music, therapy, and me

To be completely honest, I am currently just getting through my library books right now. I have finished seven of them, have three more to read, and twelve more days to finish them up before I need to turn them back in. I will finish them before that time, but not until this weekend. It is interesting that when I try to read anything at work, attempting to gain some sunshine and get away from my desk, all I get are condescending and snotty comments. People walk past saying, "Gee, must be nice to have extra time where you can just sit and read." This always rubs me the wrong way because I am taking my 25-minute duty free lunch that is part of the contract that is between myself and my school district. I get to choose when and how I take that time. I don't leave my office much because of the attitude that I get when I leave my space. All I can think is, "Well, ____. If you were as efficient in your job as I am in mine, you would have some time to take lunch as well, an...

It has been about a month since I went to the library, and I am feeling the urge to go back but I am also feeling lazy. How does that work? Well, going to my library involves going downtown which is a warren of one-way streets, having to compete for parking, and then having to go to the outskirts of town where I live. The only time I have to do something like this is after work when my brain is absolutely exhausted and the thought of all of the effort needed to check out books makes the thought of going through the process absolutely horrific to me. This does not mean that I am not reading, though. Oh, of course not. I have an extensive library of my own that I am reading through. At the moment, I am re-reading The Heroes of Olympus  by Rick Riordin because he has a new book out that continues Percy Jackson's story. I wanted to re-read the ones that I have in order to get caught up. That's 10 books to get through before I can start the new one. I am on book nine. In addition to...

It is Wednesday, so it is time to talk a bit about what I am reading these days. To start, it is easier to talk about my personal reading than my professional reading because I have not been doing much professional reading lately. I will start with the professional reading, though, because there is not much to talk about. This morning, I walked into my library where I have currently stashed all of my professional textbooks. I selected one from the shelves that I have purchased but not even opened yet. The book that drew my attention was Group Analytic Music Therapy  by Heidi Ahonen-Eerikainen (sorry that I cannot figure out how to do the umlaut over the a on this program).This book was published by Barcelona Publishers in 2007, and it was part of a sale order that I made a couple of years ago. I picked it because it is part of analytical music therapy, a form of music therapy that confuses and intrigues me, but also because it concerns group music therapy which is my primary servic...

It's that time again - time to update you on what I've been reading. I actually sat down yesterday and did some reading in my book - finished chapter two and looked forward into chapter three of Emotional Processes in Music Therapy by John Pellitteri. I must say that I am enjoying this book. It is providing me with a framework that is valid (in my opinion) regardless of which theoretician you subscribe to in your way of doing music therapy. I like that. I feel that it gets me one step closer to my goal of a Grand Unifying Theory of Music Therapy - the one thing that links us all together rather than pulling us apart. That's what I want for the music therapy community - things that pull us together instead of pulling us apart. My quest for understanding is moving along quite nicely. Anyway, back to the book that I am currently reading. I took notes this time around, so here are some of the things that I gleaned from my research yesterday afternoon... p. 26 - A Model of Emot...

I have finished the first week (and first chapter) of John Pellitteri's Emotional Processes in Music Therapy book, written in 2009, and published by Barcelona Publishing. I am enjoying this perspective about therapeutic relationship and how emotion plays a part in all that we do and perceive. I am actually excited about what I am being challenged to consider, and it is only the end of the first chapter! I started off with the table of contents as well as the "About the Author" portion of the book. I like getting a bit of perspective about what I will be reading about and who ends up writing books like these. I know another person named Pellitteri, so I admit to wondering if there is a link between the Pellitteri I know and this one - I have no clue, but it is interesting to think about... ANYWAY... The author started off by discussing the relevance of emotion research to music therapy and why we need to know about it all. The author makes a point to indicate that the the...

It is time to catch up a bit on my music therapy reading. I set a goal for myself of getting through 13 music therapy texts in this year. I have finished two books - well, three if you count the book on American folk songs that I read the first part of and then realized that is was mainly descriptions of song origins and how the American versions differed from the other versions. I may never finish that one. So, I guess I am only two books into my stack. With the next 10 days of break ahead of me, I can probably make some inroads into that stack! I am currently working on reaching my Goodreads goal of 250 books this year by reading cozy mysteries on my Kindle. I am not where I want to be on that goal either, but I am confident that I can catch up pretty well. See, the simple fact is that I love reading. It has always been my leisure activity of choice - to sit down with a book and see what types of things I can glean from the pages. While I love to read, I have less motivation when it ...

