Is It Time to End This Topic??

When I first started TME Tuesdays, I wanted to share ideas and get comments and interact with other music therapists who were interested in providing music therapy ideas and experiences with clients that were new and different. I wanted to create community, but then I got cranky. When I was a part of Music Therapists [Aren't] United (the additional word is completely mine and mine alone), one of the people posting went on a rant about gatekeeping and how music therapists should just give things away to younger music therapists rather than expecting to be paid for TME ideas, visual aids, business advice, etc. I got angry at that because I feel that we should be paid for the work that we do. I don't believe that I should give away my hard work to everyone and anyone just because they feel that they want to take it. There is a difference between sharing with someone and someone just taking from you without reciprocation. That is when I stopped publishing my therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) on this blog.

I am person who likes to share. I enjoy taking an idea and developing it within the music therapy community. I enjoy speaking to other music therapists and figuring out ways to enrich client interactions and treatment protocols.

I wonder if I should go back to sharing practical things to do with clients in these posts. I wonder if I should abandon this topic entirely. I wonder about lots of "shoulds," and I know that there are no absolutes in life.

Lately, my TME Tuesday posts have not been about sharing ideas. They have been about wanting to do more for my own clinical practice. I would like to share more, but I do not often get responses, so I don't know if people are actually engaging with these posts in the ways I want. I often treat this blog as an online journal - there is lots of "me" in music, therapy, and me, and I don't think that's a bad thing. It just is a thing.

Perhaps it is time to go back to the very beginning of this blog and this particular topic to see what I wanted to get from sharing my ideas with the music therapy void in the first place. It is time to look at whether this topic allows me to continue my personal mission as a music therapist of wanting to share and collaborate with other music therapists, music therapy students, and others interested in music as therapeutic medium. It is time to reflect and refresh.

I will have this opportunity to focus on reflection this upcoming week. It will be Spring Break, and I have nothing to do except clean my house and supervise a couple of home maintenance reviews and repairs. I will have some time to think about what I want to focus on in this blog and on my website. I will be able to think about who I want to reach in our larger community, and I will try to get those things to happen.

Here is a TME that I wrote a long time ago. If you decide to use it, please let me know. If you decide to use it and change it, then let me know how so I can add your ideas to my own. That's what I really want out of this type of post - an expansion of my idea into what others will do with their clients...

Therapeutic Music Experience

Ta-ti Instrument Game

Mary Jane Landaker, MME, MT-BC

Copyright 2010 

Purpose: To assess mastery of Ta-ti recognition; to assess mastery of Ta-ti notation patterns; gross motor development; fine motor development; sustained attention to task; entrainment to external stimulus; short-term memory; impulse control through waiting for turn until indicated; multi-step directives

 Source: Original game. © 12/27/2010 by Mary Jane Landaker, MME, MT-BC

 Materials: Prepared large rhythm cards with Ta and ti indications – may use cards with Ta-a if relevant to the group playing the game; instrument cards; percussion instruments to correspond with cards; egg timer(s); OPTIONAL: external steady beat either on CD playing or using instrument to maintain steady beat

 Environment: Instruments scattered around the room for use during the game; group members sitting in circle (either on the floor or in chairs) where they are able to see rhythm cards

 Procedure: R = Reinforcement opportunities; C = Redirection/Cue opportunities; A = Assessment

1. Set up game by placing instruments around the perimeter of the room – gain assistance from group members if possible
2. C=show group members the cards for rhythms and the instrument cards. Ask group members to identify what the pictures/rhythms indicate
3. A=assess which group members can recognize rhythmic patterns by name or by clapping
4. A=assess which group members can recognize the instruments indicated by the cards through either naming the instruments or pointing to the instruments’ locations in the room
5. C=provide additional review/instruction to group members who are unfamiliar with information presented on the cards
6. R=reinforce correct information presented by group members through verbal and nonverbal means
7. Start game
8. C= (may start metronome or steady beat at this point to assist with entrainment to external stimulus) demonstrate how to play the game by modeling. Choose an egg timer, flip it over, and choose a rhythm card and an instrument card. Move to the correct instrument as indicated on the instrument card and play the correct rhythm. Return to seat and flip over new cards. Play as many combinations as possible until the egg timer runs out. Tally up how many combinations completed in time allotted. Challenge group members to finish as many or more combinations in time allotted.
9. Repeat step 8 with group members completing all tasks
10. A=assess if group members are able to retain pattern for time required to find instrument and play pattern
11. R=reinforce correct pattern play by giving a point/tally for each pattern completed during the indicated time
12. Repeat steps 8-11 until all group members have had a turn to be the timed participant

Therapeutic Function of Music: The music is the format for assessing and testing group members’ awareness of music notation and instruments. The correct completion of indicated patterns further denotes that group members are able to understand music notation. The juxtaposition of instruments and rhythm patterns challenges group members’ memories, especially short-term retention and recall.

Adaptations:

• Change the amount of time to complete patterns
• Simplify the patterns to accommodate different functioning levels
• Use large and small examples of each instrument to indicate Ta and ti. For example, use frog cuicos and assign Ta’s to the large frog and ti’s to the small frog. Group members have to move from frog to frog in addition to moving through the instrument and the rhythm pattern

Extensions:

• Set up competition between group members or between group and therapist
• Randomly choose the egg timer to produce different times for completion – do not indicate which egg timer provides the longest time