music, therapy, and me

It is time for a new series - The Thrifty Therapist - something to happen on Tuesdays because I like alliteration and themes. Here's what I'm thinking... One of the things that unites us all is a quest to get more for less. We music therapists are no different from anyone else - we want things that work for us for less money. So, I am working on ways to do just that. Now, this does not mean that things will be free, but there are ways to find materials, share ideas, and stay within a firm budget as a music therapist. This series is going to be a way to share ideas and things that have worked for me in my decades of being a music therapist. There will be products that I use, things that I offer and sell in various places, some free things to download and use right away, and some questions and surveys of the music therapy world. I have recommendations for gifts for music therapists and for equipment, instruments, and supplemental materials for working with different populations o...

I want to focus on some fun things, and what better day (especially with the alliteration that I love so much) to focus on fun than on Fridays? I am filling out my blogging schedule with some themes, and this is one that I want to bring back. My word for 2024 is "play." I have been trying to focus on things that bring me joy and fun, so I think I will take Fridays as a day to focus on the things that I find fun in our profession - there are plenty of things that are a natural part of this job that are SO MUCH FUN! Today, I want to talk to you about improvising. (How many of you felt a cold chill up your back when you read the word, "improvising." like I do?) I promise, this is a good thing. I had a jazz band director that made me very afraid of improvising way back in junior high. That fear made me very anxious each and every time anyone told me to improvise in any situation because I was convinced that I could not do it. My internship director, Sheryl Kelly, fixed ...

On Fridays, I tend to focus on the practices that make my life a bit easier. These practices are not things that will resonate with everyone, but I write about them anyway because this system might be something that will work for you or for someone you know who is looking for a way to do things. I never know, so I just keep writing. Let's talk about templates today. I like a strong template, and I make them all the time. I make templates for my Teachers Pay Teachers offerings, my documentation, my current task box project, therapeutic music experience development, forms for my internship duties, you name it - I make a template for it!  Once the template is figured out, I can use it in many different ways to get things finished. While there is time spent developing the template, once it is established, I save lots of time. So, I do what I love to do - I go into project planning and figuring things out to get templates going. For me, the purpose of a template is to provide a foundati...