music, therapy, and me

Oooh, boy. You know the speech I mean. You are sitting next to a stranger who insists on talking to you and THAT question comes up. "So, what do you do for a living?" There are many different variants of this question, but it all boils down to the same thing - what are you going to share with this stranger about a profession that everyone seems to know about but doesn't really understand? How far do you want to talk to someone about this profession and the things that go along with it? When I first started my career as a music therapist, people were often confused by the title, "MUSIC THERAPIST." It got to the point where I could predict when they would ask the follow-up question, "So, what is MUSICAL THERAPY, anyway?" It was a three second processing latency for everyone who asked me about my job. Three seconds to go through the mental database and then ask for more information. I would then launch into my elevator speech - the first little bit of inf...

I spend lots of time talking about therapeutic music experience (TME) development and why I think it is important to have a well-thought out experience before you enter the session with a client. I do what I do partly because that was what was expected of me during my undergraduate training and partly because having this system in place has helped me explain what I am doing to non-music therapists. I think it has saved my job a couple of times, and I know that it has started other music therapy positions in other places because of this process and system. Let me explain... Over my career, I have come across people who just see what I do as entertainment. They often have difficulty seeing all the things that happen when music is introduced into an environment. My TME plans have helped me explain things in a way that illustrates that there is more to music therapy than "happy children making happy sounds." As I have matured as a music therapist, I find that having my TMEs in a ...

This is not going to be a typical Thursday for me. It is a day full of different things, and I am ready for a break and a change. I will be spending some time in (gulp) less than 5 hours talking to a high school health class about music therapy. I haven't done a career talk before, and the student who invited me asked me to specifically talk about music as a way to help work through stress, so I am getting myself geared up for a discussion as well as some experiential work on that topic. In the midst of all of this, I have to clean up my home because the management company is coming in to change the furnace filters and they will not be able to reach the furnace the way things are now. There we go. After I do my clean-up, the talk, and some grocery shopping, I will be spending the rest of this day working on some ethical thought concerning being an internship director for a course I will be offering later this year. I don't usually have this sort of opportunity to talk abo...

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...

I am in the center of a dilemma. It's one that I've been wrestling with for a while (since I started up my Teachers Pay Teachers store) about how to express to people that aren't music therapists that they cannot call what they do with my materials "music therapy" without the proper training, education, experience, etc. Interestingly, this topic came up on one of my social media feeds today, so now I am really thinking about this particular dilemma. The unfortunate answer to this question is that I cannot control what other people say about music therapy. I cannot police the entire world for the use of the phrase "music therapy" for appropriate uses and inappropriate uses. I cannot control the people who think that playing a streaming service playlist titled, "Musical Therapy," is equivalent to hiring me to work with their clients. I cannot be that person for all other people in the world. I CAN focus on the folks that I reach directly...

Good morning, all. It is Tuesday here in the States, so I am posting my latest TME Tuesday video. For the past three weeks, I've been involved in a songswap hosted by Music Therapy Kids over on Facebook. Every week, we are challenged to share a TME idea (not the fully fleshed out TME) based on a very general goal (this week was academics). People are sharing all sorts of things, and I am torn between being excited about getting lots of new songs and being a bit sad because of how we are labelling these TME ideas. Here's my video - on academics. Sorry it is so out of focus - I am still learning how to use my different cameras - this is NOT one I'll be using again...(the camera, that is!) Academics is something that is part of everything that I do. I think through various subject areas with every single TME that I present to my students. Think we're just throwing balls at drums? Nope. We are experimenting with geometry, physics, scientific questioning, and throwi...

