Changing Places - Well. Not Really...

Does anyone else remember the television show, Changing Places? It was on HGTV for a time in the 2000s (I think - it might have been at another time, but I am too lazy to switch to a new tab and find out). I used to love watching that show. Friends would work with interior designers to refresh a portion of each others' houses - all in secrecy and with interesting results. I was always opinionated about what they were doing in the spaces, so I enjoyed watching.

I am not changing places right now. I have left one part-time job, so I have a bit of extra time that I have not had since 1998. For some reason, though, I keep thinking about this show. (I might be getting sick - constant rumination on very narrow, very specific topics is one of my body's ways of showing me that germs are taking over my life.) I keep thinking about how you expect something to turn out but that things often go out of your realm of imagination when you bring in other people into the equation.

My life is now less fraught with emotional lability and having to work with people who believe that I am theirs to command. That is a good thing, and I am getting to the point where I am more relieved to be out of the toxic situation than upset about having to leave. At this moment, right here and right now, I am happy to be out of a workplace where it was perceived to be my job to take over every task that the congregants did not want to do without a pay raise or any sort of evaluation process.

I am trying to let this wound scab over, but I keep mentally picking at the wound. I am doing this less this morning than I did yesterday, but the pain is still there. Instead of dwelling on the topic yesterday, I celebrated my freedom by ordering cheese enchiladas and rice (no beans due to an experimental diet that I have to continue for one more week before I can start introducing things back again) and thoroughly enjoying the food.

I finished fourteen groups so far for the week yesterday afternoon. I have five groups left - four today and one tomorrow. We are working on the concept of rhythm notation this week. In my role as music therapist in a school setting, I also function as the music educator. So, I put in music knowledge and education elements into my music therapy sessions. This month, the topic is rhythm notation.

I have figured out how to teach most of my students to read basic rhythms. We use rhythm wheels and sticks to work out the knowledge, and it is an interesting thing to watch students work through the concept and then have an A-Ha moment when they understand! I have not figured out how to get the same response with other music education concepts, but I continue to try.

Next week will be a centers week. I am going to set these up once per month to help my students gain some independence and practice in communicating wants/needs in the music therapy setting. We will have a listening center with our Musicians of the Month, a rhythm wheel center to reinforce the concepts we practiced this week, and something else with me that I haven't fully fleshed out yet. I will get it designed tomorrow during my plan/prep time. We also talked about choirs this month, so I might figure out a way to work with our voices - I wonder if Five Below still has some voice modulation toys that I can find... hm. I might go see on Sunday when I don't have to go to church to teach Sunday School and before I go to a morning movie!

Even though parts of my life are changing, the rest are not, so I will continue my journey through this existence in a way that suits me and not the trolls who want to control me and what I do. There you go. Happy Thursday!!

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