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May 2013

Hello!

I am a new intern here at The Music Therapy Center of CA., and my word is “Playing”. The definition is to be engaged in activity for enjoyment, playing an instrument, and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose, and engaged in a game or activity for enjoyment!

Well I have been playing music since I was two years of age. Playing my grandmothers push button chord organ. I spent hours playing that instrument; it had push button chords on the left hand and about half a keyboard on the right. The instrument had matching songbooks to match. So playing the instrument was easy and I always sounded great.

I have had great success since playing music and now I want my client’s to have the same success, and enjoy playing music, while learning new life skills, whatever the goal may be. To see clients succeeding playing music and learning at the same time gives me great joy and makes getting up in the morning worth it. I never knew being a teacher and therapist could be so fulfilling and fun.

Until next time, enjoy life!

Craig

Evidence is a strong word; a person’s perception can change with the addition or subtraction of evidence.

Music therapy is no different. I have come across so many people who think and say, “oh music therapy… you must play music to calm people down.” Or “musical therapy… so you just play a lot of CD’s?” or even better “music therapy, you can get a degree in that? Are there even jobs?”

There are so many people who are not aware of the benefits and uses music can have and are not open to the evidence and support that is out there for music therapy. I am always having to explain my career choice as well as giving real life examples to strangers and new friends. I do not mind doing this though. When I tell people what it is that I do, I feel that I am validating my career choice and furthermore validating why I chose the field that I do. I love music and I love helping people and seeing the results, connections, and empowerment music can have on an individual I cannot imagine doing anything else.

In conclusion, while it may get annoying and tedious at times giving “elevator definitions” of music therapy, spreading awareness of our field is always great!

Beth

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ones mans junk is another man’s treasure. Art is the window to a man’s soul. These are all common phrases we hear about art, yet each one has a different twist to the understanding of art. Out of all three the first one is my favorite. It is short, simple and to the point. There is no arguing the statement. Beauty is truly in the eye of the looker.
I can speak from first hand experience in this regard. When I went to Jamaica last summer for a music therapy trip, I a great experience mingling, talking, and helping the local people. One day when I was walking along the beach with a friend I noticed an old shack with a bunch of canvas paintings hanging on the outside wall. I was intrigued so my friend and I walked over and began to speak with the shop owner. He said he didn’t have a store, so he just hangs his work on the outside of the abandoned building and/or on the ground. His work was beautiful, I feel in love with it instantly. It was his families work, his father taught him and his sister. The daughter does the canvas paintings and the son made all the wood carvings. I knew I wanted a to buy a painting but I did not bring any cash with me on that days outing, I told him I would be back in a couple of days. Well I got caught up with my trip and did not get a change to go back to his shop until my last day in Jamaica. I was worried I would miss him before the day was through, so while the group I was with was waiting for dinner I walked to his shop, and it began to rain, (remember his shop is outside) I was worried I was going to miss him so I began to run. Luckily I caught him just as he was putting up his last paintings. After talking prices and doing some bartering I was able to purchase two wonderful canvas paintings. Now I will always have an authentic piece of Jamaican culture that will always be a part of my home, wherever I go. Some people might look at my paintings and not understand or see what I see in the paintings, because they are more than just that, they are a reminder of what I experienced and how that trip changed my life and perspective on music therapy forever.

Beth

This is a word I do not have much experience with.

I am a notorious planner. I love writing and executing plans. I do not like do deviate, because then I am not being efficient with my time or plan of action.

I know being a music therapist this is not an ideal mindset. Sometimes your client could be having a bad day or everything you planned is not working, then what? You have to IMPROVISE… dun dun dun. Those dreaded words, but if that is what is needed than you should go forth into uncharted territories. Though I am not the best at this, I am striving to think more on the spot if something is not working or the client has mastered this and needs something more challenging.

Another way I have had to expand my improvising skills is when I play viola. I have NEVER done this before and that has definitely been a new experience. The one thing I can say though is I’m happy to finally be using my primary instrument within sessions! This has been fun and an engaging way to incorporate viola into the sessions.