I just finished an introductory overview course on a technique that I have heard about but never really examined closely. The course itself offered information that was good but it was not exactly what I wanted to learn. That's okay and happens quite often to me these days with presentations and coursework and all that. I think some of the problem is that I am not sure what I want to learn about this profession. All I know is that I am still seeking greater knowledge and wisdom about music as a therapeutic medium for my clients. I am reading a bit. My hope for reading daily has been shattered for another month since I didn't read yesterday. I will not be reading much today since I have to leave for OT before I can get into my late afternoon time which is the time I've set aside for reading. Oh well. This fact doesn't mean that I stop - it just means that I have to focus on the goal a bit more. I FINALLY finished the second chapter of my current book. It has taken me SOO...

It is time to start my summer music therapy reading list. I have a new notebook for taking notes (I filled up the first one!), and I am looking at some more time with my modified work schedule, so I want to do something productive for my professional development. I go to my music therapy bookshelf to find something to read and think about... I think I will start with information from the Neurologic Music Therapy training by Michael Thaut. I took this course a long time ago, but I know that some of the information offered then will still be relevant. I would like to purchase some of the more recent texts that Thaut has produced, but I'm not going to spend the capital at the moment. I will start with the information that I have at hand. My first foray into professional development reading will be the Training Manual for Neurologic Music Therapy. Time to get my supplies ready. Five different types of post-it notes (I have LOTS of cute ones because of my stationery subscriptions). I th...

I am starting to feel twinges of guilt that I am only reading things for pleasure at the moment, so I am getting ready to get my professional reading habit started up again. I have many books on my Kindle that are waiting for me to access them, and here are some of the titles that I am going to put on my radar for those moments when I need something to occupy my brain (other than jigsaw puzzles...). There is always a bit of time in my work day where I just cannot think about the things that I usually have to think about. (How's that for a confusing statement??) There are some things that I won't do at work - for example, I won't connect my personal devices to the wi-fi network at work or read my pleasure reading list while I'm on the clock. So, I look for professional topic texts for my work reading - something that will enrich my way of being a music therapist. I'm also kinda picky about paying for books, so my Kindle list is often dictated by how much money ...

It's always a bit difficult to finish a synthesis textbook - I am torn between the accomplishment of being finished and the lost feelings that come when I need to find a new book to read. I have to say that, of all the texts that I have read over the years, this one, Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach , by Elizabeth Schwartz, is the most relevant and appropriate for my music therapy clinical practice. I like it when the ideas in any book are easy for me to include in my daily work, and this is that sort of book. So far, we've been through the developmental stages of music involvement, and the information that I've gleaned is a very good reminder of how humans engage in music making. I have been able to assimilate what happens in early childhood in contrast to what my children and adolescents do - some are musically appropriate - others demonstrate the impact of interrupted brain development. All of it works with my particular population and cl...

Control is an interesting concept, especially for the child. In Chapter ten of Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach by Elizabeth Schwartz, we take a look at how young children develop and demonstrate control through musical interactions and explorations. As a therapist who works with persons on developing impulse control, this chapter has been extremely relevant to my work. One of the resources that was sorely needed and lacking during my undergraduate education was the Briggs/Bruscia stages of musical development. I wish I had been exposed to these ideas way, way back. They were around when I was in school, so it would have been something we could have accessed, but it wasn't part of my class work. Oh well. Maybe it was better to wait until now to access that information - I can synthesize it much better as a seasoned clinician than I would have as a novice music therapy student. If you are currently a student (and reading this book - Hello, all from ...

I am still struggling with my responses to the continuing tragedies that happen in this country, but I think I am almost ready to dive into the research and writings about music therapy and trauma-informed care. Honestly, I've been a bit overwhelmed with things that are a bit more local this week, so I've neglected the reading that I've assigned myself. I've been unable to bring myself to open books about trauma, so it's been somewhat difficult to accomplish my goal of reading my next book. I have read the introduction, so I know what is in store for me, and that is part of my hesitation. I am going to spend some time shoring up my self-awareness practices as I go into this topic. It is a difficult one for me, but it is something that I feel called to explore. I can't do that without working on my own responses and reactions. So, I am getting my ground rules ready for this work. Rule #1 - Feel all the feelings. Rule #2 - Walk away when the feelings are to...

I think it is time to switch these Sunday posts again. I do this every once in a while because I get to a point where I just don't generate ideas about what to write about. I'm afraid that I've come to that point for these Sunday posts now, so it's time to change things up a bit. Now, it is time to figure out what I want to write about during these Sunday mornings. Hmmm. I really like alliteration, so whatever I choose should have some /S/ sounds as part of the title. Sound, Song, Singing, Session, Strategy, Simple, Sliding, Study, Supposition, Scholarship, Sibilance...  Nope. Nothing comes to mind. Something will grab me, I am sure. Student Sundays? Nah. That's a bit strange. Slip Sliding Away. Sound of Silence. Sing. Nope, nothing.  Maybe I'll go back to Synthesis Sunday. A while ago, I spent time reading my music therapy textbooks and then would attempt to pull the information together into my music therapy life on Sundays. I do have quite a few...

