music, therapy, and me

I am struggling with all sorts of things on this Tuesday morning. I am not really wanting to get going to work. I really want to spend time doing things other than work, but I don't know what those things are. I just know that I don't want to put on outside clothing right now. I think I got used to being home during my recuperation and am now wanting that to be the reality. Ten more months to go until things will change around here. So, Tuesdays are five group days. I have two groups in the morning and three groups in the afternoon. This is a relatively new schedule for me on Tuesdays, and I am still having to remind myself that I have three groups in the afternoons. Fortunately, the third afternoon group is one that seems to enjoy being in music therapy, so it makes the addition something pleasant. I have melody writing on my schedule for this week during the school year, but I'm not really all that excited about writing melodies. One thing I know is that I do not tend to ...

I am struggling to get up and get going this morning. Not because of anything about work or "that client" (who made it through a choice session without a peep!) or anything stressful or medical or anything, but just because. When I woke from a deep sleep last night, I cried because the light was on, but I was so tired still. I lounged in my bed until an hour after I woke up because I just couldn't bring myself to get up. I am paying for that now. This is the first time in a long time that the morning temperatures are refreshing rather than hot and humid. It is a glimpse that autumn is coming, and I am all for it, but it also plays havoc on my sleep patterns. This post will be short and sweet because I will have to leave for work pretty soon. This week is our Musicians of the Month and leisure skill development week. We are using different instruments after we listen to music by performers born in this month. I am working on showing my clients that there are options for le...

Forgive my interrupted posting schedule. I am simply trying to figure out some things in my life, and this interruption is part of the figuring out part. I am at the end of this figuring out part, and that is a good feeling. I know where I will go in my near future, and that makes me feel happy. Sorry for being so vague, but I cannot talk more about this topic. It is something that involves others besides just me, but there is something nice about being certain in my future, so there you go. For now, I am enjoying an opportunity to turn my attention towards something that I really want to pursue in our field - competency-based clinical training. I spent some time putting together a notebook with each of the AMTA Professional Competencies on a separate page. I intend to use this to parse out the competencies across all clinical training opportunities that music therapy students encounter in their preinternship and internship clinical training. It may sound funny, but I really believe t...

Forgive me as I start a new pattern - I hope I'll be able to keep it up for some time here. Tuesdays will now be Therapeutic Music Experiences (TME) Tuesdays. I'll share something to do with clients each week on Tuesdays... Here we go. TME #1 during this new venture - drum roll please... Rhythm Wheels! For a full TME plan, check out the Ideas and Experiences page on my website: www.musictherapyworks.com . (Give me a day or two to get it all finished up, please.)  I use these wheels to explain the concept of rhythm, measures, and music notation to my clients. Each piece is proportional to every other piece - in other words, the eighth notes are half the size of the quarter notes, the quarter notes are half the size of the half notes, and so on. The visual aspect offers my clients with a concrete representation of an abstract concept - the duration of notes in relation to the other notes. My clients assemble a wheel using randomly colored note pieces and white rest pieces...