music, therapy, and me

Yesterday, I was so proud of myself for posting a Monday topic, but then I realized it was actually Tuesday. Ugh. That's the type of thing that runs around in my brain, even when it is just as silly as being a day off of my schedule. It is silly, but my time anxiety stretches into being incorrect about any sort of time. Once I changed the title of the post, I was able to let it go - well, sorta. This is my last official break before retirement. I managed to send off my paperwork for my pension yesterday. After I finished that task, I came home, sent off some ideas for CMTEs, figured out another CMTE situation, and then finished a book for my book challenge at my local library. Today's task is getting the glass replaced in my sliding glass door. The lawn folks kicked up a rock about a month ago that shattered the outside pane of my slider. They are coming to replace the pane today. I have to be available for 90 minutes (give or take) and have to clear the stuff right by the door...

Yesterday, I received notification that I am now a pre-approved provider through the Certification Board for Music Therapists again!! This is the second time around for me, and I am hoping that I can make this into something beneficial for me and for the music therapy community. I am beyond excited that this happened before the holidays, and I am looking forward to my first CMTE opportunity! I have plans - SO many plans - so, I am going to work on things during the next couple of weeks. It is time to get started on all of this in order to transition into the next iteration of my life!! Be on the lookout for our first CMTE offering, coming next month, especially if you are someone who works with adolescents in music therapy who are diagnosed with intellectual or developmental concerns. I can't wait!! See you soon??

This is the first year of my seventh certification cycle as a board-certified music therapist. I am going to say, right now, that I usually send in my CMTEs once per cycle, and usually at the end of year four, and that I usually spend very little money on my CMTEs. I take full advantage of all the opportunities for collecting free continuing music therapy education credits. So, if you are a MT-BC who has gone through your first certification cycle (at least), you can skip this paragraph, but if you haven't gone through a recertification process, let's talk a bit about how to get CMTEs. You do not have to pay money for every single CMTE that you have to get to continue your certification. You can get many credits for things that you might already be doing. It is always a good idea to submit things that you are not sure about because the worst thing that CBMT can say is that there is no clear link to the Board Certification Domains. The good news is that almost everything that yo...

This post may come across as a bit ranty - mainly because I am always surprised at what my interns do and do not know about the Certification Board for Music Therapists and also because I am continually confused by some of the things that happen with CBMT as a certificant and a pre-approved provider. Here is a list of things that I wish interns knew about CBMT before they become interns (Ahem, I'm looking at you, music therapy professors...): There are more costs to being board certified than just the cost for the examination. This goes back to my own foray into the world of board certification. I wondered why I was getting a bill for maintenance fees. No one had mentioned that there was an annual cost to being a MT-BC. No one seems to mention that to current students, either. I understand why this happens, but I was not prepared for those costs. I try my best to tell interns about this extra cost. Almost everyone is surprised by this additional financial requirement. Why? It is n...

I was offered an interesting opportunity recently that has made me start to think a bit about our Board Certification examination. No details about the opportunity, but I am thinking again... Before I get too far into this particular topic, let me tell you a bit about myself and where I come from as a board certified music therapist. I took the examination in November 1993. In those days, back in the last century, the test was administered once per year. You had to go to the closest examination center where you sat in a room full of people taking all sorts of certification tests. There weren't many music therapists in the large auditorium that my test was held, but all of the seats were full of people taking all sorts of tests. I am a fast test taker, and I finished my test in 20 minutes. I was terrified that I had failed because it did not take me any time at all to finish, but I passed. I have no idea if I passed well, but I passed and that is all that matters for this examinatio...

I have spent some of this morning updating my website with information about my new CMTE course. ( Check it out here - tickets to the live event go on sale on October 27th! There are only 24 seats available. End of sales pitch!) While I was paying the fee for the course, I took some time to print out three copies of the new CMTE Options Overview Chart. I am so excited about some of the changes. I now get 10 CMTEs for five of the interns I supervise!! This is so much better than the 4 I was getting before with a lower cap as to how many credits I could use!! I can now get more credit for the presentations that I give on a regular basis!! I am so excited about these changes! We can now earn 5 CMTEs per music composition! Oh my goodness! I can get credit for a self-published book!!! I am so pleased with the new opportunities available to me. This is great!! I am now going to sit down and start to calculate my current hours based on what I've been doing since my recertification la...

Yesterday morning, I was inspired to make a short video (I call them "Music Therapy Morsels") about something I realized about the Board Certification Examination. This video doesn't take much time, but if you are a student who is wondering about this exam, please take a look at this and let me know what you think about what I think about this important part of our music therapy lives! If you are a professional and are interested, please feel free to watch this as well. I'd be interested to see if you agree with my interpretation of the examination's purpose... I post these Music Therapy Morsels occasionally on my YouTube channel - if you'd like to be notified when I do, subscribe and click on the bell to receive notifications! See you all tomorrow, I'm off to a 12-hour work day and my part-time job!!

I recently re-upped my membership in the World Federation of Music Therapy . I have to admit that I haven't been a member for a long time, but I decided it was something that I need to do as a music therapist in the world. I am also a certificant of the Certification Board for Music Therapists and a professional member of the American Music Therapy Association as well. My memberships with those last two organizations have been constant (while my membership with the World Federation has not been steady at all) because I find that membership is important. I am of the opinion that if I don't join, then I have no leg to stand on when it comes to changing what these organizations do to represent my profession. Nothing frustrates me more than someone complaining that "AMTA doesn't do enough to..." and then mentioning that they aren't members. (By the way, I feel the same way about voting in our quasi-democratic process of governance - if you don't bother t...

