music, therapy, and me

Two years ago, the plan for this summer was to be going to Italy for the World Congress of Music Therapy. Those plans fell through, so the plan shifted a bit to a trip to the East Coast of this country to see my mother's family and friends, but those plans also fell through. So, the plan for this summer is to stay home and figure out home things for the moment. Rest. Reset the brain and the body to figure out what comes next. I am thankful that I am not having to go anywhere this month. While going to the World Congress would be nice, I am happy not to go. I find that music therapy conferences are more geared towards academics these days than clinicians. I am fully a clinician, so having to choose between this one's dissertation and this one's is not relevant to my role in the music therapy world. I am afraid that the professional organizations in the world are becoming too research-focused at the expense of those of us who are in the day-to-day process of actually doing th...

For a long time now, I have been writing songs for thematic TMEs (therapeutic music experiences) and collecting them in my ideas book - the TME section. I haven't put them into a formal collection, but I am on the verge of getting this project started. There is lots of discussion about thematic programming in my parts of the music therapy world. There are loud voices both for and against using themes. I am neutral in the conversation - I am always for whatever makes any music therapist's life a bit easier. If you are a thematic music therapist, I would love to hear what themes are your favorites. If you are not, then do what you do and do it well! I have some themes in my clinical practice at the moment - they tend to be music education themes more than any other, but I also use my umbrella goal areas as themes for programming. As an educational enrichment specialist, I have great latitude in how I arrange my music therapy sessions, so themes help me stay organized. I tend to t...

Inspiration comes from strange places. I got inspired by cat videos and a song came out. It is always interesting to trace the origins of songs, and mine usually come from two sources - silly things or client goals. This one came from silly cat videos and is called "Naughty, Naughty Kitty Cat." I paired it with a "Match the Ornament" game during one of my groups. Before the start of my music therapy day, I tend to spend about 15 minutes tuning my guitar and engaging in some random strumming. I think about the day that is ahead, and I either play songs that I know really well or I settle into a chord progression and just start to make music. Usually, good or fun songs emerge right before a group enters the room. Now, I've been doing this a long time, and I know that I will NOT remember a good song if I do not write it down. Since this is the case, I have post-it notes and a pencil in a drawer right next to my guitar stand. When inspiration strikes, I write down l...

Oh my! I had forgotten this source of inspiration for me. I am so glad that this was the randomly selected post for this morning because I need this back in my life! Let me explain!! Today's post comes to you from July 8, 2013 . It reminded me of someone I used to follow pretty regularly and someone who inspired me by his story and his art. Danny Gregory is someone who writes about some of the things that I experience - he calls his "monkeys" and I call mine "goblins," but they are the same thing - the thoughts that keep me from doing what I want to do... I had completely forgotten Mr. Gregory, and I am so grateful that this post came up again. I have signed up for a weekly essay and have bookmarked his YouTube channel. I will subscribe to his channel as well once I've moved to the television. I think the best thing about Mr. Gregory's work for me is the fact that much of what he used to write about (and that I hope he will continue to write about ten ye...

It is Tuesday again, and I am gearing up for five groups and one individual. Usually, I have two individuals on this day, but one is away for the week, so I get a bit of a break. Not much, but a bit. The temperature is cooler - both outside and in my music therapy room - so tempers seemed to have cooled as well. We will see if that continues, but for the moment, I am enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere in the rooms next to me.  I felt the urge to sit down with my ideas book yesterday to record some ideas that have come to me as I have been moving into the role of observer rather than therapist. I am physically moving my body closer and closer to my office where I will spend most of the rest of my intern's time to provide supervision but not interference. I tend to be more likely to write TMEs when I am in my office for interns' sessions than when I am primary therapist. When I have to remove myself from client interactions, my brain starts to design things to do with those cli...

It is Tuesday, so it is time to write a bit about therapeutic music experiences (TMEs - which is what I call the things I do with clients in our music therapy sessions), and today's topic is things that I have forgotten that I was reminded of during the World Congress of Music Therapy. Let me explain. Okay, I have transitioned into the stage of life as a music therapist where I am considered either "vintage" or "seasoned." This means that I have become a music therapy crone which is simultaneously frightening and satisfactory. So, from the perspective of being an older music therapist, I have found several things that have happened in my way of viewing this profession. For one, I no longer really find presentations all that inspiring. They no longer really share new information in presentations - I am finding that presentations just serve to remind me of concepts and vocabulary that I have forgotten. Even the research seems to be repetitive - we seem to be looki...