The nice thing to know and something I keep telling myself through this whole process of learning how to improvise within a session and with my primary instrument is that it can only get better, I don’t think I can get any worse!

Beth

As I am stepping into the senior intern position, awareness is a word that will become more a part of my daily routine. I am not saying before I was a bumbling idiot, but now there is more responsibility and expectations from me. I do not want to disappoint.

I believe that when leading sessions I will become more aware. I am speaking specifically about the out of office group sessions that I did with the previous intern. Now I will be stepping into her shoes. She has been a wonderful intern to work with. I have learned a variety of things working with her (driving skills/directions ARE NOT included in this portion) Marjie has been a blast to work with and I could not imagine a better intern to have worked with. We are two different girls, but together we have had a lot of fun!

Back to awareness, I believe tomorrow I will better understand the word after I step into senior intern shoes and am responsible for leading sessions. I am excited for this new chapter in my internship and cannot wait for the new opportunities and experiences I will be facing.

Beth

There literally could not be a more perfect week for me to draw “professional” for the word of the day. It just so happens that this will be my last blog post- my internship will be done in 5 days!

Additionally, MTCCA has hired me on as a contracted music therapist! I am very excited and thankful to continue to be a part of this company. The biggest shift I will have to make is from being an intern to being a professional, especially since I will still be at MTCCA.

In many ways, I have already been a practicing professional in the way I have composed myself throughout the internship. I’ve learned how to communicate well with clients and their families as well as how to give effective presentations on music therapy. I think that my confidence has grown a great deal since I started my internship! However, being an intern also allowed me to seek guidance from my internship directors and supervisors whenever I needed it. I’ve gotten used to hearing feedback and input on my session planning and facilitating, which I won’t be able to rely on in the professional world! It will definitely be a shift in mind set, but I think I am ready.

Since my humble beginnings in October as a girl from small-town Iowa scared to death on the California interstate, I’ve grown into a somewhat experienced driver and confident music therapist. Like my driving, being a music therapist only got better with experience. AND there’s so much more to learn! It has been such an awesome journey so far, and I can’t wait to experience what lies ahead!

Without further to do, I say adieu, adieu, to you and you and you. (cue exit music)

-Marjie Halverson

I want to open this post with a funny, quirky but beautiful moment of life that we can take for granted and sometimes pass over.

For example, hitting every green light on your way to work when you are running late. (This happened to me last week) I find it amazing and (beautiful) that the quirks of life lined up at that moment and were able to help me out. Continuing on this driving topic, I also find beauty whenever someone cuts me off on the highway and then I pass them 5 minutes later because they got stuck behind a semi. That is a moment for car dancing

I cannot write a blog post without writing about the scenery here. San Diego is a beautiful place from its manmade structures to natural ones. One place that I find beauty in is watching the sun set over the ocean from my deck, the view in perfect. Sometimes when the sun sets you can see an island off the ocean, I didn’t even know it existed until two weeks ago when I saw it for the first time wondering what that giant piece of land was. In the same way, the whole island of Coronado is also breathtaking, especially the bridge! Being on the island and seeing downtown San Diego on the other side of the water is amazing, there are so many different colors, sounds, and buildings.

I thought I would end in something I find beautiful about music therapy. This past Tuesday I brought and played my viola for the first time for an older adult, special needs, group setting. One of the clients across the room starting tapping her chin repeatedly, the aid close by kept saying, “Wow! I have never seen here do anything like that before! She never acts like this!” I came directly over to the client and began playing to her, again she kept patting her chin. The client was signing thank you over and over again. It was a beautiful moment to be a part of. In the small piece of time I was able to reach here and communicate with her through music.

Which leads me into saying the music is beauty and I am so happy to be in a profession where I can be surrounded by it every day.

Beth

Whether it be in our personal or professional lives, conflict is bound to happen at some point.

Each week, us interns pull a word out of a hat to determine our weekly “word of the day”. Of all the words I have drawn from the hat, I think “conflict” is the most challenging blog topic I’ve gotten so far. This is probably because I value harmony and tend to avoid conflict!

