music, therapy, and me

I was unable to resist the itch yesterday and left around 6:15am instead of waiting until 6:30. Today, I didn't even open my eyes until 25 minutes after my alarm light turned on (I use a light instead of an audible alarm because I get startled by sounds in not good ways to start your day...). I took my shower, and then started my morning routine. It is now 5:30am. I will try my best to stay where I am until it is 6:30, but the itch is happening... Anyway, let's make this more about music therapy than about my current anxious itch. I am in the midst of developing my October theme digital offering for my clients. I will be taking a couple of days off for the AMTA National Conference (offered virtually) in October, so I want to have a file ready for those two days. The theme is Bullying, and I started off by finding some YouTube resources for my clients to access. I have a couple of original songs that need to be recorded, but I do not have a moment to myself these days, so I am r...

While I enjoy writing a bit of fiction now and then, I find myself getting caught up in details that are not necessarily part of the big picture but will inform my ideas about what should happen in my story. It's called character and plot development, right?? I'm at that place right now.    I am thinking about the first course that I named in this thought experience - "A Continuum of Music and Humanity." In my post on Tuesday , my hero, Persephone, was sitting in her assigned seat in the auditorium, one of four thousand music therapy students (could you imagine a gathering of music therapy hopefuls THAT big??), getting ready to hear from the person in charge of it all, Dr. Licar. What would this course cover, do you think? I am fleshing it out in my head - writing a syllabus and doing some light internet research to find references and resources for a course titled something like this.   One of my favorite courses from my undergraduate days was "Soci...

Well, I started my new, personally motivated, professionally enriching book challenge this week. I sat down and made myself a reading tracker to include in my CMTE tracking notebook, and I started with the first chapter of Wellness, Incorporated: The Health Entrepreneur's Handbook by Jennifer Buchanan. I sat down with my notebook - the cool Star Wars one that I'm using for tracking my continuing education these days - and opened up my Kindle. I downloaded (after paying for) this book when it first came out, because I really enjoy Jennifer Buchanan, and I admire her ability to be a music therapy entrepreneur. I have another one of her books on my reading list as well - one that is more about how to do music therapy than how to do business, but this one is the one I need right now. I have been working on figuring out what I want for myself and the world of music therapy. To do this, I've been focusing on my vision for my future. I foresee a time when my body will j...

I failed at everything that I set out to do yesterday. I wanted to write down two "NTM" TMEs. I didn't. I wanted to clean my house last night. I didn't. I wanted to have a full serving of vegetables or fruit yesterday. I managed to get in about a third of a serving.  I wanted to stay up until 9pm. I didn't. I wanted to get my documentation completely done. I didn't. I did manage to interact with students in six different therapeutic encounters without any type of behaviors of concern happening from anyone. I did manage to engage diverse learners into therapeutic interactions, and I did sort bus duty into a process that took it from 40 minutes of mayhem on Monday to 18 minutes of controlled release on Tuesday, so it's not like I failed at everything ever! I did fail at some things, but I succeeded in so many more things. The problem that I have is that I tend to dwell on the failures rather than celebrating the successes.  I have learned tha...

I've been reading some of my Kindle resources lately. (Just a side note, I'm a bibliophile, and this trend is happening for me in the form of free Kindle books - the more, the better!!) I found a collection of essays, chapters, or thoughts about being productive in these days, and I downloaded it. It's called, Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind. (Can you see why it interested me?). It is edited by Jocelyn K. Glei, and is published by 99U. I found it on Amazon. I'm spending some time at work (while my intern is using my computer), sitting in the window, reading these recommendations, and then taking notes in my traveler's journal. This is part of my "use work hours for work" focus, and it's been interesting to read through some of the resources that I have available to me. This collection offers ideas from many different people. The "chapters" are quick reads and take many diff...

My Brain - thinking and thinking and thinking Have you ever watched a client learn something? You know that moment. The one when a client makes a sound on an instrument for the first time. The moment when the tempo of the music is perfect and your previously quiet client starts to sing all the words of a song. The moment when a client realizes that you are improvising music based on what he/she/they are doing and then start to manipulate the music - taking control of the music that is created. I love those moments. They happen quickly and not every single day, but they do happen. You can see when someone grasps a new concept and when it becomes something real to them. I bet this moment is why teachers are teachers. I know that these moments are part of why I am a therapist. I work for persons who have been diagnosed as having an intellectual disability or a developmental disability. In addition, all of my clients have chronic psychiatric concerns as well. Learning does not prog...