I read a comment on one of my social media pages from a person who is attending conference as an MT-BC for the very first time. This person was a bit confused by the idea of umbrella groupings (as I have been in the past) and was asking questions about how they even worked. So, I rolled up my sleeves and answered the question. Here's the deal. Umbrella groupings are our opportunity to select presentations that support our individual continuing education needs. So, I get to choose, attend, and justify my selections for as many CMTEs as I can possibly get during the conference. Umbrella groupings are one of the sneaky little things that we MT-BCs can take advantage of to glean as many CMTEs as possible from our conference fees. Basically, if you can justify your presentation attendance and demonstrate learning that directly applies to the CBMT Board Certification Domains, you can get extra CMTEs. For example, my presentation selections seem to be primarily based on private pr...

I am relieved this morning that someone that I voted for won yesterday's election. I find it very frustrating to live in a state where my vote is ALWAYS in the minority. It makes the exercise of voting seem futile at times, but I still vote. I still find it to be a small thing that I can do to participate in my country's bigger picture. That's all that I want to say about voting and politics because I find voting to be a very private process and that's it. Participating in our voting process always makes me think about how we attempt to regulate or watch or oversee or manipulate or what's another good word other people to do what we want them to do. I like the idea of checks and balance as a desirable outcome for governing. I like that idea for ethical behavior and therapeutic interactions as well. How does this work in the music therapy world? I am a member of my professional organization. This is one of the first steps that I take to ensure that I am doing w...

I just spent some time on the CBMT website , getting my recertification process underway. (If you don't know what the CBMT website is, then PLEASE click the link to find out more about board certification and what we music therapists have to do in order to continue to be music therapists!) I sat down with my vita, my certificates, and my presentation powerpoints and put in all of my activities. I have never had a problem finding things to use for my 100 hours of activities, and I always have things that I could put on my credits that I don't because I don't need to do so. I take advantage of free courses at conferences, I write my own songbooks, so I get lots of possible credits there (didn't have to use any this time around), and I present all the time. I also do service for several music therapy organizations. I attend conferences and have made training for myself outside the world of music therapy a priority for myself during the next five years. This is the fir...

I received my official letter approving me as a pre-approved provider through the Certification Board for Music Therapists yesterday. I am official. I am P-165 ! This has been an idea that's been rattling around in the back of my head for a long, long time. Now it is time to coordinate and get things moving. I am trying for an August 1 launch date for my first menu of course offerings. As a result, I need to start my recordings and get all of my content organized and up and going. It is time to move forward. I am going to spend time in the next several weeks generating content and organizing the website to make this work. It's time. The first step? Doing the asynchronous recordings and generating the demonstration elements. Second step? Configuring the website. Third step? Advertising and marketing! After that, we'll get going. Gotta go to work for an extra long day due to the need for a 44-hour workweek this week, so that's all for now! I am P-165 !

Here's an update on the music room debacle of Tuesday. I am not moving out. "I hadn't even thought about how much it would cost to recarpet the room. We just put in the new flooring." Followed with, "We're anticipating that our census is going up, so that space will be needed as a classroom really soon." I had the opportunity to express my emotions about the entire situation, and now it's finished. Whew. I have to sit down with the CBMT Scope of Practice (or whatever it's called now) and come up with the learner objectives for the AIAC course. Ah, it's called the Scope of Music Therapy Practice , and I'm diving in tonight in order to complete several tasks. I just got really used to the last scope, and now there is a new thing to learn. I'm up for the challenge. Well, that didn't do what I needed. Turns out, I need the Board Certification Domains . Something else to learn. Oh boy. Now I know what I'm doing. Here we go, the...

After many years as a music therapist, I have started to think about what I wish I had known about being a music therapist when I was starting out. Here is that list - the top 7 things that I wish someone had told me about music therapy: Sometimes you have to choose - job or location. You often can't get both. If you want a music therapy job rather than anything else, you will probably have to relocate. If you want to live in a specific place, you may not be able to find a music therapy job. If you can go anywhere, you can find a music therapy job. Music theory is important. I once asked a bunch of interns for the advice they would give to almost interns. Almost unanimously, they said, "Don't sell your theory book back!" I laughed at that truth. The one thing that I use on a daily basis is music theory. There is a reason we take those courses - primarily, our clients are our reason. To become effective music therapists, we often have to use music theory to write ...

It is that time again... CBMT recertification time! I sent off my application for recertification this morning in the wee small hours of the morning. This is the fifth time that I've done this process, and I can tell you that I am happy to do so each time. I feel that being board-certified is an important part of being a music therapist. I have never thought otherwise. I've worked with people who have not felt that being certified was important. It baffled me that a professional would not want to keep up with changes in their profession. It continues to baffle me. There are many arguments - I can't seem to get my 100 hours done. Really? It's only 20 hours per year, and I can get hours for every required training that I have to take at work already. I can get hours for CPR/First Aid, Behavior Crisis Management Training, and other requirements once per cycle. Go to a conference - 5 automatic credits. Present - another bunch of credits. Attend a course - more and mo...