music, therapy, and me

I am horrible with making goals for myself and sticking through with them. I mean, I can write the goals no problem - I do that all the time, but I don't follow through. I am lousy at that particular part of the goal-followed life. So, I try to trick myself into viewing these things as "quests" rather than "goals" to see if it will work better for me. It does, to a point, and then it doesn't anymore. I am currently in one of those times when it doesn't work anymore. Now, I have all sorts of excuses - some good, some not so good. I have a broken finger which makes typing, writing, and composing challenging. I am sick again with the same sort of stuff I had in May which saps my strength and makes me just want to sleep all the time. My brain is stuck in survival mode which means that creativity is pushed to the side in favor of just getting through it all. I am lazy and just don't want to write any sort of therapeutic music experiences right now. I have...

Hint: So much to celebrate next week!! I get to surround myself in a movie franchise that I have loved since I was seven years old!! Do you know what I am referring to? Not Teacher Appreciation week. Not May Day, but May the Fourth!! If you have no idea what this is, you may want to skip the rest of this post. If you haven't ever watched this franchise, then I'm not sure we can be friends (just kidding, but I may try to convince you to dive into the stories...I'm just saying...) I have arranged to take over music therapy sessions from my interns next week so I can share my love with my clients. I have identified the t-shirts that I will be wearing. I have to get batteries for my robot prop this weekend - my favorite character, by the way. I may have to prepare by watching all the movies this weekend...I wonder if I have enough hours from this evening through Sunday evening to get through everything! Am I vague enough for you? This tends to be the week that my music therapy ...

Oh me, oh my. At the start of this calendar year, I decided that I needed to get a grip on my visual aids. I have an extensive collection of things that I use with my clients to increase the possibility of understanding and communication within the music therapy session. This collection has come about due to love for teacher supplies (can't walk past a bulletin board display without taking a long, close look), my love for papercrafting (also really love drawing and making things), and my tendency to be a pack rat (love me some paper, markers, tools, and visuals for songs - what can I say?). I have so many visuals that I was really unable to keep track of them all, so it was way past time to find some sort of organizational system. My first step was to establish a place to store things. In my office, I have a series of built-in shelves that are awkward for instrument storage. They are just not the right size for many of the instruments that I need to use. They reach from floor to ce...

I am currently in the middle of cataloging my visual aids. Now, please know that not all music therapists have several cabinets of visuals sitting around their music therapy spaces, but I would venture to say that most music therapists have several cabinets (or bags, or boxes, or rooms) full of other things (sheet music, CDs, instruments) that could always use a good organization system, so I am going to use my visuals as a starting point for my discussion here. Be patient with me. I will eventually get to the point. So, I enjoy making and using visual aids with my clients. I have always enjoyed teacher stores, bulletin board designs, and clip art, and that enjoyment has found a place in my music therapy practice.  NOTE: I do not think that music therapy interventions require visuals - in fact, I want to make sure that the visuals only support the music therapy interventions -- not be the reason for the intervention. There is a distinction in my head, just so you know. I have many ...

Choir started again last evening. Only two people showed up for rehearsal, but that was two more than I have sung with at church since March 2020, so I was happy to make 3-part music again. This morning, though, I am exhausted. I tried really hard to deny that it was time to get up when it was time to get up. I think I slept past my light turning on by my bed this morning, but only by 30 minutes, so that's well within my "I can get to work without any sort of problem" time frame. No worries about getting things finished and ready to go this morning. I still wanted to sleep, but did not panic or have to rush through my routines. I have used the bathroom, selected my clothing for today, and am now sitting down to write about time management. Yep, I am struggling with time management at the moment. This is one of my favorite topics to talk to interns about because I feel that strong time management and logical organization systems are essential to longevity in this professio...

You know how we therapists are often our own worst critics? Yep. That's me. I am the loudest when it comes to my failings and things that I "NEED TO/SHOULD" do better in all areas of my life. No one is harder on me than I am, and I carry lots of shame when others correct me or criticize how I do things. Yesterday was not a particularly bad day, but it was not my most efficient day. I filmed two videos for my YouTube channel, uploaded them both, took about three hours for a worker's compensation doctor visit, and got very little done for the rest of the day. I did do a bit of goal brainstorming (I bought 13 books from the Barcelona $10 textbook sale) for my professional development for the next year. I cleared off the loveseat (one of my decluttering foci for this week), and then started to get my reading routine off the ground. I intend to spend some of my work days in reading this year. Yesterday's reading was not done during work hours, but I had to keep myself ...

It is raining today - not a quiet, steady, and soaking type of rain but a heavy, washing away type of rain. It has been a long time since we had some rain, so I am welcoming the cooler weather and the water that is coming down. Crops are in, so this will help wash the dust from the air and make things a bit more clear.  I went to work yesterday and walked on the convenient sidewalk that was between my preferred parking lot and the main building. When I went outside for bus duty at the end of the day, the sidewalk had been replaced with a gaping hole and a bulldozer. Apparently, administration decided that the sidewalk had to go, so I have to remember to park elsewhere today - especially since the gaping hole will probably be a mud pit by the time I get there today. The gaping hole is supposed to alleviate the flooding problem that the property has had since I've been there (25 years), but I am skeptical since it hasn't been fixed in those 25 years even with all the tinkering th...