music, therapy, and me

I admit, I am not a fan of this day, and I feel it every single year. I am not interested in dressing up or opening my door to trick-or-treaters. I am just not interested in much of this at all. I thought about doing a costume, but I just haven't done anything for the parade this afternoon. I am supposed to get something to hand out to my students, but I am not sure that I will. Communication about things does not often get through to the people that need to know the information. Also, the week of Halloween is always a rough week in education, and throw in many layers of diagnoses and things get so much more complex. There are things that will happen, and we have some who are forgetting that our students do not have any good concept of cause and effect and do not respond well to threats of taking things away based on behavior choices. So, there have been so many tantrums over statements like, "You haven't earned the Halloween party," and "You just lost your Hallo...

This is the first year of my seventh certification cycle as a board-certified music therapist. I am going to say, right now, that I usually send in my CMTEs once per cycle, and usually at the end of year four, and that I usually spend very little money on my CMTEs. I take full advantage of all the opportunities for collecting free continuing music therapy education credits. So, if you are a MT-BC who has gone through your first certification cycle (at least), you can skip this paragraph, but if you haven't gone through a recertification process, let's talk a bit about how to get CMTEs. You do not have to pay money for every single CMTE that you have to get to continue your certification. You can get many credits for things that you might already be doing. It is always a good idea to submit things that you are not sure about because the worst thing that CBMT can say is that there is no clear link to the Board Certification Domains. The good news is that almost everything that yo...

As you probably know by now, I have closed the internship program that I ran for 25 years. It has been a long time since I have had a viable applicant, and intern #36 graduated in January, so there was no real reason to keep it open anymore. To be honest, I am not really missing the role of internship director.  Is that a bad thing to admit? I'm working through the feelings and guilt and all that accompanies a life-changing decision, and I've had two in the past three months. This was the most recent. So, with two life-changing decisions happening in the span of 12 weeks, I am having to change my habits and my focus for specific things. It is interesting. I have started the process of going through the resources that I have collected solely for the purpose of my interns to use. Now that there are no more interns, these resources can be reintegrated into my professional library or given away. I have moved my Internship jump drive off the jump drive key ring at work and brought i...

Some time ago, I set myself a TME challenge and then found it difficult to keep up with because I was really disinterested in the challenge itself. This happens to me on a regular basis. I set myself a challenge and then don't bother to do it. I still try, though. Perhaps I just like failing - who knows? I do, though, continue to develop new TMEs (the term that I use to describe what I do with my clients during sessions - therapeutic music experiences), I just don't write them down which is a shame because I could easily get my TME challenge finished if I just sat down and wrote them.That is where the difficulty lies - sitting down and writing my ideas down. I have started to look around for a music notation app that I can use on various devices to help me finish up my notation and that allows me to hear the rhythms the way they need to be presented. This is the most time-consuming part of any composition for me - getting the rhythm on the page to match the rhythm in my head. A...

It is Saturday - my day of rest. I went back to sleep this morning after waking at 3:47 (my parent's street number - always feels lucky to me) and slept until 5:30 am. I rarely go back to sleep when I wake up, so I felt that it was a good sign that I was able to get a bit more shuteye. I have now finished a task for the Online Conference for Music Therapy, Inc . and am finishing up some of my chores for that organization. There are only 97 days left before the next online conference. Will you be there? Apparently, my brain is moving faster than my fingers are this morning. I am backspace typing quite a bit, so it is time to slow down. Take a couple of deep breaths and focus on one thing at a time. It probably doesn't help that I am eating M&Ms at the computer right here rather than finding some protein. Ah, the ramifications of the choices I make right here, right now! Isn't that the way? Everything I do has ramifications for me and for others. Now, writing while under ...

Last night, I had an insomnia night. This is probably because I went off my allergy medications (I ran out) but these happen every so often even when I am not coming down off my allergy medication side effects. I have learned not to fight these nights. They go much better when I just use my time and don't stress about not sleeping. I will be heading to work with limited sleep, but that's okay. I decided to do a low demand session format. I did not set up my centers. I just did not feel like I could do it this week. I just did not have the interest or the energy after missing two days of work this week and missing a school day last week (the other day I missed last week was an inservice day). To add to the entire situation, I am still having some side effects from my medical procedure last week, and I also have lots of unknowns happening as well as a result of said procedure. So, a full brain, limited sleep, and a low demand session series ahead of me lends itself to an interest...

For the past two days, I have been at home, waiting for a medication that I need to take before heading back to work due to contagion. I finally have the medication, so I get to go back to work today after four days away from my job. The first two days off were planned, but the last two days were not. I no longer want to do centers with my groups - they feel like too much work right now for my brain and body to accomplish, but I will need to find something for my next ten groups to do in the next two days. I have done very little here at home for the past two days. I have started chapter six of the internship handbook that I am writing, but I have mainly just laid around, reading books and watching old television shows. I am more than ready to head back to work now that I am no longer contagious. I refuse to be Patient Zero with contagion, so I stay home until I am clear to return. My brain, though, needs more stimulation than I get when I am at home. So, when I get to work, I have to ...