One thing I’ve learned in the past 5 months is that in music therapy, particularly within private practice, conflict is inevitable at some point. MTCCA works in schools, in-home, at facilities, and in-clinic. To avoid breaking HIPAA rules, I will not disclose specific stories, but I can say that one of the main ingredients to a harmonious relationship with clients is COMMUNICATION! It is very important to be clear and concise, and learn how each person communicates best (phone, email, text). At the end of the day, one of the most important things is confidence in the fact that I’ve been totally clear in all my interactions.

At the beginning of my internship, I would have avoided conflict at ALL costs, but I think that since then, I have certainly grown in confidence and am much more comfortable in dealing with conflict now! These lessons come with experience.

-Marjie

Harmony

There are multiple definitions the word harmony. Here are three main ones.

1. Harmony can mean singing notes in a chord that are not the melody.
2. A state of being, everything is equal or calm/content.
3. A program created by music therapists and speech therapists to teach social language skills in a functional and fun way.

In regards to number 1:
Since beginning my internship I have attempted to sing more harmonies. This has taken me out of my comfort zone, but this is probably the safest place to practice without receiving too many raised eyebrows. I had to work my way up to singing harmonies, first I would only sing harmony on the last note or the last phrase of a song, now I am stepping up my game and working on harmonizing complete songs. There are still some interesting days. For example today in one of my sessions I could not even think of the starting pitch for My Bonnie, needless to say harmony was not attempted. I couldn’t even sing the melody. I probably stood up there for a good two minutes singing the most awful sounds trying to hear my pitch. Then I had some people try and help find my pitch so four or five people were singing random notes with me. Needless to say I became flustered and failed miserably. Looking back I still cringe. There is a happy ending though someone did save the day, but it wasn’t me.

Moving on to number 2:
Ummmm I’m in an internship right now working my but off. I don’t understand this…
(not complaining though, I am learning so much and wouldn’t give up this opportunity to learn from these amazing people here at the Music Therapy Center of California!!!)

Saving the best for last, 3:
This is program developed to teach kids functional skills. I first heard about this program a couple of weeks before starting my internship. Funny story time. There was a mix-up with sending me some documents before I started and I never got the music to all the In Harmony songs until two weeks before I was about to start my internship. Interns are suppose to have the music memorized and able to accompany oneself. So I spent the next two weeks singing and playing theses songs over and over again, my dad and I even listened to them for 80% of our drive out to California from Oklahoma (I think he has The Potty song memorized for life). By listening to the music and watching the DVD you can see how effective the program is and how the workbooks that are incorporated as well are very effective.

Each definition is different, yet all are important to being an awesome music therapist.

Beth

As a musician, the first thing I think of when I see the word “transpose” is my clarinet. Why? Because when I played in a symphony orchestra in college, I often was given several different clarinet parts (Bb, Eb, A) and each clarinet was a different size and therefore, tuned to a different key, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I would bring my Bb clarinet and forget my A clarinet, but had to play music that was written for the A clarinet, so I’d have to transpose the music in the moment. For musicians, to transpose means to perform something in a key other than the one which is written out or given. In other words, to play A clarinet music on the Bb clarinet, I would have to play each note a half-step lower on the spot. At first, it was very difficult, but after years of practice, I’ve become semi-decent at transposing on the spot!

To apply this to music therapy, I think of all the times I’ve had to adapt in the moment during a session. I’ve had to rearrange the order of the session plan on the spot, or come up with new ideas in the moment. For example, some of my clients have a hard time transitioning or initiating due to sensory needs. If a boy comes into a session sprawled out on the floor and flopping around, It can be very difficult to engage him in a music intervention. Instead of forcing my set session plan on him, I have to adapt my plan to where he is at that very moment. If he is laying on the floor, he may need sensory input to get his body regulated and ready to pay attention and engage. I believe that one of the most valuable things I’ve learned during this internship is how to adapt in the moment according to each client’s specific need. Just as I’ve had to TRANSPOSE while playing the clarinet, I’ve had to TRANSPOSE a session plan many times. And I will admit, it can be very difficult at times to think in the moment, but it will only get better with time and practice!

-Marjie