music, therapy, and me

I forgot to take my medications last night until about 2 hours later than usual. These are my big, pain relief, nerve dulling medications that affect my sleep, awareness, and response time, so it is a pretty big deal when I forget them. I opened my eyes when the alarm light turned on at 4am, but I also did not get out of bed until almost 5am. My brain is still fuzzy, and my eyes don't focus right until the medication starts to wear off. So, that means that today will be an even later day. Today is a four-group day. Three of my four groups have already been with me this week, so I have to come up with something new for them to do when they are in the music therapy session. The other group is my once-per-week group, so they haven't explored any of the things that I have available right now - yet. So, the first thing that I have to do is to figure out what I am going to do with my clients. They went through a series of silly songs with me on Tuesday, so I am thinking I will bring ...

It is Sunday again, and that means another trip into Music in Therapy , the first trip into music therapy theory that I ever took (way, WAY back). It is taking me a long time to get through this relatively short chapter, but I think that is because I am thinking deeply about this chapter yet again. Eventually, I will be finished, but that time has not come this week. This week's topic is "music evokes affectively ordered behavior" (p.37-38). In the paragraph that Sears spares for this topic, I find myself saying quite often, "Yeah, but..." Sears used this one paragraph to illustrate the responses of groups of clients to different categories of music. While not using the words "sedative" and "stimulative" music, those terms are definitely implied. He starts off by averring that: "Slow tempos, smooth (legato) lines, simple harmonies, and little dynamic change are characteristic of music that tends to reduce or sedate physical ...