music, therapy, and me

My mother asked me, just last night, if I would ever host a music therapy intern again. I am running out of time to do this because I will be leaving my current job in one year and nine months, and I will not be accepting an intern after October 2025 for sure. It has been some time since I have had a viable candidate and the last one decided not to come to Kansas for her internship. With a lack of applicants who can follow directions and finish paperwork or tell me that they are withdrawing their applications, I am inclined to close up shop and be done. It is time to get into the National Roster Internship Guidelines and see what the procedure is for closing down. This attitude and decision makes me feel pretty sad due to the fact that I enjoy being an internship supervisor, but since no one is interested, there is no reason to stay open. I wonder how many other programs have closed because of this. I know that there used to be nine National Roster programs in my state and now there ar...

There are times when I have little to no creative inspiration but still need to be writing music for clients. If I try to force things, I often feel more upset and more blocked than when I go through my techniques to help me figure out a way around or over my blocks. My favorite technique is writing a silly song. Silly songs do not have to make sense, they don't have to have any sort of therapeutic benefit, and they don't have to be shared or even written down (though my clients have often loved my silly song results, so I try to record the songs in some way - who doesn't love to be silly?). I usually start the entire process by focusing on something I can see. I tend to respond well to visual input, so looking at an item or a picture helps me in my process. I have a book of magazine objects that I have collected over the years that has provided lots of inspiration. I also just do random things that I see. Once I have the item selected, I just start my improvisation. The be...

Forgive me as I sink into yet another "Nothing to do with Music Therapy - all about me" post for this Saturday. I am just getting excited about a little thing - my new journal. When I started my current journal two July's ago, I had big plans. I was going to use it to chronicle my re-watch of The Clone Wars, taking notes about the episodes that I watched. That fizzled out after about three months. I have no such plans for this book. I am keeping my Star Wars stickers on the front, and there are lots of galaxy and moon pictures inside, but I am not going to make any predictions or themes for this book. It is just going to be my personal planner. I am a paper/pen kind of planner. I do not like depending on digital sources for my appointments, so I write them down. I like choosing pens for each week and using stickers to decorate. At one point, in my first Star Wars planner, I was drawing different characters, but I am not doing as much of that now. At one point, I was drawi...

I am trying something rather new in my music therapy room this school year - leisure-focused sessions rather than just music therapy. Here is the deal - my students do not know how to occupy themselves in their leisure time other than with screens. They can watch television, movies, play video games, but they do not know how to use blocks or Matchbox cars or dolls or puzzles or crossword books or balls. Take away the screens, and my students cannot figure out things to do. This is not something that I have ever experienced. My life has been full of opportunities to get bored, to be away from screens, and to be turned outside to keep myself and my siblings occupied along with all the other kids in the neighborhood. We were supposed to be as safe as possible, but other than that, we had no real guidelines about what we should (goblin) be doing with ourselves. If I had been given a choice in the matter, I would have remained inside, reading, but I did not get that choice. Mom turned us ou...

So, how is your week going? Mine has included a near accident, hysterics for 24 miles, wishing that I could take a day off but knowing that I really can't justify it, wanting to get breakfast but the line being too long, long conversations with my family (which I love, but take time), interrupted sleep, beautiful weather patterns with just enough rain and sunshine to make me happy, one compliment, and some crabby students. I am so tired of everything, and I have been very isolated in my little therapy space. Everyone around me is sick, so I am trying my best to stay healthy since I've already lost one week to a strange virus. I don't want to use any more time this month. Every time this happens (and it is happening more often as I go through changes in my hormone levels and as I age), I have to figure out ways to break through the funk and keep going. For me, mindfulness practices help, and they mostly happen during my commute to work. Yesterday, for example, when the first...

Do you ever think about your hobbies? Are your hobbies expensive? Some of mine are, to be sure, but others are very cheap and help me stretch my meager budget as far as it can go. Hobbies are something that every person should cultivate for the sake of self-care, reflection, and pure enjoyment. Having lost a part-time job recently, my budget has changed significantly, and I am having to find ways to economize as I get used to the change in my income. So, I am scrutinizing my hobbies to see what I can do to cut back on my spending but still get the benefits that my hobbies give me. My hobbies are reading, making books, papercrafting, crocheting, and watching television and movies. The nice thing about my hobbies is that I have been doing them for so long that I already have everything that I NEED to make things and engage in my hobbies, but I do not have everything that I WANT! So, the first part of my thriftiness is to stop purchasing the things that I WANT and to focus on the things t...

A long time ago, I did a survey with the interns in the Midwestern region (where I live) of the US. One of the questions I asked was, "what advice would you give to current music therapy students about what surprises you about being an intern?" Almost everyone responded with a variation of "don't sell your music theory book back." They went on to comment about how much they needed the theory that they had learned and then forgotten after their last final. This is a truth that I come back to over and over. Music theory is important in the life of a music therapist. I know, having to relive the days of dictation and sight singing, keyboard harmony and learning typical progressions is not always a happy thought for many of us, but it is important to know those foundational expectations when you are trying to interpret the "can you play that one song? You know, the one that goes  duh, duh duh duh, duh." Well, keep singing as I figure it out... I use theory...

