music, therapy, and me

Do you ever get into the habit of overthinking your therapeutic music experiences (AKA: TMEs? applications? modules? or any term that is out there for what you call what you do with your clients during sessions??)???  I find that I will get into a mindset where everything has to have a visual aid. Everything has to have a deep meaning song experience. Everything has to incorporate the theoretical foundations of at least five philosophical structures before I will even deign to consider the TME as part of my session strategy.  This type of "perfection" thinking is dangerous for me. I end up feeling stuck between my capabilities and my dreams of what music therapy "SHOULD" be. Nowhere in my definition of music therapy do the words "visual aids" appear. Nowhere in that definition does it state that I have to know everything there is to know about music and the brain before I can make music with my clients for their therapeutic benefits. Nowhere. So, why do I ...

I had a chance to see some of the basics of music therapy at work yesterday - music to motivate, music to energize, and music to shift amount of energy. It was a snow day yesterday, and that means that I get to go to work and run ten back-to-back sessions for the residents of the facility. It is a complete change of our schedules, and we all struggle with it, but we spent time yesterday just doing something simple. We threw balls at drums while listening to preferred music. Simple, right? You bet! This is not a complex therapeutic music experience at all. I pick up a ball, I throw it at a drum. Repeat as necessary. As I was the facilitator of the session, I spent time wandering around the room, engaged in throwing balls at drums as well. While I was doing that, I was working on my fine motor grasp and release patterns, I was working on my hand-eye coordination. I was engaged in social interaction with staff members and students. I was entraining to the musical stimulation. I wa...

I am continuing my quest back into the basics of music therapy (as I was taught about them). My educational foundation is that of E. Thayer Gaston and William W. Sears - their writings in 1968 form the groundwork of what I believe to be true about music therapy. Even after 24 years of professional experience, lots of graduate coursework, and reading many many theories, outlooks, and opinions about music therapy, I still feel that Gaston and (ESPECIALLY) Sears are my bedrock of belief about music as therapeutic medium. It's funny, but I didn't realize how many of us music therapists out there weren't exposed to these two writers during our educations. My interns have really broadened my own awareness of the differences between educational programs, and I really like to know what introductory texts they were exposed to - the decades of work have led to many more textbooks than were available when I was a student. Even with therapists my own age, many were not exposed to t...

There's a long, long post over at Music Therapists Unite about professional dress as pre-internship clinicians. We are all putting our input into the conversation as well. I remember those days as a student - trying to find something that looked remotely neat and professional on my limited budget and with my awkward body shape. These days, I emphasize the idea (especially with my clients) that bodies need to covered from neck to knee with nothing in between. My workplace went to a uniform, so there is a bit more consistency with my co-workers, but there are still situations where the professionals are not looking all that professional. This discussion tends to jump up every so often, and it always seems to lead to deep conversations. What is professional dress, anyway? I've already told you the most important thing, in my estimation. Other than that, I want my professional to be wearing clothing that doesn't distract me from what he or she is saying. I appreciate some...

Every so often I start to feel that I am making my life as a music therapist too difficult. I get involved in reading complex ideas, new thoughts, and layered theoretical proposals, and I start to get bogged down. My "woulda/coulda/shoulda" goblins start to go in my head - "You could be doing so much more for your clients." "You should be everything for everyone." "You would be so much better if you only did this and this and this." I've learned, over the years, to realize that these thoughts mean something very important for me -  Time to get back to basics. I can tend to get a bit too wrapped up in thinking, especially when it comes to my job. When this happens, it signals that I'm losing track of what makes music such a strong therapeutic medium. I'm starting to think more about what I should be doing rather than taking notice of what my clients are doing with and through the music. I have moved too far into think mode a...