Looking Over My Library

One of the things that I tend to do during my three day weekends is wander around my living place and explore stuff. Now, you might think that I would do that all the time, but I don't. It is not uncommon for rooms to go unvisited in my home for several days in a row, but I try to go into all the rooms at least once per week. During the summer, I tend to wander around a bit more. Now, this is not a new behavior for me - even when I lived in an apartment, there would be weeks where I wouldn't go into one of the bathrooms and the craft room. I visit the rooms more often now in my house than I did in my apartment - and, I have more rooms to visit now.

So, anyway, I have spent a little bit of time in my library room. This is one of the rooms that needs work - well, all of them need work. I have about seven boxes in there that need to be unpacked. I need to get a bedframe for the bed in that room. I have an idea for a daybed setup in there, but I need to find a cheap frame to get started. Until that time, I am heading into the library room to get books to read. I just finished a trilogy, so it was time to find my next escapist foray into fiction. (I love fiction!) I entered the room, dodged some of the boxes, and then looked over my books.

I love books. I have a Kindle, but I really love the feel and experience of holding a book in my hands. As a result, I tend to buy, collect, and re-read books. I have had to get more bookshelves to accommodate my library, and I am still not done. I need some more shelves.

What I want to talk about today (besides my penchant for buying more and more books that then need more and more bookshelves) is my music therapy library.

I have a bookshelf dedicated to my music therapy texts. I have tons of them - from all of my education, from the libraries of others, and from the journals that I have been sent over my decades of being part of the national professional association. Due to my love of books, I keep them all and review them every so often. I have lots of music therapy texts and lots more supporting knowledge texts. I buy books when I find them. I also have this constant hope that I will be able to find the Grand Unifying Theory of Music Therapy, so I buy textbooks that are not part of my own perspective - just to figure out what my perspective actually is at any given time. I have books about all sorts of different music therapy theoretical foundations, and I try to read them all.

Some of the books are easier to understand and translate into my world than others. I often have to look up terms and vocabulary when I am reading things from different perspectives. I wonder of those from these perspectives have just as much difficulty with vocabulary in texts about my training orientation as I do with theirs. I try really hard to understand what others feel is "right" in music therapy to help me find my Grand Unifying Theory.

You see, I am a music therapist who learned about music therapy during the Great Divide of our associations - there used to be two, by the way, and some people have very strong feelings about the "other association." I could care less, but there are some from that time that really still resent me for being part of the "other association."  Most do not have any strong feelings, but those who do...

Anyway, I was a professional music therapist when we merged into the professional association that we have right now. I spent many years working as a volunteer for our professional association as we were becoming the more unified group that we are now. Part of what I want to find are the things that unite all music therapists. What is it that we all believe? What is it that we all do when we are acting as music therapists with our clients? There has to be more that unites us than divides us.

I think, if we figure out what our commonalities are, we will be able to move forward more strongly. I think that we will be able to work with each other better than we are right now. I feel that we are fighting with each other rather than seeking commonalities. I have decided to step away from the association other than continuing my membership because I have to do so in order to continue as an internship director. I am not interested in being in the middle of contentious interactions with others about things that have little to no relevance to my professional role, so I have stepped away. I still read the announcements, but they don't seem to be things that I feel our association can change. I wonder why we are trying to act like our little bitty professional organization can do something to affect change in the global society. There are times when I think we get a little bit too big for our britches about things that are not music therapy issues. I appreciate the association when they step up on things that are music therapy issues - client-related issues - but I think there are some things that the association should stay out of completely.

I feel that this is a good time to remind you that this is my blog. It contains my opinions and is not monetized. It is not advertised other than on my own social media accounts. It is not based on any sort of inside knowledge of what is happening inside our organization, and it is not really anything than my thoughts and opinions being organized into the written word. I have always tried to represent my thoughts and feelings truthfully. I stay out of controversy. I really try to avoid it as much as possible. I am not part of many music therapy social media accounts because I find them to be sources of significant distress for me. Last thing - you are welcome to agree with my ideas or disagree with them. I welcome thoughts, comments, criticisms on any of my blog posts. I moderate all comments published on this blog, so just know that nastiness does not get published - neither does spam.

Tangent over.

As I look through my music therapy texts, there are quite a few that I have not read. I bought 13 books from Barcelona Publishers about three years ago when they had a HUGE sale - all the texts that I bought were $10 each. Lots of books on lots of different topics (not all music therapy) just sitting on my shelves. So, I will be reading some of these books in the next several weeks. It's time to read through these books that are just taking up space in my library so I can figure out what these books mean to me and my music therapy life.

Will they fit within my view of music therapy and the world? Will I stretch my view of music therapy and the world? I certainly hope so because I do not want to become stagnant.

I think that becoming closed off to anything other than your ideas and opinions is the most destructive thing that can happen to any human. When you refuse to glimpse the perspectives and lived experiences of others, you get closed into your own little box with little to no ability to leave. You choose to close the doors and lock them from the inside. That is a sad state of being, so I want to avoid that situation for myself. I have already shielded myself from some of those ideas and opinions - especially in specific social media sites - but I try to stay open to others. 

And...

I do change my mind when I can see the logic in different perspectives. For me, logic is key. If it makes sense to me, then I change my mind and opinions.

But...

It has to make sense.

So, I will head back to my library to find a book to challenge my current thinking about music therapy and the world I work within. Let's see if it changes my mind about anything or if it just reinforces what I already think and believe about music therapy.