Thrifty Therapist: Making Something
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 and make our own together! Let me know in the comments!
The process of making things for your music therapy practice starts with looking for what you need. Do you want to always be able to find a guitar pick easily?? Do you need movement props to encourage your clients to work on their range of motion? Do you want communication options? Where do you need something to enhance your interactions? Some folks call this a "pain point." I like to think of it as an efficiency point - what can you do or have that will make small aspects of your life easier to increase your efficiency.
Once you know where your efficiency point lies (and it will be different all the time), then you have a choice to make. Do you create your own product or do you find someone else's product? Either way, you will be spending money - either on raw materials or on the product of someone's work and manufacturing. Since I find making my own things relaxing, I tend to spend my money on raw materials and then add the time that it takes to make things as a form of self-care.
There are some things that I always buy and never make myself. Shaker eggs, for example. My clients tend to destroy things that are flimsy, and homemade shaker eggs tend to be broken very quickly. Even the current eggs that I can purchase are flimsier than the ones that I inherited when I arrived at my facility. Those eggs (30+ years old) NEVER dent, break, or disappoint! They can be thrown at a wall and will dent the wall but not crack! I love those eggs!!
I find that I can save money on some things in order to be able to spend money on others. If I can make my own mallets, then I can afford more shaker eggs.
Here is a task analysis for making mallets, just in case you were wondering if I was going to help out... Questions?? Feel free to comment here or on any of my socials!
Materials:
• Dowels – recommended width: no less than 5/16 of an inch. Any greater
width is appropriate. If you can only find long dowels (36 inches), you will
need to cut them in thirds before the webinar. COST: $0.42 for 36 inch
dowel at 5/16”; $0.57 for 36 inch dowel at 3/8”
• Yarn – 1 skein of worsted weight 4-ply yarn, any color desired. This one
skein makes several mallets – at least 3. COST: $2.47
• Electrical Tape – This is NOT duct tape, but is a smooth plastic tape. One
mallet appears to take one-two small rolls of tape and approximately a
third of a roll of black tape, depending on how much tape is used for the
core. COST: $3.97 for one roll of black tape or 5 smaller rolls of colored
tape
• Yarn Needle – This needle is approximately 2 inches in length and has a
large eye. They are often found in the plastic canvas or knitting areas of
craft stores or in the craft section of larger stores. COST: $1.97 for box of 4
needles
• Other materials needed: Scissors, paper, writing implement of some sort
Tape Core Mallets
Task Analysis
1. Start project by laying out all materials within easy reach.
2. You will need a dowel, electrical tape, a skein of yarn, a yarn needle, and a
pair of scissors
3. Take the dowel and cover with electrical tape, winding portions of the
tape around the dowel. Cover the entire dowel and do not cut tape.
4. At tip of the dowel, keep wrapping electrical tape until you have a
substantial build up of tape on the end of the dowel.
5. Cut off the tape.
6. OPTIONAL STEP: In order to make pairs of mallets, trace around the tape
build up to provide a pattern for the next mallet’s diameter.
7. Take the yarn and wrap one end around the base of the tape build up. Tie
a knot.
8. Taking the skein side of the yarn, wrap the yarn up and over the tape
build up crossing the tape in an angle of approximately 45 degrees.
9. Hold the yarn at the bottom of the tape build up on the opposite side of
the dowel, and turn the dowel a third of the way.
10. Repeat process of wrapping the yarn up and over the tape ball and
twisting the dowel.
11. Continue to wrap and twist until you have many layers of yarn over the
tape build up.
12. When the yarn has enough layers, stretch out a length of yarn
approximately 2 feet in length and cut the yarn off the skein.
13. Thread the end of the yarn into the yarn needle.
14. Take the needle to the top of the mallet. Poke the needle into the top
center of the yarn layers and pull needle out towards the side of the
mallet.
15. Pull tight.
16. Place needle back into the top center of the yarn layers and repeat
motion of pulling the needle out of the side of the mallet. This stitch is
called a whipstitch.
17. Continue the whipstitch around the top of the mallet until you arrive at
the beginning of the stitching.
18. Move needle to the bottom of the mallet, where the yarn meets the
dowel and whipstitch around the bottom of the mallet in a manner similar
to that of the top.
19. To finish the mallet, push the needle through the entire yarn build up and
pull tight. Cut the yarn close to the mallet.
You can also use hard wooden beads or soft foam beads to make different cores
to your mallets.
Happy Tuesday, all!
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