As I keep investigating this idea of culture and what it means to me as a music therapist in my midwestern town with my clients from all over the country, I find myself going in circles. There are so many different things to consider when you start to look at culture, that I think I may need a course in sociology to help me figure things out. Hmm. I may look into a MOOC to see if I can find such a course. I bet I could, and I could get CMTEs because this has a definite application to my work as a board-certified music therapist. I digress. As I am thinking and experiencing cultural awareness, I am finding that I really don't know that much about it. I mean, sure, I understand the basic concepts that our culture is shaped by many influences. I know that my experiences are not the same as others who have not had the same influences in their lives as me, but there is so much to consider outside of the idea of basic cultural influences. Here are some of the terms that I am starti...

...and then you see it EVERYWHERE?? That's happening to me in my developing thoughts about culture and how we use elements of culture in music therapy. All of a sudden, I'm finding situations where I could see others reacting or responding to music or comments or information given. I am having to spend some time sorting through these feelings and the expanded vision, and I haven't even really been all that deep in the topic...yet. This happens quite often. I hear a song that I like, and all of a sudden, it is everywhere - in the Dollar Tree store when I go shopping, on the radio, my clients ask for it over and over again, it is incidental music. You name it. It becomes pervasive. This type of thing is happening to me right now. I have always been interested in culture, especially how it influences musical performance and engagement. I try to be culturally aware - I try not to be someone who tries to take cultural aspects as my own, but I also see a great benefit in ...

Last week, my randomly selected song for this next series of Song Conversion Sunday posts was one that sent me into some deep thinking about culture and cultural appropriation and that has challenged me to think a bit differently about the music that I have on my iPod and how I use that music. Now, to start all this off, I am not an expert on culture, cultural appropriation, cultural misappropriation, or anything other than my own experiences. My own cultural experiences are that of middle-class, caucasian America. I am a woman, I prefer the pronouns "she" and "her," and I do not have to spend much time thinking about cultural misappropriation because my cultural background seems to be prevalent in the place where I live. I have never really thought too much about whether the music that I use in sessions is something that I'm taking from another culture and shaping it into something other than what it was intended for originally. I guess this is something to...

Hand-drawn monkeys - soon to be on TPT! I admit, when I get thinking about something, I just do not stop until the thought is thunk. (Interestingly, my spell-check does not object to the word "thunk.") So, I am still stuck on the idea of thematic programming and how music therapists can (and already do) use this programming in their clinical interactions. I thought about this all the way to work yesterday and for the first 20 minutes of my clinical day, and I decided to continue to develop this idea into a second post because I always do better once I've written something down for others to see and think about (AND comment on!! Tell me if you think this is right or completely wrong!!). Here are my thoughts about thematic programming - Day Two (if you are interested in reading my thoughts on day one, here's the link ). First of all, I believe that we all do thematic programming in our music therapy clinics. Oooh, I can hear people saying, "What? I don'...

Well, I had this wonderful, long post about all of my experiences yesterday - both in music therapy and outside in the world (I got my In-N-Out fix yesterday at lunch) - but then YouTube hung up my Mozilla and I ended up losing it all! As a result, I am not going to try to replicate all that I wrote about for the last 75 minutes, but here's what is going on. I went to lots of good presentations yesterday. I attended presentations on marketing within a private practice, cultural humility, and solution-focused lyric analysis. I ditched the keynote presentation and the business meeting for an expensive turn around the exhibit hall where I purchased things that I need for my clinic (I now have a capo for the music therapy clinic - you are welcome, #24 and #25). I also bought some stuff that I really don't need but that I wanted - children's books, a tuning fork, some textured eggs, lots of stuff! I still have more money, so I am going back this afternoon. Today, I will spen...

Last year's conference haul - what will I get this year?? I am at the American Music Therapy Association national conference right now. I am sitting in my room, eating leftover pizza, and trying to figure out what I am going to do with my day. I went through the conference schedule on the website quite a bit ago, and I wrote a list of presentations that interested me on (wait for it!) a 4X6 inch INDEX CARD!! I do not use the conference app that we have now, mainly because I don't use my phone that much. I'm sure I'm missing out on something, but I'm content with my old school ways of doing things. On my [Ahem] index card, I have two choices for this morning - either attending A Quick Reference Guide to Solution-Focused Lyric Analysis in Psychosocial Music Therapy Treatment or Effective Practicum Supervision Using the Integrative Developmental Model . Both interest me, especially from a model/protocol/procedure point of view, but I can only be in one place a...