This is a day where I am feeling overwhelmed by my environment. It is my fault and mine alone, but I am feeling unable to start my chores because there are so many of them that are begging to be started. I am shutting down and want to just crawl back in bed. Again, this is all my fault, but that doesn't change the fact that my house is a mess - again. What can I do in the next minute? I can throw away some of the things that are sitting here on my desk. As I was doing that, I found my overwhelmed self-care card that I made a long time ago to help me figure out what to do when I find myself in this situation. Is that serendipity or what?? Read, cry, sing loudly, paint, make food, stretch, play piano, drink ice water, make a book, turn off all electronics, go for a drive, draw, write it out, and visit Google Earth (which I can't do if I turn off all electronics...). For now, I think I will continue to write, drink some water (not icy at the moment), and stretch a bit. When I look...

Yesterday was the first of four 12-hour days that we have on our school calendar this year. Just from the start of this post, I want you to know that I HATE 12-hour days at my job with a passion. They always mess with my routine and make me feel sick afterwards. Today is no exception. Last evening was Back to School Night. No one came to my room (that I know of - we had a LONG meeting yesterday, so there may have been someone who came by, but I wasn't there). In the 29 Back to School Nights that I have been at the facility, I might have had a dozen visitors in total. We have done special things before and now we are in an era of just be in your room (or in a meeting) and see if anyone stops by. Different administrators have demanded different things from us. The second of our 12-hour days will be a day off for me - I get to prepare for a medical procedure happening the next day. That is a conference day, and I do not usually participate in those days. My problem with 12-hour days i...

It has been about a month since I went to the library, and I am feeling the urge to go back but I am also feeling lazy. How does that work? Well, going to my library involves going downtown which is a warren of one-way streets, having to compete for parking, and then having to go to the outskirts of town where I live. The only time I have to do something like this is after work when my brain is absolutely exhausted and the thought of all of the effort needed to check out books makes the thought of going through the process absolutely horrific to me. This does not mean that I am not reading, though. Oh, of course not. I have an extensive library of my own that I am reading through. At the moment, I am re-reading The Heroes of Olympus  by Rick Riordin because he has a new book out that continues Percy Jackson's story. I wanted to re-read the ones that I have in order to get caught up. That's 10 books to get through before I can start the new one. I am on book nine. In addition to...

I often look for ways to economize because I have never been rich. I have approached the realm of "comfortable" in my finances, but this has only happened after 32 years of professional life, so I still look for ways to economize. One of my biggest outside sources and resources is my library. Now, I have not always been a dedicated library patron. I have gone in spurts and starts over the years. Right now, I have a valid card, and I am learning about the different services that my library has that benefits me as a music therapist. I haven't fully explored everything that is available, but I am getting there. Of course, books - I don't have to purchase specific books for my themes, I can borrow them for a week and then return them. There is also music available - I have a couple of CD players and a stereo that my clients find interesting, so I can borrow CDs. Of course, most of the music on CDs is also on Spotify, so there isn't much use for that particular form of...

Once again, it is Sunday, and once again, I am writing about my process of making up my own songs. It is time to revisit my Songwriting Kit - pictured here - and talk a bit about why I have it to begin with... I sing about all sorts of things in the progression of the sessions I lead, and I collect all sorts of ideas for therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) when I am outside of those sessions. Ideas will pop into my brain at any given time, and I've found that having a dedicated kit to songwriting and another one to writing down TME ideas and others for other ideas help me remember and act upon those ideas. When I try to rely on my memory, I am often disappointed with myself. Writing things down helps me to remember, so that's what I do. The kit offers me a chance to write things down in my solfege format, in formal notation, and as plain old ideas - in pencil, of course, because every musician knows to use pencil rather than ink. I like the kit because I can use it anywhere - ...

This has been a week full of interesting events - not happening to me personally, but happening around me. As you know, the presidential debate happened and was immediately followed by the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 events in my country. I was struck with the thought that the 25th anniversary will happen after I retire from my current job - it really made the idea of my own future a bit more real. Strange how much history can put your own life into perspective, if you let it. In my life, I have lived through many historical events, and it is always interesting to me what I remember about them and what I have forgotten. As I get older, I find that I search for causes and effects of the historical events that occured around me. I am always interested in how thoughts and attitudes are shaped by outside influences, so I analyze different ideas. Let me share a bit more about me than I usually share. I am not registered with any political party - mainly because I hate the propaganda that c...

Tuesday is the day where I spend some time trying to share ideas and tips that have saved me money in my music therapy career in the hope that someone else out there might find my tips valuable. Today, let's talk about making things for your music therapy sessions. Now, I'm not talking about my favorite things - visual aids. This time around, let's talk about things like mallets, instruments, and functional tools for your clients. This may come from my upbringing by an occupational therapist, but I have always preferred making my own things rather than spending money. Call me silly, but if I can make a mallet for about $1.50 USD and with about 45 minutes of my time, I think that is more efficient than spending $15.00 on a pair of mallets. (Which reminds me, I need to make mallets!) I am definitely a process person who gets great pleasure out of making things for my clients to use. By the way, would you like to learn how to make your own mallets?? We could do a Zoom meeting ...

It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...

Well. It is time to get back to writing after a break. I noticed that my last post had about twice as many views as I usually get, so I suspect that some of you may have been checking to see if I've been posting. It has been a long two weeks, but I am feeling the call to write again, so here goes. Today is Sunday which means it is time to think a bit about songwriting. I haven't done much songwriting lately, so I will get my handy songwriting kit and my keyboard to help me in my process. I need some inspiration, so I am going to head over to my clip-art collection to see what I can use to spark some ideas. Maybe something Autumn in nature... In my Autumn clip-art collection, I have options for bats, for scarecrows, for sharks, for a village, lots of inspiration. So, I have some ideas now for what I can compose about and some visuals to go along with it all. I tend to be inspired more by pictures when I am composing something, so having pictures helps me come up with ideas. I ha...