music, therapy, and me

I have a dilemma. There are too many things on my to-do and want to-do lists to actually accomplish. I try to work on things, but I get overwhelmed very easily these days by the amount of things that I want to do. I end up doing nothing. The overwhelm keeps getting into my way. I have a crop at the local craft store this upcoming weekend. At the last crop, I spent most of the time brainstorming plans for my business, and I felt like it was good for me and my attitude towards my role in this profession. I will try to do the same thing during this crop - brainstorm in between making things. What does a crop have to do with the many things that I want to try? Well, having time outside of my home in the company of creatives seems to spark my interest in getting things done inside my home. For some reason, I do better working on these things around other people than I do alone. So, I will be heading to the crop with my idea book and my plan book and the good pen for writing notes. I will al...

'Tis the season of watching classroom set-ups on social media. Do you know the videos I'm talking about? The ones where teachers set up their super cute classroom themes and bulletin boards in a fast-forward type video? My sister, who is an elementary school teacher, is currently in the process of getting her classroom theme put together. I always love watching the creativity of others in setting up their environments, and I am always jealous of their space and ability to keep things up on the wall with their students. My students and my space are not conducive to cute themes and color-coded, coordinated wall decorations. The things that I have up on the walls of my music therapy room are functional rather than coordinated. My room is already decorated with lots of paintings from various murals, so things are already as busy as I want them to be. These facts don't stop me from wanting a classroom where I could make my own cute theme happen though. As I am a week away from t...

My sister (who now reads my blog, apparently) is my favorite second grade teacher. Just wanted to say that up front. I am totally biased about who is Teacher of the Year, every year, because she is my sister and I've known her all her life. There you go. Now, today's post is inspired by my sister and by the countless numbers of classroom teachers who are currently working on making their classrooms into engaging and comfortable places for students. Some classrooms include complex themes, lots of different elements to go together, and countless dollars of teacher money spent on things that teachers feel are needed in order to promote a sense of love and comfort and engagement. There is lots of controversy in the teacher world between the decorators and the non-decorators about whether this type of environment is necessary, but I know many who just feel better in a coordinated environment. My sister is one of the thematic teachers. She has an overarching theme for her classroom e...

The most consistent system that I use in my music therapy life is that of color-coding. I color code file folders, storage bags, and everything I can possibly coordinate through color. Now, I know that not everyone can see and perceive colors. So, if you are someone who cannot, please know that there is an alternative to colors. That is patterns. If you cannot see the difference between yellow and blue, then use stripes versus plaid designs in black and white. There is no issue about finding the things that work for you - no one EVER has to do what I do in my systems - the point is to find the things that help you work smarter. For me, that's color and colored patterns (sometimes). Do you want a deeper dive? Here's why I use colors as my base system. Over the many years that I have been a music therapist, I have spent countless hours, words, and ideas about how I want to do things as a music therapist. I take bits and pieces of what I see and what I like about things, and I mak...

It is Sunday, so it is time for me to unpack a routine, a procedure, or "the way I do things" into a bit more detail and try to find some sort of justification for why I do what I do the way that I do... Today, I am going to unpack the way that I organize things using color. I color-code lots of materials and ideas in my environment. I find that I respond more quickly to materials when I can easily identify their purpose quickly, so color lends itself to quick recognition for both me and most of my clients. The only clients who have difficulty with this type of system are those with various forms of color-blindness, and I have materials that they can access as well. I really do use color as a shortcut, and most of the ways that I use these colors are completely personal and are a trick for me rather than for anyone else. The first way to use color is to help organize multiple sets of identical visual aids. This is where the color blind consideration comes into play. I...