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December 2013

As my music therapy internship is coming to an end I have been establishing closure with more and more of my clients. Many families of clients have expressed gratitude, appreciation, and even sadness to see me go. I hadn’t actually realized how much of a partnership I had established with some of these families, which is a large part of the therapist/client relationship.

That’s something we weren’t exactly taught in music school. They teach us how to work effectively with many different populations, but they don’t teach us very much about interacting and connecting with the families of clients. In early childhood education, when a teacher establishes relationships and partnerships with families, the child’s learning is enhanced. This goes the same for music therapy. When there is a strong connection between the family and therapist, the child’s experience is enhanced, and this internship has certainly taught me that.

Well, it’s been a wild ride. I’ve learned many things about music therapy and life in general. I’ve experienced many things, a lot of which I never thought I would experience. And I can now say with certainty: I am ready for the professional world. Here I come!

Blog Topic – Job Market

                This is probably the most perfect week I could have gotten “job market” as a blog post, as I will be finishing up my internship work and moving on to the professional job market in less than a month now! Right now, the professional world of music therapy just seems to fill me with a mix of excitement and anxiety; excitement because I’m about to start what is going to be my life-long career and it can go literally any direction from here, anxiety because I still feel like an intern a lot of the time.

                From this internship, there is an array of different career options in front of me. Music therapists can make a living being self-employed, being in private practice, contractors, or working in a music therapy clinic/studio. Until recently, being self-employed was something that I didn’t think I could ever do. However, surveys have shown that about 81% of music therapists are considered self-employed, so it’s looking more and more like owning my own practice will be a necessary step in my life-long career.

                Where my life as a music therapist will go, nobody knows. The journey down this path, as I’m sure any professional music therapist would explain, is a crazy and unpredictable one. It’s going to be a crazy transition, but after 4 years of schooling and 6 months of interning, I feel as though I’m ready to take on the professional world. Here I come!

Mark

Songwriting is used often in music therapy. Therapists often write individualized songs for clients which fit each client’s specific needs at the time. Songwriting is also used by music therapists as an intervention where they get the clients to write their own songs. It provides an outlet for clients to express themselves.

5 Tips to Good Songwriting:
Write the melody without an instrument
Put a fresh, unexpected chord in the melody
Use simple words
Use Repetition
Use lots of action and imagery in the lyrics

Mary Jane

Music, the brain, and Aesthetics

While studying the different ways our brain processes music and music learning, one interesting concept that I came across was that we all have a preconceived cognitive schema, not only for music, but for just about just about everything else. A schema shapes our expectations about how a certain thing should be. In simple terms, a schema is our familiarity with a particular subject. We all probably have our own schema of music. When some of us here the word “music” we might think of the latest top 40 charts, such as Wrecking Ball, and some of us might think of a Beethoven symphony. A schema is important because it frames our understanding and our interpretation of familiar aesthetic objects.

This concept is greatly applicable to music therapy. From the moment I first read about music therapy, I had a schema formed for what I thought the profession was, and it’s incredible to look back and see how much that schema has been altered and changed already. It’s safe to say that after starting my internship here, my schema for music therapy is completely different than it was before, and is  still constantly changing.

Mark

Improvisation is a free performance done with little or no preparation. It is often seen in Jazz music and in Eastern traditional music. The differences between a composed song and an improvised song is that the improvised song is not written and it takes place in real time. Improvisation can be individual or it can be a group activity.

Studies show that “improvisational music therapy was more effective at facilitating joint attention behaviors and non-verbal social communication skills in children than in play (with toys, etc).”  It also has been shown to produce “significantly more and lengthier events of eye contact and turn-taking.” (Kim, Wigram, Gold, 2008.)

How does this work? This video gives a great explanation. MRI results show that when a person is improvising, the same area of the brain used in speech and social communication is lit up.

I have personally seen the power of improvisation in real life.  I have seen people who have difficulty communicating through speech improvise on an instrument and the music is powerful and full of emotion.  It’s as if those people have a lot to say just waiting inside of them but they cannot always express it through speech.  Improvisation gives them the opportunity to communicate and express emotion in alternate ways.

Mary Jane

Mary Jane Dibble is currently a music therapy intern for the Music Therapy Center of California. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Utah State University. She previously earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of Utah.
Mary Jane’s primary instrument is the violin. She is also proficient in piano and guitar. She has provided music therapy to adults with mental health disorders, older adults with dementia, children with special needs, and hospital patients. Additionally she has performed in community bands and ensembles.
Mary Jane’s Story
“Music has always brought a lot of joy into my life and serves as a great motivator. When I turn on good music, it’s like a mini vacation away from the stresses of life. My favorite part about music therapy is seeing the joy that music can bring and the changes for the better that music can make in people’s lives.”
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Client – a person or organization using the services of a professional person or company

I’m very glad that I got this word for my blog entry. I find that a big part of the purpose of these blog entries is to look at a word, usually a musical word, and see how it relates or apply to my work as a music therapy intern. Well, it doesn’t get more applicable than the word “clients” because that is exactly what I’m in this job for. There are many parts that I love about this internship. I love being able to say that I get to play drums and guitar with kids, teenagers, and elderly people for my job, but there is so much more to it than that. I am in music therapy for many different reasons, but to help improve the lives of my clients, above all. This job has a lot of pleasant parts as well as difficult parts, and that is one thing that I can say keeps me going through a lot of the stresses and challenges of this position; knowing that at the end of the day, I am doing this to help improve the quality of someone’s life.

Mark

The word of the week could not have been any better suited to write about. Why?, because I have been anticipating this time for seven years and now the time has come. Seven years ago I went back to college to earn a degree in music, and music therapy, and now in a week that goal will be fulfilled.

My life is still full of anticipation, taking the certification exam, beginning to build a client base, and being part of the music therapy community. I thank all the friendly peers, students, mentors and professors who made this journey enjoyable and included me as part of their families.

And now with great anticipation of the future, I bid you all a heart felt thank you!

Craig

 

Collaborate – To work jointly on an activity, to produce or create something

As a musician, all I seem to do is collaborate. I have constantly been collaborating with other musicians and artists ever since I picked up the tuba. I’ve collaborated with single musicians by playing duets, or being accompanied by a pianist, and I’ve also collaborated with upwards of 400 different musicians, dancers and other artists on the field in a football stadium. A career as a musician has seldom led me to working alone.  The same thing can be said about my experience so far as a music therapy intern. I’m constantly collaborating.

Since I started this internship, collaboration has sort of taken on a new meaning. Not only is it collaboration with other musicians, but with other therapists as well. Working with clients is often very much a collaborative effort between other music therapists, schools, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and ABA therapists. We are always in constant contact with many of these other professionals to share what sort of goal areas we are working on with different clients, and our ideas of how to best work with the clients. This collaborative effort helps us to be sure that we are all helping the clients progress in the areas that they need most.  

-Mark

Renewal is a great self description of my journey through life. Over the years every fork in the road has led to a path of renewal. Renewal in my life, thoughts, and actions. 

Now coming to the end of my internship I will be renewing myself again as a music therapist. I have not completed my work I am just starting in another direction when I come to that fork in the road. Thanks to the great people here at The Music Therapy Center of California, they are helping me to fulfill a life long dream of playing music every day and help people at the same time. It doesn’t get any better then that.

I have seen the renewal of hope in clients and there caregivers brought on by the therapist great work here and that keeps myself striving to be the best therapist I can be.

If you are in doubt of yourself, not sure of yourself, then renew yourself!

Craig