the rest of the program at this point. We are focusing on what has to happen for the new program, but not on what has to happen for the rest of the folks in the facility who are on the periphery of this program but who will also be affected significantly by these changes.

That's where I fit.

I am not part of the new program - at least, I don't think that I am, but there are always rumors... When I ask questions, I am told that we just have to "be prepared to be flexible" - an uncomfortable spot for me. I want to know that there is a plan and that there are some considerations of what our school will look like in our own new and improved way of doing things. There doesn't seem to be such a plan. I want to know what I will be expected to do with the new program. I want to know how this will affect what I am already expected to do with the remaining program. I want to know what people are thinking, and I do not have that access at this moment.

Now, I am not afraid of change. I have never been one to sit back and wallow in sameness just because "that's how we have always done it." Change keeps me interested and engaged in what is going on in my life. I know that change is a necessary part of growth. It can be easy or extremely difficult. I prefer it when it is easy instead of difficult.

I am not the same music therapist that I was 29 years ago when I started out. There are some things that I still do the same way, but I am not the same person. I have adapted and grown, shifted and learned, tried to expand my considerations while identifying what is at my core as a therapist and as a human being. I have been right at times, but I have also been VERY wrong about things at other times. (I prefer being right!) I have learned the benefit of admitting that I am wrong and the ability to learn other perspectives and changing my mind about something.

There is a fine line between making changes for benefits and growth and making change just to change.

One of the things that I recommend to new music therapists is to spend some time in a new position just learning about why things are done the way they are done. The supervisors that I have had that have garnered the most respect and cooperation from their staff members are the ones who take time to learn about the facility and who ask why things are done the way they are done rather than the ones who come in with an agenda to just change every little thing. Systems work for the reason that they are familiar, they are boundaries, and they are structures. While it is easy to get locked into systems, ripping those familiar boundaries away can be devastating if not done with knowledge behind the action.

I hope that I do this practice of learning before changing things that affect other people. I strive to do this with my interns - learning how they learn, what they need from me as a supervisor, how to talk to them in a way that has a mutual understanding and growth-oriented perspective.

Casting off all things that came before because "that's old fashioned" is not the best way to do things - especially when it comes to serving humans. Yet, it seems to be the way that younger generations approach older generations and older systems. This has not been exclusive to any specific generation - each of us has done that when it was our time to enter the professional world and start to have a voice in how things are done. There is a fine line between learning from the past, repeating the past with a nostalgic lens, and abandoning all things in the past.

As I am getting older, I am able to see that line more clearly than I could 29, 20, even 10 years ago.

The loudest voice in the room should never be the only voice ever heard or acknowledged.

The problem with change is that there are always people who are firmly entrenched in how things are done right now and who actively resist change. There are also always people who do not understand why things are done in these ways and who demand change to their concepts of what "SHOULD" happen.

I strive for compromise.

Call me old-fashioned, but I want us to find win-win solutions to things. I am also impatient enough to want those things to happen sooner rather than later. I do not want to discover that something that is suggested will not be implemented for another 20 years - that is way too long in my estimation and opinion. Once I decide upon change, I want to get started with it as soon as I can. That's one of my failings as a human - I like to make decisions and then implement them immediately - not everyone is as easily convinced.

I feel that we, as a profession, are on the brink of a major change in how we do things. I am hoping that we can learn to talk to each other rather than talking at each other. I hope that we can find some areas where we agree to disagree but respectfully. I hope that we can find other areas where we can find mutual growth towards one another. I yearn for a day where we can recognize the unique perspectives brought to our profession by all members in a way that does not negate the perspectives or experiences of others in our profession.

This is not something that is really brought on by any specific thing happening in our profession right now (I am blissfully unaware of what is happening out there in music therapy land at the moment), but it is based on things that I am thinking about right now.

Those of us with quiet voices have to be spoken to and heard.