music, therapy, and me

When I first started TME Tuesdays, I wanted to share ideas and get comments and interact with other music therapists who were interested in providing music therapy ideas and experiences with clients that were new and different. I wanted to create community, but then I got cranky. When I was a part of Music Therapists [Aren't] United  (the additional word is completely mine and mine alone), one of the people posting went on a rant about gatekeeping and how music therapists should just give things away to younger music therapists rather than expecting to be paid for TME ideas, visual aids, business advice, etc. I got angry at that because I feel that we should be paid for the work that we do. I don't believe that I should give away my hard work to everyone and anyone just because they feel that they want to take it. There is a difference between sharing with someone and someone just taking from you without reciprocation. That is when I stopped publishing my therapeutic music expe...

Here it is, Wednesday again. We are still all messes at work - kids are not doing well on the whole. Everyone is tired and crabby and just plain old mean to one another and to staff. It's taking a toll on us all. Even though it is Wednesday and we don't have a day off until October 20th, I am determined to be less likely to complain about Wednesdays than I have been in the past. I have written two complete TMEs so far, spending a total of 90 minutes on both. I have three TMEs to go to get to my goal of five TMEs written in a week. I don't have much time to write TMEs today, but I might be able to get one in during my limited breaks on this busy group day. I am not expecting to write one today though. I think it is fine to save three TMEs for the next two days - I have lots more office time on Thursdays and Fridays than I do on Wednesdays and Tuesdays. I am feeling pretty good about my accomplishment. In addition to finishing two TMEs in my new database format, I also have t...

It is the first day of the 2023-2024 regular school year at my job. Depending on how the temperature situation is in my room, I will be doing some clearing and cleaning and organizing my schedule today. When I left my job the week before our extended school year session was over, today was supposed to be an uninterrupted work day. I am hoping that we will not have any sort of meeting or professional development scheduled for today because I really need some time to work in my space to get ready for music therapy sessions this year. Usually, at this time of year, I have thought about specific goals and objectives or quests for my school year, but that isn't happening this year, for some reason. I think it is part of my entire "meh" attitude. I am not as excited about the start of the school year this year as I have been in other years. Who knows why I am feeling this way right now, but I am, so I am allowing myself to wallow for a little bit before rolling up my metaphoric...

Yesterday, I decided that my inspirational messages needed to change a bit. I have two tchotchkes on my desk that include inspirational quotations. In addition, I have a tarot card reading application on my Kindle that is fun to use. I needed to change what I see every morning, so I started with the Kindle app and then moved through my easel thingy and my box of quotations to see what messages are out there for me. The Kindle app pulled the card - visualization - and then told me that it is time to manifest my dreams through visualizing them and then making them come true. Okay, that is a great message to take with me into an escrow situation and the dream of owning a home pretty darn soon! All the way to work yesterday, I visualized a smooth therapy day with limited need for attention to other things happening. I also visualized my room the way I want it to be. I focused on the arrival of my new cabinet (spoiler - it hasn't arrived yet), but when I arrived in the doorway to my roo...

  Blog post - take two. I started writing about an hour ago, but nothing I wrote made sense to my muddled brain. There is nothing wrong with me other than a bit of grief and lots of things on my to-do list that have to be finished in the next two days before I head back to work. I am having some difficulty focusing on any task for more than about three minutes before my brain shuttles me off to something else, so this post may not make a bunch of sense. It is difficult for me to focus right now. I'm not entirely sure why. So, when this happens to me, I rely on my book of things to do. Here are the things that I have to finish today - if I get nothing else done, these things need to happen... produce Sunday School video upload said video fold laundry put laundry in closet strap fingers 3 more times (already did one) finish CBMT application for Monthly Music Therapy Meets! cook something eat drink as much water as possible I have started the laundry. The last load has just finished d...