I did it. I signed up for the virtual AMTA conference this fall. It's been about two years since I went to an AMTA conference due to many reasons - primarily disinterest. I am slowing down on my CMTE pursuits, so my professional development monies can be used for the AMTA conference these days. I just realized that this conference will interfere with my intern's graduation, so I will have to do a bit of juggling to get things going, but I should be able to take the day after the conference to make up for the possible day that I will miss due to checking my intern out of her internship. I cannot miss that event for anything!! My next intern will not start until January so no conflict there. I am looking for community and inspiration in how I do music therapy. This year has been isolating in many ways, and I feel like I sometimes get into my little ruts. I have no idea what is going on in the world of music therapy. I am okay with that because most of what I have been part of bef...

This has been quite the year, hasn't it? Of course, I am not currently saying anything that will not be true for any human being on this planet when I utter that particular platitude. This has been quite the year.  One of my guilty pleasures is going to the movies. I call it a guilty pleasure because when you go to the movies, you cannot be multitasking. There is a responsibility to yourself and your fellow movie goers to sit and watch without reaching for your cell phone or to try to finish that chore while the movie is running. It is a bit silly to think of actually going to the movies as a guilty pleasure, but it is for me. It is something that I have not been able to do for a long time, and I miss it. I am longing for the day when my local movie theater opens up again, and I can go without wondering if I will be bringing germs to my clients after those hours in the presence of people outside my home-work cycle. Watching movies at home is not quite the same as going to the theat...

It is Sunday morning, the day after the concurrent sessions of the online version of the Midwestern Region conference, and I am sitting here (sometimes accompanied by my cat - hence the lapse into French in the title above) thinking about the things that I experienced yesterday. I acted as a moderator for two presenters - I'm not going to put their names here because I didn't ask permission - and was thankful for the opportunity to learn about things that I've forgotten about instruments, about attitudes, and about thinking way outside the box. All four of the presentations that I moderated were things that interested me (which is why I selected them to moderate to begin with), and I feel inspired to try some new old things. I am remembering things that I've put aside thanks to the two presenters. For me, remembering things long forgotten or finding one new idea is what makes going to conferences so valuable. I've started feeling like there really isn't an...

A post from NASA on my Twitter feed asked me the question above, and it started me thinking about inspiration and the people who inspire me. Over the years, I've been inspired by music therapy professors, by co-workers, and by clients. In every situation, my interns inspire me - to be a better therapist for my clients, to be a better mentor for each one of them, and to just be better. As I've matured as a music therapist, I've been less inspired by my original music therapy mentors and more inspired by fellow music therapists. I'm not sure who I would list as an inspiration these days, but I know this. I am inspired by my music therapy friends who go out there everyday into an uncertain music therapy world to do good things for the people who need music therapy services. I find comfort in knowing that we all have our ups and downs in our music therapy lives and inspiration in the way that my friends keep working for the benefit of their clients and employees. I ...

  This is a quotation that I keep on one of my bulletin boards at home. (I should probably get a copy for my office at work...hmm). I have had this quotation around me somewhere ever since I started to work as a music therapist. I have no idea where I first found it, but it wasn't given to me - I did find it all on my own, and it really spoke to me then. It still speaks to me now. I've done a bit of research on Corita Kent recently and found that she was a Catholic religious sister who expressed her ideas about social justice and tolerance. She is classified as a pop art icon and silkscreen was her primary medium. Most of her artwork brings back memories of color schemes and the times in which she created - very 70's and 80's. When I first found this quotation, I had no idea who Corita Kent was, but I really felt that her idea about structure encapsulated my feelings as well. So, I adopted this quotation as my own. (If you are interested in more about Sr. Kent and ...

