music, therapy, and me

I have a difficult relationship with technology. iThings and I do not speak the same language, so I avoid them like the plague. I have an iPod because Apple took over the mp3 market and it was easier to just give into the Apple thing than it was to try to navigate the world of Zune and other mp3 technology. As long as I don't antagonize it, the iPod does what I need it to do - keeps me entertained. I do not have many smart speakers around me - just the one in my Kindle Fire - and I am fine with not knowing things immediately. I am resisting the world of instant gratification and the need to always get information instantaneously. I have a terrible success rate with Bluetooth things. My Dad got me a BB-8 robot many years ago that has never connected with my Bluetooth stuff. I FINALLY figured out how to work my speakers with my laptop, and I also can get my phone hooked up into my car system. I tell you this because I have a new toy to share with some of my clients next week - a Drop...

This week is sound awareness week in my music therapy groups. We are using a couple of devices and a website to start our journey into sound and how sounds affect us as humans. I have a couple of movement-activated devices called Musini - this is a device from Neurosmith that is no longer made. I buy them when I find them because my clients enjoy the cause and effect of this particular toy.  I have two that are fun to play with. In addition, we are using the website, https://bouncyballs.org/, as an auditory reaction to sounds. With this website, you can set several different things to respond to ambient sounds. You have to have a microphone, but I have found that I can hook things up to my Promethean board through my clinic laptop with a slight delay in the response. This seems to work pretty well with my clients who also experience some delays in responses. Well, we are using these two things to explore the relationships between sound and response and movement and sound. I love i...

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It is Star Wars Day tomorrow (May the Fourth, you know), so I am taking one of my favorite things in the world to work - my R2-D2 robot! He is voice-activated and stubborn as all get out, which I absolutely LOVE! We do some experimentation with offering commands and waiting for responses and then we let him do his thing all over the music therapy room. He is a great tool for some discussion about listening, about conflict, and about how it feels when people do not listen to you. In addition to playing with R2, we are going to use some mini flashlights that I bought from Oriental Trading Co a long time ago - they have constellations on them! We are also going to listen to John Williams' music. There is nothing that I disapprove of this week! I love it all! This is a good way to start the last month of our regular schedule. I get to let my nerdy, fan-girl side out and still justify all this as a therapeutic event! So, this week's sess...