music, therapy, and me

It is Friday, again, and I have been to work for an entire week, again. We had a blizzard on Tuesday evening that made for slick roads on Wednesday, but school went on as usual, so I traveled through the ick and the slick in the gusty winds. I didn't get an afternoon off as planned due to the weather on Wednesday, but I did get an extra half hour to plan yesterday before being surprised by an extra client in my last group of the day. Anyway... Today's topic is my collection of collections - some things that give me great joy and that I have incorporated into music therapy at times and that I continue to try to justify (even though justification is not necessary when something gives you joy!). I am a collector of things. It is part of my packrat tendencies and my generational urge to keep things that most people consider to be trash. I have lots of things that fit into different collections. I have my Disney Pop! collection, my mini brands Disney collections, my toy collections,...

I had plans for myself yesterday - an afternoon without sessions where I could do some more organizing of the spaces that I have upended due to a recent ceiling leak. I had plans that were destroyed by a storm two nights ago and slick roads. My afternoon without sessions changed into business as usual - two sessions in the middle of my afternoon. The same groups will be going on their field trip today, but I will only miss one session and will only get 30 minutes of extra preparation time due to my schedule. Sniff. Sigh. Waaaaah! So, I did my actual job yesterday - all of it. One thing I noticed a long time ago was that plans NEVER go exactly like you think they will. I have always thought of session "plans" as more like "strategies" or "suggestions," and I think it baffled some of my teachers during music therapy school. I remember getting marked down for session implementation when I rearranged the session to accommodate client responses and setting even...

It is Wednesday morning - very early. I have not been sleeping as much as I like lately. This will be helpful next Sunday when my part of the world changes to Daylight Savings Time (ugh!), but it is not really helpful right now. Last night, things were complicated by high winds and blizzardy conditions at my home. Things were wuthering all over the place, and my neighbors have a trash bin in their backyard that had a banging lid each time the wind caught it. (The wind caught it many times!) The one good thing about this particular blizzard is that my power has not gone out... yet. I am really hoping that I will not have to go out into the high winds, but schools are not closing around here. I will plan on going really slowly as I travel the 50 miles to work this morning. The winds are going at 30 miles per hour with gusts every couple of seconds that are around 60 miles per hour. I have a little car that catches every piece of wind that is out there. My job is located in a place where ...

Today, in my small part of the world, we are going to experience almost all the weather we experience - all in one day! It has already stormed and hailed. It is getting ready to thunder and then blizzard later. We're currently under two high wind warnings and a blizzard warning for the next 48 hours. What fun! The main result of all of this weather is that my body hurt really bad yesterday. It is better today because things are no longer changing - the barometric pressure is where it is and shouldn't drop much more... I hope. Yesterday, I hobbled from chair to chair because I couldn't walk without extreme pain. Today, I've been able to move with much less aches.  I am trying really hard to see a thrifty aspect to a stormy day... Let's see... I am anticipating another inclement weather day tomorrow - we will see, but signs are strong. Other than saving on gasoline for the commute, there is the physical savings that happen when you don't have to travel in inclemen...

For a long time now, I have been writing songs for thematic TMEs (therapeutic music experiences) and collecting them in my ideas book - the TME section. I haven't put them into a formal collection, but I am on the verge of getting this project started. There is lots of discussion about thematic programming in my parts of the music therapy world. There are loud voices both for and against using themes. I am neutral in the conversation - I am always for whatever makes any music therapist's life a bit easier. If you are a thematic music therapist, I would love to hear what themes are your favorites. If you are not, then do what you do and do it well! I have some themes in my clinical practice at the moment - they tend to be music education themes more than any other, but I also use my umbrella goal areas as themes for programming. As an educational enrichment specialist, I have great latitude in how I arrange my music therapy sessions, so themes help me stay organized. I tend to t...