I do hallway duty at my school. I sit in a window, on a cushy window seat, and I watch kids walk to their classes. It's kinda a subterfuge because kids are allowed to walk to their classes without staff members, but there I am, day after day, watching them get to their destinations in an appropriate manner. Because of the subterfuge (which only one student has figured out by the way), I always take things to do when I go to sit in the hallway. Lately, I've been alternating between my bullet journal, my regular journal, and my new copy of Barbara Wheeler's Music Therapy Handbook. I bought myself a copy of this newly released book when I was at conference in Ohio, and I've been reading it piecemeal since. I usually sit down, open up to a random page and then go to the beginning of the chapter and hunker down to read. I'm using much of the same techniques with this reading that I've developed for my article reading (see anything about being research-informed on t...

Oh, Happy May! As I am sitting here in these pre-dawn hours, I am thinking about my posts over the past several months. They have been increasingly focused on self-care and finding my way in music therapy. This is probably because I have spent much of the last two months sick. I had a bout with a stomach virus in March, and now I am in the midst of a stubborn asthma attack that is difficult to navigate when I have to be singing all the time. I have spent the last two days at home, and I am staying at home again today. But, I digress into something not-quite-related to what I want to talk about today. One my favorite things to do is to talk to professionals (and almost professionals) about self-care. It is amazing how much we talk about taking care of others and taking care of our professional responsibilities and how little we talk about taking care of our personal selves. I think I was lucky to study with a professor who was in the midst of personal issues - she made sure that we ...

I haven't done any music therapy reading this week, so there is no synthesis in this week. (I almost typed an "I need to" statement here - there is no reason why I "need" to do something...) I would like to get back into the habit of reading something every evening. Maybe I'll start that again tonight. Maybe not. We shall see! My favorite part of reading music therapy things is when something really makes me stop in my tracks and shakes up my idea of what music therapy is or could be. Often, those types of statements are those which go completely against my deep-held beliefs. I spend my time trying to figure out what I can take away from these new or contrary ideas. There isn't one "right way" to do music therapy. There really isn't, even though there are people who believe that there is only one "right way" to do music therapy. I am trying really hard not to be one of those people. I want to know what other people think and do ...

One of my favorite music therapy authors is Kenneth Bruscia. I have three different editions of his book, Defining Music Therapy , and I enjoy reading them all. I just received the last edition - and he swears it will be the last edition coming from him - right before conference, and I read bits and pieces of it throughout the conference. As a result, I am thinking quite a bit about the things that he writes about in his books. For me, one of the best things about this text is Bruscia's description of how he approached the writing process for this new edition. He essentially recruited a bunch of music therapy professors and clinicians to go through the past two editions and start to talk and discuss what we music therapists use as a definition. My second favorite part of the book is the list of definitions of music therapy from all around the world and history of music therapy. Most of the time, I find Bruscia really easy to read, but not always so easy to understand. I struggl...

Last year, I spent about six months reading parts and portions of my music therapy textbooks. I tried to read something every night for about an hour, and I would take notes about my reading. Sometimes I would read books, sometimes songbooks, and sometimes things related to music therapy but not music therapy (do you know what I mean?). I started a new notebook in June 2013, but stopped my nightly reading. I think this is due to the increasing health issues that I had around then, but I also felt a need to talk to others about what I was reading. I got that opportunity, but still stopped reading. Well, it is my summer break, so I am looking for things to do to fill up my days. So, I reached for the notebook and a text again. I randomly go through my bookshelves, looking for something that strikes my fancy. Come to think of it, I have never included my journals in my reading - perhaps I should. Yesterday, I picked up Music Therapy in Principle and Practice by Donald E. Michel and J...

“The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats...” ― Albert Schweitzer Ah, Albert, I think you are a man after my own heart. I can be stressed out about having to think about surgery, situations at work with my supervisor, the balance in my bank account, and I find that two things can make those things seem less concerning to me. Those two things are making music with my clients and rubbing Bella-cat between the ears. There is something about hearing the melodic purr of my cat after a long day that just makes me breathe a bit more deeply. There is also something about being in the middle of a musical improvisation with kids who have finally become group-oriented that requires being fully in the moment and not distracted by anything else. One of those perfect music therapy moments is like a plug in the bottom of a bathtub - find it, and all of the outside stressors just drain away. “My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence.” ―...