The Online Conference for Music Therapy 2026

It is almost time.

In 11 hours and 15 minutes, the 16th Online Conference for Music Therapy will start, and it will be a 24 hour, international experience where we discuss music therapy all over the world. This is a labor of love for me - one that I got into completely by accident but that I continue because I enjoy it so much.

I am doing less of the actual conference work than I ever have before. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. I will only be the primary moderator for one session - at the very end. I am the second moderator for four sessions. Gone are the days when I had to be at every session - thank goodness! I work lots behind the scenes of the conference, so having a bit of a break from being on camera is a very good thing for me. It allows me to respond to the countless emails about "I didn't know that the conference started at my time," and "where are the links to the conference" emails that I am bombarded with during the conference itself.

There is a great team of people behind the Online Conference for Music Therapy, and that really helps as we tend to spend some time together throughout the year, planning and reviewing and coordinating. 

Unfortunately, I am feeling disconnected from all sorts of things and am having a bit of difficulty focusing on any one task. It's not easy to take things like this blog post all the way from thought to completion without getting distracted by things like "get links to those who registered late" and "when am I moderating again?" It just gets too much sometimes and my brain just skitters away.

Skittering - what a great word!

Do you see what I am up against??

The best thing about being the second moderator and not the primary moderator is that I can chase my thoughts all around the room and just tune in occasionally. That will be my saving grace. I am planning on having food from the Olive Garden this weekend - we have one in my college town now, so why not take advantage?? I may also spend some time actively cleaning my work spaces down here during presentations. I may not, but I often need to stretch and move during long conferences, so cleaning is a good way to accomplish this task while still being within arm's reach of the computer, just in case. I may work on my recent compositions and TME development - things that I can do while I am listening to people talk about music therapy.

After the conference, my duties shift immediately into continuing education mode, and I get to monitor the number of attendees who complete their certificate requirements. Lots to do, lots to do.


For now, I want to get ready for my two groups and one individual session. I have my file folder stuff ready to keep me occupied during the rest of my time. I need to develop my session strategy and write down the songs that I created yesterday. I also need to put the music into sheet music format, so I will be using my fancy ink pens to do the transcription (after I've checked it - rhythm notation is not my strongest music dictation skill) or trying to figure out how to use my music composition apps. For that, though, I need to take my laptop to work and use the guest wi-fi. I guess I could try that, but it would be so much easier not to lug stuff to and from. Oh well, if I want to learn the apps, then I have to have them with me. Learning the apps will help me with TME development which helps my clients, so it is an appropriate use of my time while at work - indirect learning leading to direct intervention for my clientele. There you go.

Time to get things together so I can head out, get gasoline, and finish my work week. After that, I will make an order, pick it up, get home, deal with attendee requests, start the conference, act as second moderator for the first two sessions, and then get some sleep. I do not have to log onto the conference until much later than usual, so I will take time in the morning to do my own tasks and meetings in between helping as the second moderator. So, I hope that you will be joining us at the conference, but if you aren't, think about attending next year. 

Time to go.

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