TME Tuesday: Lessons Remembered from the World Congress

It is Tuesday, so it is time to write a bit about therapeutic music experiences (TMEs - which is what I call the things I do with clients in our music therapy sessions), and today's topic is things that I have forgotten that I was reminded of during the World Congress of Music Therapy.

Let me explain.

Okay, I have transitioned into the stage of life as a music therapist where I am considered either "vintage" or "seasoned." This means that I have become a music therapy crone which is simultaneously frightening and satisfactory. So, from the perspective of being an older music therapist, I have found several things that have happened in my way of viewing this profession.

For one, I no longer really find presentations all that inspiring. They no longer really share new information in presentations - I am finding that presentations just serve to remind me of concepts and vocabulary that I have forgotten. Even the research seems to be repetitive - we seem to be looking at the same types of things that we were looking at 20 years ago. I no longer seem to get the same sort of inspiration from conferences that I used to get, and I miss that feeling of exhilaration. These days, conferences seem to just be a time to see and be seen, but they also tend to inspire me to try to be more than I am right now.

This past week, I was in Vancouver for the World Congress of Music Therapy run by the World Federation of Music Therapy. I attended some sessions, but not many. I found that the presentations I watched were fine presentations, but there wasn't much for me to learn about. This reinforces some feelings that I have had for a long time - I need different ways to view our profession and my particular role in that profession.

So, once again, I am going to set myself some quests.

The most relevant to this blog post has to do with being proactive in my TME development process. Now, I have lots of TME ideas  and completed thematic interventions in my compendium, but I also feel like there is never a time when a project like that is complete. So, I will to sit down, write music, and finish TMEs. My goal is to finish one per week. Here goes week #1.

I have a specific way that I write TMEs - it is a combination of what my music therapy professors asked us to do as students, what my internship director reinforced, and what I have found to be most valuable for myself and my interns in my current facility. Here's a link to a blog post explaining my format. I use this structure to write all my modules, interventions, and applications in to therapeutic music experiences.

Today's process includes some brainstorming and lots of fiddling around. I am going to start with selecting a visual to inspire my thoughts. The random number generator selected #18 which translates to the letter R in my clip art files. The random number generator selected #35 as the next folder to look at for some thoughts about what I could write about. That folder contains some "Reindeer Candy Frames" from Scrappin Doodles (I have the lifetime access package!! Check it out if you like making visuals!!). There isn't any sort of variety in these files, but I will be able to figure out something to do with them. It works this way often - I get a small bit of inspiration but still have to figure things out on my own. The file that catches my eye is this one.

So, this will be my inspiration - a candy cane frame. What can I do with this? Well, it is time to focus on my clients now. My clients have some nebulous goals when it comes to music therapy. We work on improving awareness of impulse control, appropriate social interactions with others, communication of wants and needs, and emotional awareness. All interventions and TMEs that I lead in my clinic have all of these goals to address. 

With no other specifics, my creative impulses have to take over. The first thing that comes to mind when I look at this visual is Christmas but this is not the season for that holiday. The second thing is candy. I can work with candy as an inspiration. My students enjoy candy.

I already have a set of candy rhythm cards. We use them to compose chants and talk about what we like to eat. There are songs out there about candy that could turn into a theme. My goal for today, though, is to start to write my own composition about candy to turn into a TME.

Candy, candy, sweet, sweet, sweet. Tell which candy you like to eat! I like Twix, yes I do. I like Twix, do you? Do you?

This is the first pass through some lyrics. I already have a change. I think I'll change the penultimate phrase to "I like Twix, I do. Do you?" This is always part of the process - changing things to make them work better. 

I envision this being a TME that includes the candy cards that I already have. We might use the candy cane frame, but it really doesn't play a role in the TME that I am thinking about right now. Inspiration often is just a starting point.

It is time to start composing, so I am going to leave the blog now to get that done. I also have to go get my groceries, so I'll work on this more later on.

Thank you, presenters at the World Congress, for reminding me of what my passions are in this profession. It helps me remember why I love being a music therapist. I'm going to keep on moving on...