music, therapy, and me

It is Monday again, and I am watching a British sewing show as I am sitting here. There is a stack of file folders waiting lamination, but I am not really all that interested in laminating at the moment. I could get through the stack pretty quickly, but I think I will wait until this afternoon to get this part of my project finished. Laminating folders is a good task when my brain and body are tired. I can just sit, watch television, and feed folders through the laminating machine. These folders are not for me. They are not something I will use in my sessions at my current facility. They are for a teacher who has specific goals for these folders. One of the things that I do during my planning/preparation time at work is make these things for others. So, I have a stack of large safety signs that I am making in large and mini versions. When I am making visuals, I always try to make them in file folder size and both larger than that and smaller than that as well. My thinking behind having...

One of the things that I enjoy is developing therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) which happens to be the term that I like for what I do with my clients during sessions. Others call these things interventions or applications or modules. I am currently designing TMEs to go along with a book that I bought at Thriftbooks.com. It is my goal to have one book organized with TMEs to go along with it for each month of the year. The first one is getting started, and I am revisiting my TME process and refining it all. So, let's catch up about this. I started writing TMEs (we didn't call them that back in 1989, by the way - we called them applications - I didn't like that term very much, even back then, but I didn't argue) in my second semester of music therapy education. We had to come up with 25 things to do with music therapy clients during the semester. It was rough to create that many ideas, but I did it. I wrote down my ideas on 4X6 inch index cards. I still have them, of co...

I had lots of energy yesterday - don't know why and REALLY want to replicate that energy for always - so I finished several file folders that were just sitting and waiting for Velcro. That's all that they needed - Velcro on the folders, and they were finished. These are not resources for my students (who I get to work with again, starting today!), because they are just a bit too kid-like, but they will go into my resource room and inventory because they are finished.   I also loaded the dishwasher, went to pick up groceries for this week, read a book, ripped CDs to the computer, alphabetized the CD covers in the case, cooked a bit, made chicken salad with cranberries and almonds, and other things that I have neglected a bit. I am hoping that I will be able to walk when I get home after work, but who knows. I had absolutely no problem with my knees the entire time I was home, but now that I am back at work, I am hobbling around like my knees are 90 years old. I have no idea what...

Monday has come around again, and it is the last Monday that I have off before the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Next Monday is my first day with kids after being off for over a month due to medical issues that are continuing even after surgery. We now know more about what is happening inside my body, and it doesn't seem all that great. I go to my primary person today to cover some things that are concerning me - high blood pressure, falling, etc., but that is a topic for another day. Today's topic is laminating. I am a big fan of lamination. My clients tend to be juicy, so it is a good idea to cover things in plastic that can withstand some Clorox wiping (or LOTS of Clorox wiping). So, I enjoy covering visual aids in plastic.  When I was an intern, it was often my job to cover visuals in clear Contact paper. Now, I HATE Contact paper because it was my job to cover visuals during my internship. I swear that stuff sees me coming and instantly starts to fold, wrinkle, and s...

Monday has rolled around again. I am waiting for my sister to call me while she drives to work, and I am sitting here. I spent some time making things this weekend. I finished a digital file for my TPT store - Olympics . I started all of that last summer when the Olympics was going on, but I finished the file yesterday! It is up and going on my TPT store, so take a peek! It features a choice board, color and black and white visuals for as many sports (men and women) as I could find, and some other boards to use with my sing about the olympics book (also sold in my TPT store). Let me know if you get it. I always am seeking feedback from people who try my stuff. I also spent a little bit of time working on my art journal pages. Yesterday, I showed you the background pages that we completed during my class on Saturday. I finished one of them (I think - you never know with an art journal page...) yesterday. I took the page that I started with a rice paper print of books on shelves and fini...

I am back to wanting to do thematic blogging for some of the days of the week on this blog. Mondays used to be internship focused but I no longer have an internship, so I have stopped writing on that topic. Since I am not in the internship world anymore, I feel like writing about it is sort of hypocritical. So, I am trying to get back into a routine of writing thematic posts at least three times per week.  These themes have to be things that interest me about the world of music therapy, but I am not really in the world of music therapy at this point. All I can really talk about is what it is like to be a vintage clinician, and I think that would get boring real quick for me and for you. So, let's see what else I know... Therapeutic Music Experience development Group management Being a clinician in a world that favors research Budgeting for a music therapy practice Becoming an entrepreneur Making things for clients Some music therapy history Music therapy systems that work for me Wa...

It is Saturday, and I am back to blogging after a three day hiatus. I haven't blogged lately just because. I have no excuse except I just dinna wanna write anything. I have also not done anything on my #100DayChallenge since last Saturday, so I haven't been very productive outside of doing my regular work practices. I am trying to be okay with that, but there is always a little bit of self-criticism and flagellation in the back of my head. My goblins come out to play. I am officially on Spring Break at this moment. The entire break is before me at this point, and I am going back into old habits of establishing so many goals and objectives that I may not be motivated to accomplish. I have a home repair scheduled for Monday and a home evaluation on Friday but nothing else to take up my time, so I am on my own for filling up the week. One of the self-critical moments that I had yesterday (while in the midst of low-grade anxiety about my fingers and having to physically assist stud...

