Make It Monday: Task Analyses

I am currently organizing my Creativity Camp packets for Creativity Camp 2026. If you don't know, this is my latest CMTE offering to the music therapy community, especially those who like making things for their music therapy sessions. Part of the CMTE is a digital kit with instructions and all the information needed to make several projects. Right now, I am going through the task analyses of each project and writing them down to include in the digital kit.

Task analyses were something that we focused on when I was in my undergraduate education, and it was something that I struggled with at every turn. Some of my peers were able to do them quickly, and I was able to do it when I was simply writing an analysis - we had to do one on taking a shower. That was easy. My difficulty came when I was expected to write these analyses for clinical interventions. I think I was bogged down more on the "what-ifs" than just writing things.

This was my major struggle during my clinical practica. I had session plan after session plan returned to me with comments about how I was not writing the procedure section of my therapeutic music experiences (we didn't call them that back then, though - they were applications) correctly and to fix it. That was it, no other guidance other than "fix it." I literally took the example that was in the practicum handbook and changed the elements to make it work for the TME I was designing, and I STILL had to "fix it."

I struggled with this and struggled with it until I started my senior year and realized that what I needed to write was a flow chart.

Once I had that concept in my head, I had no more difficulties with my procedure sections. I knew what they wanted, so I was able to complete the task with no further issues. I spent most of that year wondering why no one had been able to explain what they wanted in ways that I understood.

Now, I can write task analyses without fear or dread, but it took some time before I returned to that comfort level.

I made a digital file for Creativity Camp 2026 - if you are interested in learning more about making your own visual aids to supplement your music therapy interventions, then consider joining us. It should be fun, and you will know that every project that is shared has a detailed task analysis behind it that is available to you!