TME Tuesday: Starting From an Object

It is TME Tuesday, and, as predicted, I am less happy about being up and getting ready to go. I have been tied to my asthma medication in order to not be coughing all the time and wheezing, so there are things that could be better, but there are things that could be worse, of course!

Today's focus is my typical Tuesday focus - therapeutic music experiences (TMEs).

There are many ways to come up with ideas, but I find that most of mine either start with a goal or with an object of some sort. Let's focus on how I start with an object and then figure out things I can do with clients and the object.

This requires some post-it notes or my Ideas book, a PENCIL, an eraser, and an object. I usually start with brainstorming some sensory information. What can I see? What can I feel? What can I hear? How do I move with or to use the object? What is the payoff for using the object? Other questions come about as I go through this process. I start to fill out my brainstorming post-its or pages.

All ideas are appropriate ideas at this point.

As I move from brainstorming into TME development, I start to think about my clients and the goals that they bring into the sessions. What would my specific clients like about this object? What do they need to work on in their time with me? How can I use this object to advance my client's towards the goal? What music will I pair it with to make this a music therapy experience? Does the object itself make music? Will there need to be instructions on how to use this object that I can put into song? Is there anything else that I need in order to use this object? Batteries? Lots of space? What does the environment have to include or look like?

Then, it is time to try my ideas out with my clients to see what they will do with the object that has never occurred to me. Get out the post-its again! Clients will always show me things to do and ways to move themselves toward their goals that will never occur to me, sitting in my desk chair, staring at the computer.

I enjoy my TME brainstorming times - when they happen. Since I have been sick, I've spent lots of time at home going through things. I have discovered so many half-finished ideas and things that I have collected but not found a use for in my music therapy clinic.

A glimpse into one of the ways that I come up with ideas.

To find my objects, sometimes I go to stores and just wander. The objects that I have do not have to be physical - they can be digital or media. They can be toys or instruments or just about anything. They can be knick knacks or tchotchkes of various things for reminiscence. The object itself doesn't really matter when I start this process - the goal is to find what my clients will respond to and to center our experience around something.

Happy Tuesday, all.