As you know, if you read this blog post on a daily basis, I am a fledgling bullet journaler. I have my personal/home bullet journal and a session/music therapy bullet journal that I use to strategize. I am not very fancy, but I do love using my markers and making things look coordinated. Lately, I've been a bit obsessed with Plan With Me videos on YouTube. These are videos where people film themselves drawing their bullet journal pages. They are usually very artistic and pulled together. The people who make these videos usually only show their hands and there is usually stock music and sped up video formats that go along with the discussion about which pens were used and why the person chose to go with the kites as a theme. I'm addicted to these videos. They have become my evening event. My own journaling journey has been a bit less coordinated, a bit less nifty, and a lot less time-consuming than the videos that I just can't seem to stop watching. I do what works for m...

For many years, I have had the privilege of being an internship director. I do not get any recognition or recompense at work for this. I do not get any benefits from AMTA or CBMT (other than a couple of CMTEs every year) for this. I rarely get an acknowledgement from the university programs that I work with, and this part of the job complicates my job pretty significantly. Yet, I continue to offer internship positions at my facility. Why? Because I love this part of being a music therapist! I think that, if you asked Internship Directors out there why we are IDs, most of us would say that being a supervisor at this level of a person's education is just plain old inspiring. Every intern I have ever worked with has taught me so much about the field of music therapy - things that are good and things that I will change in the future! Interns are so very ready to be doing music therapy, that they are eager, inspired, and so enthusiastic that you just cannot avoid the feeling. I sp...

I found a melody and some accompaniment yesterday before my first session. I wrote everything down (with some basic rhythmic notation) and am trying to figure out what words go with the song. I absolutely love when I find a song. It doesn't happen often, so when a song arrives in my brain, I try to capture it as soon as possible. These songs seem to be the songs that my clients remember years and years after I've introduced them. This one is not complete yet - there are no lyrics to go with the melody - but the foundation is there and is sound.  My documentation was finished early yesterday, so I arranged the music therapy room for my centers and then sat down with the guitar. I started to scat a bit - singing random notes along with a simple guitar accompaniment. I found a phrase that resonated with me. I repeated it several times and then expanded on it. I was able to write it all down as well! The song will spend some time in my head until I figure out what words wil...

Yesterday was the first full day of the AMTA National Conference. I was able to go to sessions, spend some time talking to new acquaintances, and see some friends. Today is my presentation and other sessions are calling my name. Apparently, the folks at West music have been wondering who bought the pink steel drum. One of my former interns, who is currently working the booth, posted, "OMG. You're the one who bought the pink drum! Lol!" I did. The color was a consideration, but I've always wanted one for myself (no thoughts about clients here - they may not ever see this instrument), and it was on sale! I also promised myself that I would buy whatever I wanted this year after years of frugality. So, I got the pink steel drum. (I found another drum in the exhibit hall for significantly more money, and it was purple, so the pink one seemed to be better for me. Why do I feel that I have to justify this??? I bought a pink drum!) I also purchased a new book, a singing b...

Found at the Dollar Tree - I hope I can find more! Have you ever found something that just makes you start to think about music therapy with that specific client who would really appreciate this something, and the ideas just start coming? It happens to me sometimes, but hasn't for a long time. I am happy to note that that spark seems to be back again.  In addition to finding ideas for things in my thought process again, I am thrilled that my song composition spark seems to be back as well. It's been on hiatus lately, but the ideas are back, and I'm starting to write them down again! Hooray! Over the years, I've found that I have periods of creativity and times of maintenance. Lately, I've been in maintenance. I've missed the time when ideas just come really quickly, building on each other, and fighting to be labeled. I am nurturing that creative spark, building on it generally, and hoping that it will continue for a nice long time. Anyway. I found th...

I started the day yesterday with no idea what I was going to do in my group sessions. Let me explain a bit about what it is that I do. I provide 60 minutes of music therapy for every classroom per week so "teachers can get their plan time." There are no other guidelines offered by my administration, so I have freedom in what I do with my students when they arrive. I just have to keep them for 60 minutes. I have some basic treatment guidelines, but nothing really very formal. Music therapy is considered an "educational enrichment" service at the school - something offered for the benefit of students, but without requirements to be tied to the IEPs of clients (fortunately - I don't think I could handle attending 110 IEPs every year and the paperwork would be extremely daunting - ugh). My basic treatment guidelines are to address impulse control, social interactions, appropriate communication of wants and needs, and frustration tolerance/coping skill development....