music, therapy, and me

Hand-drawn monkeys - soon to be on TPT! I admit, when I get thinking about something, I just do not stop until the thought is thunk. (Interestingly, my spell-check does not object to the word "thunk.") So, I am still stuck on the idea of thematic programming and how music therapists can (and already do) use this programming in their clinical interactions. I thought about this all the way to work yesterday and for the first 20 minutes of my clinical day, and I decided to continue to develop this idea into a second post because I always do better once I've written something down for others to see and think about (AND comment on!! Tell me if you think this is right or completely wrong!!). Here are my thoughts about thematic programming - Day Two (if you are interested in reading my thoughts on day one, here's the link ). First of all, I believe that we all do thematic programming in our music therapy clinics. Oooh, I can hear people saying, "What? I don'...

I was reading a post on my social media earlier this week written by a fellow music therapist talking about the need for assistance with a situation. The post ended with a phrase that started me thinking about various and sundry things - it coincided with my long overnight sojourn at work as well. I had nothing to do but to think about what this person said. "I feel like what I really need is a Music Therapy mentor." When I read that statement, I was able to understand what the author meant. I have never really felt all that comfortable with the idea of "supervision" as many music therapists seem to view the practice. I feel that any type of "supervision" has to include direct observation and in-time feedback about what is happening in the session. I do not feel adequately "supervised" by my current administrators because they do not watch me do my job - unless I have one of my once-every-three-year evaluations. I feel that I "supervise...

Gather 'round, all, to hear a tale of music therapy education many years ago. Once upon a time, when I was a younger person, I entered school to become a music therapist. While I was there, I became what is known as a practicum student, engaging in learning about how to be a music therapist by working with clients and fellow student therapists in weekly sessions. I struggled with these practicum settings, as so many student music therapists do. In my five settings, I had five very different supervisors, all who had very different ideas of what I should be doing in my sessions, and worse of all for me, in my paperwork. We, of course, had ONE way to write therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) - by the way, back then we called them "applications" which was an upgrade from the term "activities." I now call them TMEs because I feel that term more accurately describes what I try to write for myself and for my fellow music therapists. TANGENT!! The problem with ha...