Tuesday - Ugh, It's Tuesday

Y'all, I FINALLY got to see my Monday groups, and they were not having it! 

I forgot that my Monday groups are usually ones who struggle with being in music therapy - the "I'm too cool for everything" adolescents. You know the ones - they just sit and stare. No active interaction, slouching in their chairs, and not wanting to work or play or do anything that might ruin their reputations. I can usually con them into interaction in one way or another, and yesterday was no exception. By the end of the session, they were playing instruments and making some noise as part of a dragon parade. 

That session led into two others back-to-back that were also not really feeling the whole Monday thing. No one was engaging in behaviors of concern, but no one was really engaged in what I was dishing out either. I do not think that today's groups will be any different.

I am in a strange place in my life that I have never been before. I am on the cusp of leaving the daily interactions that have sustained my professional existence for the past 33 years. I am still, though, working with clients who deserve to have a music therapist who is completely dedicated to their therapeutic goals. It is a strange place to be. I am having to decide if what I am planning and making happen is something for now or for later, and it is weird.

I made a dragon face yesterday, getting ready for my sessions. It is made out of construction paper and velcro, and I laminated it for use in the future (whatever that future ends up being...). I debated whether I should bother, but I decided that it would enrich the narrative that I was presenting. So, I created it. I laminated it, and I used it with my first group of the day. They were unimpressed, but they did it. I will use that visual with my other groups on Wednesday when they return. We will try a parade, but I want to get a visual for it first. I want to give all of my clients something to understand, so that means a visual to support the auditory information and the physical interaction of the dragon and the instruments that we will play.

I have not written this down as a formal Therapeutic Music Experience yet, but I will need to do this while I am thinking about it. My February box will include the paper dragon face that I made yesterday. I also have some groundhog things to put in that box. February is getting full, which is nice. I want to put in some resources for the various President days and increase my Valentine's Day resources as well, but that can wait. For now, I am focusing on what I am doing, so it is time to start writing things down.

This is a practice that I have not engaged in for some time. I haven't stopped putting TMEs together, but I haven't been writing them down. After OCMT is over, I will focus on this quest a bit more. Writing TMEs to share with others.

That reminds me, look up the Online Conference for Music Therapy to find information on how you can get 15-22 CMTEs while learning about the state of music therapy practice from around the world!

See you there!

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