Songwriting Sunday: Themed TMEs

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 think of themes as either categorical or goal-focused. Categorical themes might be things like "the letter P" or "the 1960's" or "cats." Goal-focused themes might include "lower extremity strengthening" or "letter recognition" or "anger management."  I am currently focused more on the former category - categorical themes - at the moment, just because it is more challenging for me.

When I sit down to write songs based on a specific theme, I tend to start with looking at music from other composers and performers that support the theme. It always amazes me how many songs have been written about every word I can come up with in my brain! Each search helps me to figure out what is out there that can be used in sessions and what I can contribute.

As I search, I write down anything I can think of that goes along with the word or theme that I am examining. Those thoughts become lyrics and get me started with my compositions. I almost always start with words when composing like this.

After the words start to make sense within the music framework, I start to think about therapeutic goals and desired outcomes. I write the lyrics, think about what clients could work on during the shared music experience, and then write down all the therapeutic domains addressed during the TME. I finish up by writing the TME and publishing it in whatever sing about songs edition it matches the best. 

All in all, it takes lots of time, thought, and effort to put together thematic sessions. I like using a combination of songs composed by me, songs composed by others, and songs from other artists when making my session strategies. I often use goal categories to focus what we do with the music I use (both original and by others) during the session. I might use the same theme for all of my groups, but what I am doing with the music is significantly different and is tailored to fit the clients who are part of each group. So, I might have a song about emotions that I use with my non-speaking clients in a way that is very different from my clients who speak. The song is the setting event, what we do with the song can be very different based on what the client needs in the moment of the experience.

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