music, therapy, and me

So, here is the deal. I have come up with a system to boost my creativity when it comes to writing therapeutic music experiences (TMEs). Of course, I can't upload the video file that I just put together to get you to see what I'm talking about, so this entire post is just a practice in futility. Ugh. Anyway, my dice have dictated that I write a chant that focuses on motor skill development, in an AB form, using Orff/Keyboard instruments, for the month of November, and working additionally on oral motor and speech skills. I also rolled that I should do things in the key of F, but that has nothing to do with a chant, so that dice result is moot! (Thank goodness!) Gak! While this has been a good way to help spur my creativity when it comes to writing TMEs, this is not the best time to be engaging in this practice. I will work on it a bit more this afternoon after my five sessions are finished. I tweaked my finger (the one that's been broken twice by clients) yesterday. I will ...

I am a music therapist who gets creative blocks at times, and that fact just annoys me. I do not like it when I cannot create something just whenever I want or need to do so, and I have explored many different ways to spur my creativity over my many years as a music therapist. The other day, I grabbed a set of Dungeons and Dragons dice at Five Below. I have followed several people on various social media platforms who use these to make decisions - I especially enjoy Roll for Sandwich - check it out! I thought that this could be a good format for me, and I turned it into a couple of therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) already! Now, I have released this as a free resource in my TPT store . (It will not always be free - get it now!!) You have to have an account in TPT to access the information, but signing up is free and there are tons of free resources that music therapists can use and adapt.  Here's how it works. I have determined a criterion for each die value. Each die has a diff...

Have you ever had your creative and intellectual property stolen by someone? I have, and it was devastating! Someone passed off a song that they learned at their internship (which was my internship as well) as their own in a professional conference presentation. I couldn't believe that they stole my song by taking credit for it when it was complimented, but I heard her say, "Thanks, I wrote that song in my internship." Nope. I WROTE THAT SONG IN MY INTERNSHIP! I graduated before this person started, but it was MY SONG, not hers! As a result of that one comment where someone took credit for something that belonged to me, I have been a voracious defender of copyright protections ever since. I strive to find the original sources for every song that I use in my sessions. This is because I always remember that situation and do not want to take credit for something that is not mine to begin with. So, I am a bit of a researcher into copyright issues and how to avoid complication...

I am currently working on a coping skills song - one that explains a bit about what that catch phrase has come to mean in therapy for folks who do not always understand these things. I have finished the chorus, but the verses are taking a bit more of my time. I want this song to explain something because my students seem to hate the phrase, "use your coping skills" and often escalate into bigger behaviors of concern when that phrase is used during the upward climb of the crisis cycle. I find that we do not explain what we mean with this phrase well enough for our clients to understand what we do when we need to find our patience with daily annoyances. This has made me think about my personal coping skills and how I am frustrated quite a bit by work these days. That is neither here nor there this morning, though. This is a day off, and I am going to focus on my "Next Step" plan today - well, that and the dishes that really need to be washed and the broken dishwasher....

So, as you know if you have been reading my blog for some time, I have a way that I organize my ideas into therapeutic music experiences (TMEs - my verbiage for the things that I do with my clients during our sessions). It is a way that helps me reflect on my processes, music and use of musical elements, and how I can assist my clients in reaching their goals. This form and process has changed over the years - stretched to accommodate my understanding of music as a therapeutic medium as well as contracting to change how I present said ideas to others. It continues to do so, but the basic structure is the same. For today's post, I am showing you how I explain this process to other music therapists. This is a written medium, so it seems a bit dry when reading, but I hope that this resource offers you some insight into what each section means for me when I am sitting down to design TMEs for my clients and for other clients out in the world. Comments, reactions, and questions are alway...

Every so often, I am reminded that simple is often better than elaborate. Sure, visual aids are wonderful for reinforcing concepts and assisting with comprehension, but my feeling is that any therapeutic music experience has to be able to work without those aids. Visuals are to enhance the music, not take over for it. If the music doesn't work without the visual aid, then the music becomes the secondary therapeutic medium - an enhancement, if you will. This week, we are listening to the music of performers born in this month. We have been also playing instruments. I have been selecting the instruments this week rather than letting my clients pull whatever they want from the cabinets, and I've picked some strange ones as well as some really cool instruments that are often overlooked. After a very short demonstration for the unfamiliar instruments, we go into selecting songs and playing instruments. I do not use any visual aids in this part of our interaction, but the next part, ...