Oh, boy. It's another one of those days where my social media page is covered with indignant comments about yet another person out there who is doing something with clients that involves music. The criticism starts - "Is this person a music therapist?" "Should this person even be allowed to use music in a  nursing home?" "I had a job and someone like this came in and took it from me!" Sigh. I find all of these discussions pretty exhausting, and I don't really like that it happens so much. My opinions (that's what this is entirely - OPINION - which means that I get to think and write about whatever I want, and I get to share it with other people as such - OPINION, not FACT) are pretty set by now, and I feel that we music therapists are the ones that are failing. Okay. I know that some of you just stopped reading at the end of that paragraph right there. If you are still with me, let me start explaining. Here are my opinions: Music d...

I had a rough day yesterday. If you read yesterday's post, you probably noticed that my day started off rough - I really didn't want to go to work, much less try to be therapeutic. I just wanted to sleep all day. I didn't, however, and I am glad that I didn't. So, my Wednesday's are usually pretty good, but yesterday was an exception. The first two groups went pretty well - we have lots of new staff members who don't always grasp the purpose of music therapy, and I have to do lots of training which is easiest when I am working with only the new staff rather than with the seasoned staff who think they know everything and feel that I am ineffective (which I am not, but for some reason, those particular folks seem to think that the only way to get kids to do something is to yell at them - I don't yell, but I get results when allowed to do what I need to do - anyway, that's a rant that I don't need to start now...). Kids struggled in the two middle gro...

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...

I am currently involved in a new project - a collaborative project that takes me a bit out of my comfort zone. I am currently struggling a bit with how to proceed in this new project, and I think it's because I don't really know how to talk in this situation. (Do you hear that?? THAT sound is my father laughing and laughing about the statement, "I don't really know how to talk..." For some reason, he thinks that all I do is talk and talk and talk... Silly Dad!) Now, Dad is right in some respect, I can talk your ear off if you ask me what I do for a living. I can speak the intellectual disability and childhood psychiatric music therapy talk all day long. If you have a general question about music therapy, I'm your best source! This is a language I have been speaking for almost 3 decades (including my schooling), so I know that talk. The problem here seems to be that I am not really sure how to talk about this new idea. The target audience is completely ...

I started my break with a donation of two violins to the music therapy department. I now have to remember my string classes (good thing I still have my strings method instruction books) and remember how to play. Apparently there will be more instruments coming from a generous donor who got a hold of my therapy wish list. My department is rarely on the donation side of things for some reason. Our marketing director applied for a grant a while back, and she spoke to me about what I do at the facility so she could complete the grant. She was staggered at what happens during music therapy. She attended a couple of sessions and appeared to understand what went on. Later, I found out that she had a brother who had Down Syndrome and who loved singing and playing the guitar. He passed away recently, and I think that seeing our kids playing instruments and engaged in making music made her remember her brother. She brought us his guitar - a half-sized, very well loved instrument. After she spe...

It's music therapy advocacy month, and I enjoy the process of looking at music therapy posts, websites, and blogs to see what else is out there for us music therapy-types. This is sometimes a silly idea, other times it's an exercise in tolerance, yet other times it is frustrating. I was strolling around the internet this morning, and I thought I would see what was out there. I wasn't disappointed. One blogger wrote about "music therapy. It's where you take three songs that have significance in your life and write about them on your blog." Oh dear. I have to decide if I go through the process of commenting on this random blogger's page or just let it go. I tend to be a person who just lets it go. This random mommy (what she called herself on the blog) is not doing music therapy, but she was told this by another mommy blogger, so she is just spreading some misinformation. We've all done that at one time or another. The idea itself is sound, b...

January is Music Therapy Advocacy Month here in the States. Apparently we focus on our quest for title recognition during this month. I've never been one who liked making cold contacts, and the thought of talking to one of my elected representatives just frightens me to my very toes, so I focus on being a local advocate for music therapy. My advocacy journey takes me into classrooms, onto social media, into international conferences, and into homes of clients. This year, I've spoken about music therapy to my physical therapist, to a grant developer, and to my friends (lots to my friends!!). My advocacy journey includes doing my job to the best of my ability. My advocacy journey has included being an internship director to foster the skills of the new generation of music therapists. My advocacy journey includes the day to day sessions, contacts, and examples that I try to present to the world. How do you advocate the importance of this therapeutic medium to others in ...

