TME Tuesdays - Strategizing
Anyway -
It is Tuesday which means talking about Therapeutic Music Experiences (TMEs). I am heading into work after two days away - one professional day and one sick day, so there will be things to do when I arrive, including figuring out what I am going to do with my clients this week. Last week's common group focus was experiencing the violin because we had a concert last Friday (when I was gone for a conference - can't wait to hear what it was like!). I have no such focus at this point right now. Since we had Spring Break, my focus rotation was interrupted. Usually, this week would be the Musician of the Month reveal, but we haven't done the music education concept this month, so who knows what I will end up doing.
Since I work in a school setting under a service delivery model of "Educational Enrichment," I have the freedom of choosing my own session focus for every group that arrives. This is both good and bad because it allows me to be very flexible in what I ask my students to do, but it also means that there is no direction. So, I have made some direction for myself.
I am a strange combination of improvisation and strategizing when it comes to what I ask my clients to do during group sessions. I write down TME suggestions and things that I want all of my students to experience during each week. I then change the session strategy to reflect what the clients contribute to the session contour. Therapy is not something "done to" my clients. It is something that is more effective when they actually lead the interaction and the therapist follows what they do. This is even true for group sessions, so my strategies reflect this philosophy of therapy and how I believe therapy is most effective for my students.
So, when I get to work this morning, I will sit down with my group calendar and figure out what the focus for the week will be. I have four different foci - musician of the month, instrument exploration, music education concept, and coping skill focus. This pattern is interrupted when interns arrive because I want them to figure out their own patterns and ideas, but I may have them continue a pattern when they arrive again in June and September and January. This could be something that they can work on together as we move through the next school year.
Once I get the focus figured out, I will then make a list of TME possibilities for the week. These are TMEs that either reinforce the focus or offer alternatives for my clients. For example, I have some groups that cannot focus for a 60 minute session, so they need some movement opportunities at about 25 minutes into their session times. I make lists of wiggle TMEs, time filler TMEs, and some alternatives to what I have on my TME post-it.
Yep. My planning happens on post-it notes. That's because my TMEs are fully developed and in my TME file. I can provide anyone who asks with full TME plans for each thing that my students experience during their time in music therapy. Once I have those TME plans completed, I can complete my session strategies on post-it notes. I also have session strategizing sheets, but I rarely use them. A post-it works well for my needs.
This is just how I do things. It is not more right or more wrong than any other type of planning/strategizing system. It is just how my mind works. I know that there are others who do things very differently, and that is okay with me. I do what works for me, and I encourage others to do what works for them. My interns have to do things my way for a bit - at least when it comes to how to write TMEs, but once they leave me, they can do whatever they want to do!
Today brings five groups and two individuals to the music therapy room. My groups will have written strategies but my individual sessions change based on what the individuals want to do during music therapy. I have strategies for them as well, but the strategies for individual sessions look very different from group sessions. Again, this works for me.
Happy Tuesday!
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