When putting together a therapeutic music experience (TME), I always strive for a complete, well-thought out, and stimulating plan. I want something that my clients will complete, even if they think it is stupid to begin with. I want something that will help my clients move towards their therapeutic outcomes. I want something that I enjoy as well. So, I have a formula to help me accomplish these things. Now, just because I have this formula doesn't mean that I hit the mark every single time on every single statement offered in the paragraph above this one. This formula, though, means that I am thinking about what I produce and share with my clients, so nothing is a bad thing. Formula element #1 - There are no wrong ideas - only things that don't work right now. This is important because any creative impulse is valuable. My attitude has become "this might not be right for this group of clients, but it will work with others someday." So, if an idea for a great GIM sessi...

Here it is, Tuesday again, and I am sitting here wondering what I am going to write about. Tuesdays are reserved for therapeutic music experience (TME) development, so here goes. I am a good improviser, but I forget what I improvised pretty much as soon as I am finished with the improvisation process. I will think, "wow, this is really working. I need to remember this song," and as soon as I change to something else in the clinic, my mind refuses to remember the music - all of it! As a result, I have had to learn to release those clinical improvisations as music therapy moments that are fleeting and not meant to be captured. It always makes me a bit sad when I hit on something that is really working with my clients that I cannot replicate afterwards, but I still cannot remember... All of this is just a prelude to the topic for today - writing things down. I have been writing TME ideas down for my entire music therapy career - preprofessional learning mode as well as professio...

Here I sit - again - staring at a blinking cursor on my computer screen as I scramble for something to write about. You know what? I am just going to go back to what I know the best - talking about writing therapeutic music experiences (TMEs and my selection for what to call what I do with my clients during sessions) and making sure that others can replicate those TMEs with their clients. So, TME Tuesday is returning - at least for today. I will try to make this a thing, but my brain is not tracking themes for writing very well at the moment. (It is now on a super-sticky post-it note on my monitor - that usually helps - super-sticky post-its are a wonderful invention for my brain and organizational needs!)   It has been some time since I created something completely new, from scratch, and then written it down so I could replicate it. I tend to engage in lots of improvisation in my work, but those songs just evaporate when I try to write them down. As such, I have to write things do...

I teach in a school setting. My clients are not easy to teach and often have aggression and significant difficulties with communication of emotions, wants, and needs. They often have not had many positive experiences in school settings and come to us for specialized special education services. One of those services is educational enrichment music therapy services. Being an educational enrichment therapist means that I see every student for an hour per week. I do not have IEP goals for clients - music therapy is not considered a related service at my facility - I do not have to do eligibility assessments because every student is automatically eligible for music therapy just by being admitted to the school. All of this is just to give you a glimpse into my facility and how I operate before I head into my current sessions. Part of what I do in my sessions is introduce my clients to some general music education concepts because many of my clients have never been allowed to engage with inst...

When I first started TME Tuesdays, I wanted to share ideas and get comments and interact with other music therapists who were interested in providing music therapy ideas and experiences with clients that were new and different. I wanted to create community, but then I got cranky. When I was a part of Music Therapists [Aren't] United  (the additional word is completely mine and mine alone), one of the people posting went on a rant about gatekeeping and how music therapists should just give things away to younger music therapists rather than expecting to be paid for TME ideas, visual aids, business advice, etc. I got angry at that because I feel that we should be paid for the work that we do. I don't believe that I should give away my hard work to everyone and anyone just because they feel that they want to take it. There is a difference between sharing with someone and someone just taking from you without reciprocation. That is when I stopped publishing my therapeutic music expe...

It is TME Tuesday again, and I am going to head to work - reluctantly because my bed is more inviting than the thought of leaving it to go to be around other people. That is typical for me. I like sleeping so much more than working, but working is what I need to do in order to have a bed to sleep in, so I will haul my body to my car for a day of work. (I blame President's Day for this malaise this week - I HATE Monday holidays!) I will go reluctantly into this work week. Tomorrow is a 12-hour day at work - full day of work with kids and then additional professional development after school. I have to leave early because I have my Wednesday night job to get to, but I am hoping that it will be "work on your own" time that I will make up. Anyway, today is the first work day of the week. I have about 10 minutes to write this before my time anxiety will take over and make me jumpy. That brings me to today's topic - overcoming my tendencies to not do something because I am ...