On Friday, I did something I've never done before. I sat down and went through the entire AMTA conference schedule to plan out my concurrent session attendance. Now, I have no idea if I will actually go to these sessions, but I now have a list of topics that I am interested in learning more about when I am at conference. Almost everything is either marketing or supervision this time around - with a couple of things like Special Education ideas and a Philosophy Slam thrown in for good measure. I've also signed up for a marketing consultation with a friend of mine, and I finally have something to share at the Music Therapy Business Owner's Task Force meeting. Add in a couple of times to sit with some OCMT friends, and my conference time is filling up. I have things that I need to do to get ready. My packing list is finished, but the packing is certainly not done yet. I need to go shopping for road trip snacks, a new computer bag (mine is splitting at all the seams), and...

I got a new version of an old gadget yesterday, and I am getting it set up and ready to go. I enjoy a bit of technology, but I am not extremely experimental when it comes to tech in my life. I do not go out and purchase every single thing that I can get my hands on - I am extremely picky about technological things, so I find something I like and then stick with it. The only reason I have a new example of this old gadget is that my old one is several years old and is starting to act like it. In addition, I got a REALLY good trade-in offer and my new device cost about the same as the old device, but with significantly expanded storage!! I am now getting the old device ready to go back to the company so I can cash in my trade-in offer and get started with the new thing sitting on my desk. This is something that I get from my father - the interest in things technological - but he is one of the people who has to get the brand-new smart phone two weeks after it is released (I am definitely...

I am fascinated with how people learn to do things. If you have any questions about Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, I'm your gal! I truly believe that there are different ways to learn things, and that we are all prone to learn best in some intelligences and not when material is presented in other ways. I know that I am a visual learner primarily - if I can see it, I can figure it out, replicate it, and remember it for always! I do not have a photographic memory, but my visual memory is close. I can tell you where on a page to look for a specific sentence. I may not be able to tell you the exact page, but I can find it pretty quickly by flipping through. I also have some strange kinesthetic learning quirks (labeled as such by my internship director many moons ago) where I can tell you about how far into the book you should start looking by remembering how far my fingers were while holding the book while reading the information you seek. It's strange, but it's me. It...

I'm a bit sick and very exhausted today, so I am in a bit of a funk. I refuse to dwell on that today, though. I'm tired of thinking about how tired my body and brain are feeling right now, so I am going to think about other things. I am on a music therapy journey. So are you, if you are reading this post. I am pretty far on my journey, but I was at the same place that you are at one point (unless you have done this longer than I have, and then I am looking forward to that part of the journey...). I continue to find my way through this profession that we call "Music Therapy." I'm currently working on a music therapy map - something that helps me visualize the process of becoming and being a music therapist. At the moment, the map is only concerned with internship milestones, but it could expand dramatically to include other periods of time - education, entry-level professional, seasoned professional, mentor, you get the idea. Yesterday, I had the privilege ...

I'm so very tired at the moment, trying to figure out how to break a stubborn fever along with pneumonia of some sort as well as not sleeping since I started my medications. I've spent more time at home than at work this week, so I'm getting pretty tired of my own company as well. The cat leaves rooms when I enter them, so my interpretation of her behavior is that she is tired of my presence as well. When this happens, I tend to binge-watch crime shows and sit with an idea book nearby. I felt some ideas coming, so I scrounged up an old spiral notebook and watched NCIS (LOVE MARK HARMON!). I did some drawing earlier this week and later, I just let my mind wander all over the paper. I fixated on the word "jumpy" for a time. The cat seemed pretty jumpy, so I doodled the word over and over using different fonts. I enjoy lettering so I just focused on that for a bit of time. As I was sitting there, my mind started to wander towards music therapy things. I was ref...

Today is the day that I officially start my WRAMTA conference experience. I did not go to the conference venue yesterday because there was really no reason to do so. I didn't want to be out until 9pm for an opening ceremony, so I remained at home with my parents. I think I crashed into a deep sleep about 7:30 their time, but it may have been earlier. I am now sitting in the guest bedroom, getting my presentations finished and posted on my website, and preparing the rest of my day. I have been through the conference program and have mapped out my day. I'm going to be in rooms 200C and 100A, 200B and maybe 100A (depending on my mood, back pain, and ability to stay awake by then!). I am going to be hearing about preschool treatment repertoire, advocacy, and lots of other stuff as well. In addition, there is a bit of lunch on the docket. (I think I ordered the chicken penne today - tomorrow is the mushroom risotto.) Tomorrow's schedule is mostly my presentations - I am going ...