music, therapy, and me

It is Tuesday again, and that means it is time for another Teachers Pay Teachers post about my shop and the resources that I provide for your use! Rather than highlight a specific resource today, I am going to write a bit about how I get things ready for you!! If you don't know, Teachers Pay Teachers is a free membership site where creators sell learning resources to teachers. In the interest of full disclosure, Teachers Pay Teachers does not pay me anything to talk about the site here on my blog, but I do get a small piece of every file that you buy on my site. It's not much because I try to keep my prices low for other music therapists. This site is amazing. There are so many creators offering all sorts of resources that I can find just about any sort of visual aid that I want or need. Since I like making visual aids, moving into digital visual aid creation was something that fascinated me. So, I started to figure out how to translate my not-so-digital visuals into a digital...

I LOVE it when someone wants a specific visual to go along with a therapeutic music experience (TME) that they have in mind. The next file highlighted in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and post series is the result of just such a situation. I am an internship director and in that role, I come across interns with a wide variety of experiences and interests. One of my recent interns had found the Pete the Cat stories and was interested in developing some TMEs to go along with some of the books. Now, I don't know this story at all, but when my intern mentioned the book, I started thinking about some of my own shoe songs and this file came into being.  As always, this file includes an original song for you to use in your music therapy sessions. I love it, and I hope that your clients will enjoy it as well.

It is Tuesday again, and I am ready to highlight my Teachers Pay Teachers store once again. Instead of going over one of my visual aids, I thought I would feature my forms today. These forms have several different functions, specifically for internship directors and supervisors and music therapy clinicians to help with strategizing and strengthening their use of music in sessions. This is a direct glimpse into how my brain works - don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but it is a thing, so here it goes! I like forms. I like having them, but I have rarely found what I want or need from many of the forms that are part of being a music therapist. The National Roster Internship Site Evaluation that is offered by the AIAC? Adequate, but not exactly what I needed at my national roster internship, so I made my own (not part of these files...yet!). I have done that with lots of materials and forms - made my own or made newer or more functional versions of those things.  Are yo...

Here it is, Tuesday again, and I am reeling after my Monday back at work. Today, however, is reserved for showing off products from my Teachers Pay Teachers store , so here it goes... Introducing, Music Notation Cards!! Okay, it's not all that exciting, but this is one of those things that I have found very useful in my life as a music therapist. I work with many adolescents who resist the thought of making any sort of music in a public manner who sit alongside those who feel that they are the next Billie Eilish - just waiting to be discovered in my music therapy clinic. I have found that having some non-sound related therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) can help coax those who do not want to engage in musicking to actually do something with me as their therapist. So, I have lots of games that I have adapted into TMEs for use with those types of students. These music notation cards form the foundation for some of these games. As far as ideas go, this one is not the most complex of...

It is time to toot my horn (and, coming from a cornet player, that isn't a joke!). It is Tuesday!! Some of my clients just understand what it is we are doing if I present it in a visual format. Others do not, but some need the visual input to figure out what it is I am singing about, so I use visuals for many of my therapeutic music experiences (TMEs). Now, I don't always have the money to spend on other files on Teachers Pay Teachers (great source for visuals of ALL sorts). As a result, I often make my own visuals and then post them on TPT so that other people can use them. Also, it is not all that common to find too much centering around my client's goal of moving through a schedule with little to no anxiety, so I have to make my own visuals to supplement their particular needs. The good thing is that I enjoy making visual aids. I always have, and I really like things much better now that I can laminate things without having to use Contact paper (long story there!). Tue...

Okay, okay. I know that you didn't come here to get an advertisement, but I've decided that one way to let folks know what I do with and for music therapists is to tell you about it. If you don't want to feel any type of pressure whatsoever from this blog, then just skip Tuesdays for a bit, okay? My business consultant tells me that I need to be marketing things to others, so here goes! Tuesday posts are going to be dedicated to the things that I offer to other music therapists on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store . Just so you know, Teachers Pay Teachers does require that you sign-up with them and make an account, but you do not have to pay anything to be part of the website. Once you have an account, you have access to millions upon millions of digital files to use (with some adaptation or addition of our medium) with clients. There are all sorts of things that you can find on that site, but here is my particular site . If you end up browsing around my site (or TPT itself), ...

Okay, okay. This is definitely a self-promoting post, but I know that you all will forgive me for taking this morning to show off some of my own stuff...won't you?   As you probably know, if you spend any sort of time looking at my blog posts or my website, I enjoy making things - paper things, song things, therapeutic things. I don't do much sewing to share with others - my seams are never quite straight, and, let's face it, Janet Stephens has that type of music therapy prop COMPLETELY and PERFECTLY covered over at Bear Paw Creek , so why would I ever think that was something to offer the music therapy community - go see Janet! She's got all sorts of stuff to sell to us - body bands, bean bags, GREAT storage - seriously, if you are looking for music therapy props, go to Bear Paw Creek ! So, since Janet has those types of props covered very well, I decided that my contribution would be original therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) and visual aids - things I love to m...

Let me start this off by saying a couple of things. First of all, I do not get any financial compensation from Teachers Pay Teachers by recommending this platform OTHER than the small amounts that I get paid when I sell you a file of some sort. Second, I do NOT talk about anything that I do not use personally, so all of the information that I include here are things that I use to spur my creativity and to develop therapeutic music experiences for my clients. If I don't mention it, then either it has no benefit for me as a person or as a therapist. When I go on to let you know about creators on Teachers Pay Teachers, I just want to show you that there are people out there who are making wonderful files that can have a direct impact on what we, as music therapists working with all sorts of populations and in all sorts of situations, can actually do with our clients using the merger of music and visuals to further reinforce information. I also like showing you what is available to y...

