music, therapy, and me

Ah, Thursday. I woke up this morning splayed out, face down, cat sleeping between my legs, and singing "On Day More" from Les Mis. I'm kinda stuck on the phrase that Madame and Monsieur Thenardier sing during that song - Watch 'em run amuck, Catch 'em as they fall, Never know your luck When there's a free for all. Here a little dip, There a little touch, Most of them are goners So they won't miss much. I'm not sure that this particular song snippet is a favorable omen for this day, but it is time to get ready to go into my last work day for the week. It is the last session Thursday for the regular school year. If we go to work next Thursday (at all), it will be for inservice time and hours. I'm not sure if we will be working next Thursday, but I really hope not. It's my birthday, and I would like to spend it in the solitude of my own home rather than sitting through yet another discussion about data and PBIS and statistics offered by...

Inside cover of a new project I am in a season of introspection. This has quite a bit to do with being socially distanced and also with an upcoming birthday, and it also has to do with being middle aged and not liking it one whit. I am feeling lots of stuff - mostly negative emotions at the moment. I don't like these feelings, but I am striving to learn as much about myself as I can during this down time. Since I am bored with all this stuff happening but have no control over it all, I am trying to find some things to do that are outside of my comfort zone. I examined my social media feeds, and do you know what I found? I only really use those feeds for music therapy things. That is not a surprise but rather just an observation that I had never really paid attention to before. Outside cover in progress I have started to fix this by joining two paper crafting groups. They are groups that encourage folks to make things out of paper. I am simultaneously cowed and challenge...

This morning was the first morning in what seems like forever that I have a) woke up at the time I would always like to wake up (4:30 am) and b) felt refreshed after sleeping. It is such a good feeling to be rested and ready for whatever happens today. It is time for more futurist thoughts about music therapy and what things may happen for my hero, Persephone. I wonder where my story will take me today... CHAPTER FIVE Tuesday started very early. The alarm went off at 5 am, and Persephone reached out to silence it before hauling herself out of bed and stumbling to her small bathroom suite. She had three hours before her first class of the day and still needed to work on her assignments from the day before.  The first day of her new course of study had been slightly overwhelming. Persephone had not been around that many people all in one room in, well, ever. Her experience of school and university was only from the perspective of distance learning and virtual interaction...

This post started out as a rant about my current feelings about things, but I'm not interested in continuing that type of thought process. Just so you know, I woke up in a bad mood, ruminating on a situation that needs to be completed that I had no control over, and then finally taking the courageous step that I needed to do and finding that the situation is complete. The bad mood is still there - I am VERY much in "I don't want to do this anymore" mode and it is permeating my every pore this morning. No. MJ, you are NOT going to dwell on this! I spent some time in my bullet journal over the past two days. I neglected it over the past two weeks, but I am back to using it. I am also preparing my new journal - it will start at the end of June when my current one fills up. I am taking a bit of time to color in the format that I've selected. I've been using my marker collection (HUGE - it's a problem for me...) and some of the stickers that I've been g...

DISCLAIMER: The thoughts that I'm putting together in this work of fiction are informed by several things - first, that the profession of music therapy is on the verge of a change brought about by several factors, including that of our professional organizations and membership demands; second, that this pandemic is changing how we "usually do things" in ways that will linger far after our stay-at-home orders do; and third, I like writing, and this seems to be a good time for a story. These thoughts are not based on much reality - just glimpses into possible future situations and possibilities. I am very interested in what you think - how do you think we will act as music therapists in the near future? What about the distant future? Do you think our profession will be changing based on the things we are learning about this pandemic? Do you think it will remain the same? Do you think that I am completely full of baloney and that this is a frivolous waste of time? Let me k...

"You are the class of 2050, four thousand strong. Welcome to the study of music therapy." The words echoed off the walls of the lecture hall. Persephone felt like cheering but resisted the urge because no one else cheered. Finally, the time had come to start learning more about what music therapists did and how they wrought their magic with people like Gram and with Evander. In fact, Persephone's first contact with music therapy was with Gram and Evander, and with Evelyn. Evelyn arrived one day when Persephone was about five years old. Evander, Persephone's older brother, was going to start music therapy in addition to all the other therapies that he did during the days. Mama always told Persephone to go to her kindergarten feeds when it was time for Evander to do therapy, but Evelyn asked for Persephone to join in. Evelyn sat down on the floor with Evander and invited Persephone to join them both. She took out a guitar and started to strum. The ...

While I enjoy writing a bit of fiction now and then, I find myself getting caught up in details that are not necessarily part of the big picture but will inform my ideas about what should happen in my story. It's called character and plot development, right?? I'm at that place right now.    I am thinking about the first course that I named in this thought experience - "A Continuum of Music and Humanity." In my post on Tuesday , my hero, Persephone, was sitting in her assigned seat in the auditorium, one of four thousand music therapy students (could you imagine a gathering of music therapy hopefuls THAT big??), getting ready to hear from the person in charge of it all, Dr. Licar. What would this course cover, do you think? I am fleshing it out in my head - writing a syllabus and doing some light internet research to find references and resources for a course titled something like this.   One of my favorite courses from my undergraduate days was "Soci...