music, therapy, and me

I admit it, I am someone who loves this profession of music therapy. Sure, there are good things and bad things about it, but that's the way of any and all professions, so I've learned to make the bad things sting a bit less and to appreciate the good things just a bit more deeply. Here are some of the silly things that happen in my life as a music therapist that I just simply love. Having to explain myself EVERY SINGLE TIME I tell someone else what I do : Does this sound silly to you? Or is it something that makes you cringe? Having a bit of history in the profession allows me to have a bit of perspective about this process. These days, everyone has an idea about what music therapy is and should be. Many of those ideas are not entirely correct, but nobody really just stares at me with a blank expression. My old joke went something like this..."So, what do you do?" ME: "I'm a music therapist." Silence for about 6 seconds. "So, what is musical ther...

One of the things that I really try to do is to be honest about my life as a music therapist - it's not easy to admit when things don't go well, but it's important to recognize that things will not always go as planned. I am going to try something new today. Well, it's not really that new, but it will be new for music therapy for specific clients in specific sessions at my facility. Here's the big idea... CENTERS I know. Not that impressive, but the only thing that I can figure out to divide and conquer my clients who are struggling with appropriate interactions with others. We are going to do six different things during sessions today and tomorrow. I have file folder activities for one set of clients, a dice game for another set of clients, and a note hunt composition TME for the other group of clients for the first round of centers. Everyone will get out of the small, dinky, dingy music therapy room into the bright, large, high-ceilinged Discovery Center f...

UPDATE: For the record, this post is written from the viewpoint of an INTERNSHIP DIRECTOR to fellow INTERNSHIP DIRECTORS, not from an intern's point of view. I am not an intern, nor have I been an intern (as was pointed out in another conversation) since "the last century." I do, however, make an effort to talk to interns from around the country and try to keep in touch with their concerns.  For the record, I am also part of the section of AMTA that is actively seeking ways to provide internship experiences to interns in ways that are not part of "the way we always do things." We are trying to make internships more accessible, affordable, and more what people would like them to be. Please do not hesitate to contact the Association Internship Approval Committee through the AMTA website if you have comments, suggestions, constructive criticisms, and questions about how internships are provided in our current educational setting. If you are still interested, pl...

I spent some time with some music therapy students just recently, and it started me thinking about the challenges that our academicians face on a daily basis of teaching all the things students need to know about being a music therapist. All of this deep thinking led me to pondering what I expect students to be able to do when they walk into my internship. I am not making any claims about what other Internship Directors expect, but this is my thought process and hope for my interns... Functional Music Skills - this is the biggie. I want my interns to be able to play their guitars in the keys of C,D,E,A, and G. I want them to be able to play in the keys of e, d, and a minor. I want them to already know a couple of different strums and fingerpicking patterns. I want them to know how to play many different chord progressions on both the guitar and the keyboard. Period. Now, all of those skills will be strengthened during their internship, but interns need to have the basic skills as pa...

As faithful readers know, I have recently been going through the process of turning the Online Conference for Music Therapy into the Online Conference for Music Therapy, Inc. We are now officially official, and off to the races as a business entity. As I've been going through this process, I've been thinking about all the stuff I do not know about being part of a business - hence this post. Here are 5 things every music therapist should know about business (whether they are employed by a facility full-time, or heading off on their own journey of private practice)... Know about different types of business models. What type of business do you work for? What is the difference between a non-profit, not-for-profit, or for-profit model? What is the difference between an Inc and a LLC? How does the IRS differentiate between the various models? What are the ramifications for choosing one model over others? Find people to help you figure all this out. Seriously, without our att...