I am back at work - with TWO interns again - trying to get myself accustomed to working with company in a modified schedule where my job responsibilities have shifted yet again. Don't get me wrong, now. I am so glad that things have progressed to the point where we are able to open up our facility to volunteers (like my interns) and to family members of our clients (who visit in the outside areas of our facility at the moment), but it signifies another significant change in how we do things. I am not a person who does well with significant and immediate change. When I have to figure out changes in my own life, I take some time to weigh the pros and cons of the situation, consider as many options as possible, and then I make my change. Once I make a decision, I rarely second guess it because I feel like I have considered as much as I can and can move forward on a path that works for me. This pandemic has shattered my ability to make choices for myself - mainly because it was not per...

I've started this post two other times already, written about three paragraphs, and then deleted everything that I've written because it just hasn't felt right to me. Let's see if version #3 makes it to the final posting stage. There are lots of thoughts in this post - things that affect me as a music therapist at this moment right now. I'm not exactly sure if this is the type of post that you all will like, but this blog is called music, therapy, and me, so today you get mostly me. You can certainly stop reading now, if you don't want to know what is going on in my brain. I need to get it out of my brain in a way that allows me to acknowledge what is going on and how I think about it all...there you go. Anyway... I have made it to the half-point of my time off, and I am starting to have some twinges of boredom and guilt and shame and all that. I am managing to get lots of rest, and my sleep patterns are all screwed up, but I am feeling a bit better tha...

I fell on Sunday, spraining parts of the left side of my body and bruising part of the right side of my body. I gathered together my bruised, aching self and went to work where I spent the entire day in pain because I had no liquid I could drink to take the Tylenol that I had in my bag (long story about why I had nothing I could drink). Kids kept asking for hugs and high fives and the like, and I had to disappoint them every time because even thinking about skin contact made me hurt. Today is worse. I woke up at 2:30 am in pain. I decided that I would be in a better position to serve my clients if I got all of this addressed today, so I am taking the day off to get to the chiropractor and/or the doctor to get myself checked over. I have a high pain threshold, so the fact that I am so miserable and in pain right now means that I really messed myself up. I can feel the after effects of my fall in all of my joints. Holding the guitar hurts. Standing hurts, sitting hurts, reclining...

There are times when my mind gets mired into specific trains of thought. This is one of those times, I think, and I am trying really hard to pull myself out of the quicksand that is inclement weather days into something else. I've been writing lots about the "me" side of this blog lately and not so much about the "music" and "therapy" parts. It's easy to do when your schedule gets messed up and all you see is more inclement weather in your future... Time to pull myself up and out. I love being a music therapist. I love working with other music therapists to help them get to the best type of therapist that they can be. I thoroughly enjoy working with music therapy students and helping them figure out how to become music therapists during their internships. I like doing these things both in person and via webinars/recordings. I love starting an idea, offering that idea to other people, and then watching that idea expand in ways I never would ha...

During these months (it has been months, hasn't it?) of inclement weather, I've fallen off the creating wagon a bit. It has been some time since I've sat at my craft desk and actually made something, but I am starting to feel the itch to create something again. I think the settling weather is helping with that resurgence. Of course, the weekend forecast includes 3-5 inches of snow, but that offers an opportunity to create without having to go outside for any reason at all. That's a perfect setting for some playing with creativity. I wrote a new song yesterday. It's been a while since I've written something that has not been improvised, so that's an indication that creativity is on the rise. I want to write it down, translate it into a therapeutic music experience, and then make it into a Teachers Pay Teachers file to share with others. Look out for "I'm Being a Bully" in my store pretty soon. I also have a bunch of tasks to do to get m...

For the last several weeks, I've been sick - the type of sick where nothing gets done, nothing sounds appetizing, and sleeping is absolutely necessary. I am FINALLY starting to feel better, but I am still in the "need to sleep" phase of my recovery. I'm still sleeping more than usual, but my brain is coming out of the fog. This may not be a good thing for you all, but it is great for me! I have not been able to think about things to write about, so my blogging process has been a bit interrupted over the past several weeks. I try to write something everyday, and when I don't post, it's because I have tried to write and nothing has been post-worthy. I've done LOTS of backspace typing over the past several weeks. It is time for a reset. I blog about everything and anything that occurs to me, and that means that there are good thoughts and irrelevant thoughts that come across this site. I try to write about music therapy things more than just writing...