music, therapy, and me

Does anyone else remember the television show, Changing Places ? It was on HGTV for a time in the 2000s (I think - it might have been at another time, but I am too lazy to switch to a new tab and find out). I used to love watching that show. Friends would work with interior designers to refresh a portion of each others' houses - all in secrecy and with interesting results. I was always opinionated about what they were doing in the spaces, so I enjoyed watching. I am not changing places right now. I have left one part-time job, so I have a bit of extra time that I have not had since 1998. For some reason, though, I keep thinking about this show. (I might be getting sick - constant rumination on very narrow, very specific topics is one of my body's ways of showing me that germs are taking over my life.) I keep thinking about how you expect something to turn out but that things often go out of your realm of imagination when you bring in other people into the equation. My life is n...

Yesterday, I left a job that I have had for 26 years. I left it because it was a toxic work environment where I was used and assigned all sorts of things that I was not interested in. I did not get a pay increase for eight years. They decided to accept my resignation rather than give me the $157 annual increase that I asked for. So, I am no longer working at the church where I have been since 1998. There is a strange type of grief that happens when you leave a job that is similar to losing a person from your life but not exactly the same. I am crying about not being wanted by this community anymore, but I am also so happy about being out of the toxicity that surrounded my job. I spent most of the last year resenting a role imposed upon me that changed every week, often 4 minutes before the start of one of my roles without notice. I was also not given an evaluation, pay increase, or direction for eight years. I asked for a change in my responsibilities to make them more appropriate for ...

Here it is, Tuesday again, and I am avoiding the thought of having to go to work - not because I am not looking forward to working, but because I just don't want to leave my bed. Bed is comfortable, but money is essential, so I will get going. I did not sleep much overnight, waking at 1:30 and not getting back to sleep, so I am just plain old tired, but that's not the topic of this morning's post. Today is Tuesday, so it is time to talk about being thrifty! Speaking of thrift, let's talk thrift stores! My sister and my mother are champion thrifters! (Spell-check doesn't like that word, but I do, so we are going to keep it!) They have a series of thrift stores that they frequent several times per month where they keep an eye out for things for my sister's classroom, for my mother's various collections, for gifts for others, and for my music therapy practice.  Now, I am nowhere near their level of thriftiness, but I am starting to try it out. Things to look fo...

I am currently in the middle of an AMTA self-assessment. Have you heard about this? This document was published in 2008 by the Professional Advocacy Committee at the time. It is supposed to be a way to evaluate ourselves based on the AMTA Standards of Clinical Practice, and I have some problems with it. As I read through this document, I am interested by the dichotomy between what AMTA folx think is the view of the "perfect music therapist" and the realities of my job assignment. Using this assessment, I am not acting as a music therapist because my job requirements do not match what AMTA thinks I should be doing in my job. This is a common situation that I find between the AMTA ideal of a music therapist and the reality of being a music therapist in the world of health care, education, and wherever! Now, should I be striving for the ideal? Somewhat, I guess, but I am in a place where many of the things on this assessment are not decided by me - they are decided by people who...

I wrote an opening song this week and turned it into a therapeutic music experience. I also spent some time just singing things and trying to stretch my vocal cords a bit after being an alto all summer rather than singing in my soprano range. As I was singing and composing and writing up procedures, I was thinking about this post series and how it has changed how I think about songwriting. Songwriting is something that I enjoy, but I didn't always want to do this part of our job. I don't think that many other music therapists want to do it either, at least based on the number of times I read requests for songs to be given and shared. AS I became a bit more confident in my skills, I found songwriting to be a great way to engage my clients in therapy. We compose songs together - I used to do this regularly with my clients, but I have stopped recently - perhaps I should start that up again... I find that there are many things that I enjoy doing as a composer. I am a great composer...

Here it is, already Saturday, and I haven't written a post since Monday morning. That is a bit because of my week, and a bit because I just like sleeping so much more these days than writing. I'm sorry about that because I do enjoy writing, but there are times when it is more than I can do to get up and sit at the computer. Today, though, I have more time ahead of me, so I got my opportunity to recline and relax before having to get going. I am blogging this morning in the midst of crying and body malfunctions and mystery bruises that arrive overnight. I've heard it from many people - getting old is NO JOKE! I think most of my current resistance to actually getting up is that I HAVE to get up. It is much easier for me to get going when I feel like getting going and not on a schedule that is not my own to control. Oh well. I will have a bit more control once I retire from this full-time existence. How many days?? *Just kidding - I have a monthly countdown going in my work pl...

I am happy to announce that I have published the next chapter of my Music Therapy Internship Handbook in my TPT store. If you are new here, I would like you to know that I am writing a general music therapy internship handbook - one chapter at a time. This chapter, Settling Into the Role of Music Therapy Intern , joins the three other chapters which cover finding an internship, preparing for the first day, and the first day of the music therapy internship experience. All of those chapters can be found in my TPT store . I am enjoying this experience. I have always been more fascinated with how we do the process of music therapy than any other part of our jobs. The internship seems to be a mystery to music therapy students - it was when I started looking for my internship, and it still seems to be difficult to find information. Eventually, I would love for music therapy students to use this handbook when they start looking for their internships.  I am trying to cover some of the minu...