music, therapy, and me

I am currently making a hearty breakfast of chicken, spinach, and mashed potatoes for this day, March 1, 2019. I have a late start day today (because of all the inclement weather days that we had in January and February), so I have about an hour and 45 minutes before I have to leave my house and go to work. I am really liking this arrangement of working a 5 hour day on Fridays. Since today is also World Music Therapy Day, I am also taking some time to reflect on my life as a music therapist over the past 26 years. The two things really do go together in my head, I promise!! My breakfast is the result of a melding of different tastes, textures, and food groups. It is not a combination that I found in any type of cookbook or recipe site - it is something that I've made up through putting things into my crock pot and seeing what will happen. Now, I tend to do crock pot things this way. I buy some chicken pieces, look in the freezer for the vegetables that I am going to put into a ...

Do you know that the World Federation of Music Therapy has decided that March 1st is International Music Therapy Day ? Isn't that fun? I didn't do much last year for Music Therapy Day, but I'm thinking about doing something this year. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'll figure out something. I'm going to start with a poster on my bulletin board. After that? Who knows?? Having a day for music therapy advocacy and recognition around the world is a really fun idea. I enjoy the thought that there are music therapy friends in Taiwan who are celebrating this unique profession at the same time that there are music therapy friends in South Africa and Canada and Sweden and here in the states doing their own celebrations. I wonder what we can do to make this more of a recognized day rather than just something that we do as music therapists... I encourage you to head over to the World Federation of Music Therapy site to see what types of things are h...

Happy March 1st, also known as World Music Therapy Day for all of us music therapists! I am currently getting ready to celebrate this day through a Skype interview with a potential intern, purchasing things for one of my presentations, and spending time with my family. I am not going to be doing much with actual music therapy today - which is how all of the other World Music Therapy Days have actually happened. For some reason, I am not around my clients on this day, and I have never celebrated this day with any of my clients. Hmm. Maybe I should reserve this day and the week around it for a celebration with clients next year... I'll put that on my calendar right now! Done. I love the idea of a day where all music therapists celebrate our wonderful profession. Sure, being a music therapist has its downfalls and challenges, but all professions do, so it is very important that we celebrate the great things that happen in our clinics and therapeutic interventions, the small step...

Have you heard? March 1, 2018 is World Music Therapy Day!!  I am planning on celebrating WMTD with my family just before the start of the Western Region's conference. I'm not going to go to the opening ceremony - no real reason to be there for me - so I am going to celebrate being a music therapist by not being a music therapist that day. I am going to spend some time with my family, thinking deeply about being a music therapist. My clients will celebrate with a day of doing what they want to do in the therapy room, rather than having to do what I ask them to do. My celebration will last an entire week with most of it being at a conference, but not all of it. I like the idea of a specific day to focus on music therapy. We've had other days, but they have always been on July 4th, so my profession was a bit overshadowed by other things happening in my country. This date is a good one. The beginning of March won't be as hectic or distracting. I think there is no bett...