My featured resource today is a Teachers Pay Teachers store, 2 Learn Play and Grow . I have the Circle Songs Growing Bundle and have found lots of song suggestions in that particular file. I'm not going to use these with my current clientele due to the simplicity of the files, but I enjoy having these resources in my library for inspiration. There are 17 free files offered on the site , and most of them have very little to do with my role as a music therapist, but are things that I could see using if I was teaching. The store does offer three free music-related resources - a Learning Letters Circle Time Song set, a set of songs for fall circle time, and a toothbrushing song set. I love free resources, and these are very visually engaging. One of the best things about Teachers Pay Teachers (in my opinion) is that every time I browse, I end up with more TME ideas than I can accomplish. I can find lesson resources on almost any topic ever, and this always stirs my creative juice...

Twenty-eight free resources are what David Row offers to us as music therapists. His store includes behavior point sheets, lots of visuals about music education standards, and folk song units for free and many other resources for sale. I love it when I find resources that get my creative processes stirred up. I enjoy finding things that make me think a bit deeper about my music therapy sessions and how I can get my students involved in learning. I downloaded the July musician bulletin board set - 30 pages, and all for free! I'm considering the full year packet - $30.00 worth, but lots of good facts and pictures that could make my musician of the month series really easy to keep going! David Row at Make Moments Matter incorporates all sorts of things into his shop. There are forms to organize your music use (this is how he got to me - ORGANIZATION!), folk song outlines, lots of things about rules, things to put up on bulletin boards, and labels and the like.  I'm going ...

Today's featured Teachers Pay Teachers store is Adapting for Autism . Run by a "specials" teacher who appears to cover all sorts of "specials," this store features 13 free resources for download and over 200 files for purchase. I have only accessed the Music Visual Supports and Schedules for Special Education and Autism resource - it cost me $4.50 - and that's what I am basing my review on today. I REALLY like the instrument pictures and movement pictures that are part of this particular file, and I mounted them on cardstock and laminated them for use in my clinic. I use them every week for some of my students and often for the rest. There are music room rules and social stories to use as part of the packet.  The rest of the files offered in this store are things put together for specific purposes but could be easily adapted to accommodate music therapy goals. There are seasonal file folder files to work on number recognition, communication building, ...

It is Tuesday, and I am heading to Teachers Pay Teachers to highlight another creator! Today I am featuring Amy Abbott at Music A La Abbott . I usually find these creators when I am uploading my own products - I upload a little and then browse a little and then spend a little bit of money... I digress. I originally downloaded the Music Game Bundle - Ultimate Set of Card and Board Games bundle , but I know that I did not pay $40.00 for this file. I waited until there was a sale and then I spent my budget on the things I really wanted. This file was one of those things. There are card games and board games - all music related. Some of these games are a bit cutesy for my older students, but some of them are very age-appropriate. Her instrument cards use very good illustrations of many common music therapy instruments as well as the orchestral instruments. She even has a card for agogo bells and another for frog guiros! I admire a creator who considers all the instruments - even the...

It is Tuesday, and that means it is time for me to make my way over to Teachers Pay Teachers and feature a particular person. Today, I will be looking at the many contributions of Tracy King, The Bulletin Board Lady ! Tracy King is a blogger, creator, and music educator. She offers lots of files on her page and many of those files can be adapted for use in music therapy sessions. A casual perusal of the home page reveals that she has scarf movement pictures, body percussion cards, and a series of growth mindset cards (originally for a bulletin board, but they can be made into file folder sized materials and thoughts. I get so many ideas for things when I browse her shop that it is overwhelming. She offers 35 - let me say that again - THIRTY-FIVE free files out of the nearly 800 files that she has available. Now, much of the stuff that she has is designed for school-aged humans, but I think that some adult music therapy clients would enjoy some of the ideas and files as well. With ...

It is the last Tuesday of 2019, and I am going to share with you some of the free stuff available to you if you join Teachers Pay Teachers . **Please note that I do not get any financial compensation or benefit if you join TPT or if you purchase anything from the site (unless you buy something from my store).** It is free to join, and there are LOTS of free resources available to you (over 18,000!) that you can adapt or use to enrich your music therapy sessions with clients. Here is a list of files that I have used for some of my therapeutic music experiences... Sara Bibee - Music Composer of the Month - Antonin Dvorak - Bulletin Board Pieces - I do a Musician of the Month series, and it is wonderful when the work is done for me. This composer's packet is free, and Sara has lots of other materials in her store . In fact, here's another free file - Colorful Pitch Circles . Who couldn't use these in some way?? Music Teacher Resources - Free Music e-book - This is less of...

Welcome to our first Tuesday at Teachers Pay Teachers post! I hope that this is a resource that you have already started to explore because it does two things that I am passionate about - supporting fellow professionals and visual aid making!! If you haven't been on this site to get access to lots of digital files that you can adapt to music therapy resources, then there are a couple of things that you should know. First, you need to register to access the files. It's worth it. There are so many free files available (the first thing anyone with a store has to post is a free resource) that signing up for the entire site is worth it. You do not have to pay to be a member, but there are costs if you decide to download someone's resources. Second, those of us who have stores get a cut of the purchase price. We don't get lots, but it is a passive revenue stream for those of us who post files. Third, there is almost everything that you could ever want on this site, espe...