music, therapy, and me

One of the advantages of going through my CD collection and ripping music to my computer is that I am being reminded of music that I have loved over my life and career. One of these songs is by Fiona Apple who was part of the "angry girl singer-songwriter" movement that happened at some point in my past. Criminal  is one of my favorites from Fiona Apple. Okay, let me explain something about me. I tend to find one song by an artist that resonates with me, and I then explore more of the music. I am not always impressed by the other songs that those artists share, but I have many CDs that I got because I wanted a copy of the one song that I love. I used to be part of a CD club - BMG got me many CDs for less than $2 each back when I was budgeting for everything - so I was able to find many of the songs that I loved back then for very little money. (I never really paid full price for any CD.) So, with Fiona Apple, I have a couple of songs that I like and more that I do not like as...

Part of my identity as a vintage music therapist is my CD and cassette collection. Now, I have purged many of my cassettes, but I cannot seem to get rid of the CDs that I purchased over many years. I use them in my car during commutes because wi-fi and data usage and all that is confusing to me (that's where the vintage label becomes VERY evident), so I prefer my music in tangible form rather than in streaming. So, I have book after book of CDs in my living room. The reason I bring this up is that the songs that I have been listening to lately are from yet another soundtrack - Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.  This is from a sweet movie that discusses grief and creativity and love, and the music is wonderful. It is currently the only CD in my car, so I am listening to it often. I cannot identify a favorite track in the soundtrack. It all blends together nicely. There is only one vocal track, and that one is not my favorite. I enjoy the leitmotivs and the way the music flows. I r...

I subscribe to Dan Rather's Steady newsletter - the free version - because I respect that man as one of the voices of my childhood. Mr. Rather replaced Walter Cronkite as the anchor of CBS news when I was a kid. My parents were diehard CBS news watchers because of Mr. Cronkite, and Mr. Rather became the new voice for a long time before my parents defected to NBC news and Tom Brokaw. Since I grew up with several voices in the news world, I have found myself gravitating back to those voices to help me make sense of the world right now. On Sundays, Mr. Rather takes a break from writing about politics and the state of the world to write about songs that he finds memorable. I like that, and I enjoy reading his words about those songs. I think I might start doing the same sort of thing on my blog - writing a bit about specific songs and why they are important to me. Now, I just have to find the songs... I was listening to songs that my clients were sharing this week, and I realized that ...

One of the benefits to getting older in this profession is the ability to remember how things used to be and to compare and contrast them with how things are now. There is a bit of nostalgia that is included (sometimes), and there is also a bit of "history repeating itself" that also sneaks in there. To preface all of this, let me tell you that my facility is undergoing a major change in how we do things with our students. This change is significant and will affect all of the things that we do - there will be changes in our student population, in our classroom configurations, and in what my job entails. This change is happening but no one has really thought through the implications for the rest of the program at this point. We are focusing on what has to happen for the new program, but not on what has to happen for the rest of the folks in the facility who are on the periphery of this program but who will also be affected significantly by these changes. That's where I fit...

I have been saying and saying that I would be synthesizing reading during these Sunday posts, and then I haven't done any reading, but no more! I have selected a book and actually cracked it open this week! I have since stalled in my reading, but that's okay. There is no timeline other than the one I place on myself. I am reading Wellness, Wellplayed The Power of a Playlist !! by Jennifer Buchanan . This book is not a music therapy text - it is not written for someone who has studied music therapy. It is written for everyone else, and I really enjoy those types of books. My first ever foray into the world of music therapy was a book called, The Music Within You by Katsch and Merle-Fishman , and that book was also written for people who were interested in music but who weren't music therapists either. I like to think of ways to get other people to incorporate music into their own lives purposefully. I am of the opinion that music is for everyone and can help people reach go...

I spent most of yesterday's groups engaged in little to no active music making at all. We listened to preferred music. Clients made their own music with the round bells and the keyboard, and I just listened. I'm listening lots this week.  There are sounds that happen all around us, and it is rare that we just listen to what is happening. In my music therapy space, I can hear things from all over my wing of the building. I can hear clients and teachers in conflict (because that is when voices get raised most often). I can hear people talking in the hallways that surround my room on two sides. I can hear toilets flushing, air systems rumbling, drips from the leak in my room. I can hear the lights buzzing. There are all sorts of things to hear. When my clients arrive in the music therapy room, there are more things added to the mix of sounds that are around me, and I learn so much about my clients by listening. I hear how they are breathing. I hear their pitch, rate of speech, and...

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...