***Please remember that I do NOT get any compensation for my discussions about these websites as you go further into my personal experiences with West Music Company. Nada. Nothing. All opinions stated are my own and all opinions are simply that - opinions. Thank you.*** It is Wednesday, and time for yet another Website Wednesday post. This time around, I picked a company website, West Music. If you are therapist in the States who hasn't ordered instruments, materials, or books from West Music, you are really missing out on a good experience. My facility recently ordered some instruments from them. The administrative assistant came to the music therapy room about two weeks later to state that the folks at West had sent her "a HANDWRITTEN thank you note for the order!" She was thrilled that the company cared enough about our business to thank us for it! She told me that it was the best way of ordering materials that she had ever experienced!! She asked if I needed anyth...

This seems to be one of these days when I just cannot focus on anything long enough to generate entire paragraphs, so here's what's happening in my life these days... I passed physical behavior management re-certification yesterday. This is a BIGGIE in my life right now because I haven't had to do these skills for 13 months. The residual pain is what I experienced before my injury, so nothing out of the ordinary. HOORAY! CELEBRATIONS! ANTHEMS OF JOY!!! We have a potential big donor stopping by today who "is really intrigued by music therapy." This big donor is not interested in funding music therapy (or, at least the facility isn't interested in the big donor funding music therapy), but he has expressed an interest in meeting me and talking to me about music therapy. I am thrilled and nervous, but I think it will go well. I am in the midst of another OMTF episode - (Old Music Therapy Fogey). Why is it that other people cannot use the resources available to...

Ah. Music Therapy Advocacy. One of those things that every music therapist has to do as a regular part of his/her job on an almost daily basis. It is an important part of our profession, but that doesn't keep me from wanting to make things a bit easier for us all. I wish that other people knew some facts (and my opinions) about music therapy to make the job of all music therapists just a bit easier. Music therapy is more than just listening to music. Anyone can make music. Anyone can turn on an iPod for someone to listen to. Anyone can sing or dance or play a drum, but simply doing these things does not mean that just anyone is doing music therapy. Music therapy requires more than just listening to music. Music therapists have education and training in how to apply music and elements of music to support and assist clients in making progress towards specific, targeted personal goals. How we do this is centered in our education in psychology, physiology, anatomy, sociology, peda...

This has been a long couple of days. I started my Friday by waking up later than usual (5:30 am instead of 4 am) and just couldn't seem to coordinate my thoughts enough to write about anything. I did try, but everything was jumbled around in my brain. I took a day off and went to work. Once at work, I found that my "entire day to work in your room" turned into something else entirely. I also made a public announcement about something that irritated me that caused me lots of second thoughts last night. Basically, the Occupational Therapy Assistants have put together a sensory box for each classroom. Not a problem for me, since I feel that we do not often assist our clients in finding sensory integration. What led to my probably not so politically correct comment was the "relaxation CD" included in the box. (In the interest of full-disclosure, I have a personal issue with one of the OTAs that works in our facility, and I think that much of my ooops moment ye...

I am going to be presenting about my process of becoming a researched-informed clinician at the national conference of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) this year. I hope you'll be there on Friday afternoon, ready to try out this process of reading and assimilating music therapy research into your own clinical practice. I started this process when I sat down and looked at the journals that I have sitting on my research journal shelf (yep, I have one of those). I realized that I haven't even cracked several of those journals. I find that strange and sad. SARCASM AHEAD - After all, I SHOULD be reading all of my journals in the midst of working my four jobs and doing the other things that are part of life. Snark! So, I made this into my professional focus for this year - intentionally using research to bolster my music therapy advocacy and practice. Right now, I'm spending time getting my presentation outline pulled together (that's right, I'm one of...