This foray into my past was both fun and interesting. Past me had so many plans that were interrupted, but that's okay. The interruption was not personal - it was a global pandemic. ANYWAY - here's the post - December 10, 2019 .  I like making things, but what I like even more is making things that other people use in their music therapy work. I have a TPT store (that is Teachers Pay Teachers, but they rebranded), and I like making things to use in music therapy sessions. I didn't go into content creation to make money, so everything is very inexpensive for others. The products I write about in the post are available along with many others. Lately, I have not been making new things. I am in a bit of a depressed mode at the moment. This happens to me every so often, and this current mood has been influenced by a broken finger and limitations on what I can do with my hands. My brain has been languishing while my body is healing. I stopped making physical file folders and book...

As you know, I am working on strengthening the communication options that my clients can access during music therapy sessions by reworking my binder system. I made some progress yesterday towards my goal, but found that the ideas that I had about putting together said binders just didn't work, so I am not finished, and I am back to the beginning. Let me tell you a bit more... Yesterday, before I left for work, I printed out seven copies of my binder pages. I put together this project about a year ago when I was part of the Berklee Music Education and Special Needs course, but I haven't made the time to put those binders together. In the past, I have used regular three-ring binders to store my initial communication pages. Each binder tends to last about three months before it is completely ruined by my clients. I have a couple of clients who will walk out of their way when they enter the music therapy room to walk on top of the binders. If the binders are not on the floor when t...

I am going to try a new series of posts - we will see if it takes off in any way, but here we go... Now, I am really pretty good at making up series titles for things, but I am not as good at keeping up with them, but we will try it anyway. Today's change up in topics is brought to you courtesy of the Dollar Tree where I dropped a cool $60 this morning, buying things for my upcoming trip and spending money on books for kids and all that stuff. It is also brought to you courtesy of Kathy Schumacher over at Tuneful Teaching. ( You can find her on Instagram using this link. ) She recently released a cute visual aid for free, so go check her out!! I realized that I make all sorts of things, but I rarely share them for others to see, so this is the day that I will try to get some of this stuff out into the world for others to enjoy. Of course, I am making this decision with little to no plans or action steps or anything, but you know, that is how I roll these days. (Don't believe me...

I had a good day yesterday. I did two loads of laundry (one was bedding), went grocery shopping, wrote a bunch of ideas down for my new project, and watched lots of television. I am currently enjoying some British quiz shows and doughnuts. I have been craving doughnuts lately, so this was my major impulse buy yesterday when I went to the grocery store and actually went into the store. That's one of the problems with going into the store - the doughnuts are right there. (Now, I am writing doughnuts because that's what's on the package of the box that I bought. Usually, I would just order so the temptation is not as strong, but I felt that I needed to go out and be people-adjacent (masked and everything safe), so off I went! It was raining early in the morning (my favorite time to go grocery shopping), and I set out. It continued to rain until I had brought in the trash cans and unloaded the groceries and then it cleared up and got HOT! I remained in my home for the rest of t...

"My creativity is back." This was a comment that I heard yesterday which just warmed my heart immensely. Creativity is such a part of being a music therapist that it is so heartening when it flourishes in our brains and our professional practices. The lack of creativity might lead to feelings of inadequacy, or stagnation, or failure. It is amazing how much a spark can help. I live through ups and downs in my own creative mood and abilities. They are not uncommon for me any more - the dips and waves of creativity are things that I have learned to expect, respect, and work through. When I heard that comment yesterday, I felt less alone in my own process of being a music therapist. It's amazing how much validation we can find when we hear that others experience the same sort of things that we go through. One of the things that I like the best about being a music therapist is the creativity that goes along with presenting music to other people. I take it a couple of steps bey...

I spent a couple of hours making a journal yesterday. I am also currently making some leprechaun rhythm cards and puzzles for use in my March sessions. (If you are interested, here are the links to my Leprechaun Puzzles and my Lucky, Lucky Leprechaun Rhythm Cards in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. The files are low cost to you, and I get a little bit of money if you purchase the files.) The journal is a work in progress. It has 160 pages of 24 pound weight paper (left over from my thesis and just sitting there in a box, so I thought, "make a journal!"). It is based on a tropical theme because I just got some tropical scrapbook paper, and I felt an urge. Making a book is something that helps me concentrate, relax, create. I start with a piece of cardstock or cardboard, and I turn it into something new and functional. I get to figure out how to match papers. I get to decide if the papers are stitched into the book or can be removed and replaced. I get to decide if I add pocke...

One of my constant quests is to be more organized in all sorts of ways. I am a bit better about being organized in my music therapy professional life than I am in my personal life, but I am striving to be better. The recent change in my life of moving to place with a dedicated room large enough for my music therapy office and my crafting studio is leading me to rearrange my world significantly. I am trying to think about what I want to be doing as well as how my practices will affect my organization. I also want my organization to affect my practices, so... Lots of thinking going on around here. Yesterday was a day of rest after the angst of Wednesday and the unpacking start of Thursday. I spent most of yesterday watching vapid television and reading books rather than doing anything of import. I did figure out that the spare remote control that I have that doesn't work probably needs to be reprogrammed and then it should work. I ordered some gifts for Christmas for my mom and my si...