music, therapy, and me

One of the things that I have nearby me both here and at work is my songwriting kit. It isn't fancy, but it is something that I have found that I use when I am in a songwriting mood. My kits reside in the pencil bags that I have collected as part of my love of stationery items, and they are small enough to fit into my bag. Inside my kit, you can find post-it notes of various types, pencils (of course), erasers (of course!), index cards, and sheet music. I have decided to make some stickers to go onto my index cards or my idea books to help me keep the music going and flowing.  Making stickers is not something new to me, but making sheet music stickers is. I have stickers for project management, TPT files, and all sorts of things, but I have never made sheet music stickers. This is a bit of a "duh" moment for me. So, how do I do this?? I use labels and my printer. It is really simple to make these types of functional stickers. I use Word or Powerpoint most of the time. It ...

It is halfway through the Online Conference for Music Therapy, and I am feeling like a failure as a music therapist. This happens every so often, and when this happens, it usually has to do with hearing what other music therapists are doing in their practices and then heading down into comparison canyon and then moving over to imposter syndrome island where I tend to wallow. It often leads me to wanting to do more for me and for my clients and then feeling like a failure because I am not doing the same things that others do.  I have to claw my way back into understanding my own successes as a music therapist and figure out what I want to contribute in my career and role as a professional music therapist. I am a natural music therapist. I have been singing since birth, and I love singing with others. My first instrument (other than voice) was the cornet - my father's cornet - and I played that at school because I was not allowed to take both band and choir for my electives due to ne...

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 ...

Now, don't worry. I am not making this statement because I tried something foolish and now know that I need the aforesaid goggles. This statement comes from many decades of trying to do various projects and then realizing that I need to think things through a bit better. So, this time, I am waiting to start using my new saw to cut my shelving down to size until I have safety goggles. I have about an hour before I head outside to clean out my car and get it over to the mechanic for a tire change. After that, I will head to Walmart for my goggles and various other things that I think I will need before heading back home to work on my project of getting my library looking the way I want it to look. Before that, though, I am sitting down to write this blog post. I am restless. You know, my down times tend to come with restless times as well. I am unsatisfied with what I am doing with my life, and that tends to lead me into thoughts about why I am doing nothing to move myself forward. M...

It has been a long, difficult week - in good difficult ways and not-so-good difficult ways. The Online Conference for Music Therapy was about halfway finished at this time last week. I was firmly in my moderator role, listening to folks talking about music therapy in their places in the world. I always love this conference - this very wonderful change to increase my perspective on what music therapy is and should be - but it always wears me out! I am almost always either sick or getting sick at this time every year, so I have the double whammy of lots of things to do as well as lots of need for rest and self-care. This past week was exhausting. My students are getting influenza and strep. I went to the doctor on Tuesday because I wasn't sure that my particular bit of germ donation to my environment wasn't the flu. (After an EXCRUCIATING brain probe to test the mucus in the back of my nasal passages) I found out that I was negative-negative for influenza. I was back to being a...