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Cadence – Balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory.

When first thinking of what I was going to write about when I got the blog topic “cadence,” I realized that, though I’ve heard the word many times before, I wasn’t exactly sure how to define the word. As musicians, the first thing that tends to pop into our minds is a IV-V-I progression, or perhaps a marching band cadence. When I hear the word, I can still imagine my high school’s marching band playing a cadence while marching in a parade. A cadence, however, can also be something out of language and poetry. A cadence in language is usually a change of inflection of the voice to show the end of a sentence or stanza in poetry. Whether it is a cadence you see in a piece of music, poetry, or literature, a cadence is always something that is used to create structure, rhythm, balance, and flow.

Since beginning my internship with MTCCA, a cadence has taken on a somewhat new meaning for me. Though it’s still a tool to create structure and flow, we also use it in a much different, more personal way. Every person has their own personal cadence, or a natural pace in which that person moves and interacts with their environment. Even though cadences are constantly changing with a person’s mood or health, they can still be measured and used to provide an extra sense of stability or comfort. Adapting music to match a client’s specific mood and pace can make a world of difference for a client’s attention and sensory regulation. It’s one of the many therapeutic tools I have learned to utilize so far in this internship.

A cadence is something that exists in music, literature, poetry, art, and even ourselves. It can used to create structure, rhythm, and flow in our music and literature, but it can also be used to create stability and flow in someone’s life.

Mark

As a music therapy intern this word now has a whole different meaning then the standard term of pitching an idea.  The new meaning for me is “how I will present my next intervention, to keep attention, to work on client goals, and client success”.

The success of the my interventions revolves around how the intervention is presented to my client. Every client is different so the same intervention will have to be presented in a different way in order to achieve the therapeutic outcome desired.

Craig

Resilience: as a character trait, is a person’s ability to recover after facing stress, adversity, or illness.

The word “Resilience” is a particularly applicable word for me right now. After my first three weeks of interning with the MTCCA, I can safely say that it is a characteristic that I am going to need in the profession of music therapy. It is a characteristic that is displayed in music therapy constantly, not only by us as therapists, but by our clients as well. We can see it in a therapist’s ability to always think of the client first, even while going through their own personal troubles. You can also see resilience in the clients, and their ability to keep trying and trying, even when faced with a very difficult task. The start of this internship in general has been a serious test of resilience for me because if the enormous amount of change it brought to my life. Even though I had to leave a large part of my life behind, the excitement of discovering new things and places has kept me very resilient.

Resilience is something that a music therapist incorporates into many aspects of their work; everything from leading several large groups in a row throughout the day, to cleaning up the session room before the next session. After some sessions, I’ve seen the room look like it had been hit by storm of instruments and toys and still be put back together before the start of the next session. If that’s not a display of resilience, then I’m not sure what is.  To me, resilience is the ability to look past all of the stress, difficulty and bruises, and continue to love what you do, and the people you do it for.

Best,

Mark McKenna

Now the torch has been past, and now I am the senior intern, and at the same time my word is leadership. I am responsible for planning, leading sessions and mentoring our newest team member Mark.

The idea of being a leader is something new to me, I have always been the one to roll up my sleeves and get job done. I will do my best to help “direct”, “answer questions”, and “lead by example” our new intern through this new maze (internship) he is now entering. the next few months will be an adventure for both Mark and I, and I hope to not disappoint my supervisors or my fellow intern.

Craig

Challenge – “Invites someone to engage in a contest”.

As a music therapist intern I have been challenged to a contest of telling stories, educating, and giving people functional skills through  music. To let the music and one’s own energy drive the music interventions is the challenge. When the musical intervention has succeeded, the challenge gives me, as a therapist and as a person, great rewards. When an intervention does not go as planned then the challenge is to tweak the intervention so it will be successful.

I am glad I have taken on the challenge of the music therapy profession. It is the most rewarding endeavor I have undertaken.

Craig

This word has helped me through my internship immensely! I have received encouragement from so different sources as I’ve progressed in my internship. My family has been a huge support system for me, they have all listened to my rants, successes, and silly stories throughout these six months. My fellow interns, I don’t think I would have survived without them! We have shared some amazing stories and created some great friendships. My landlords, they truly took a stranger under their care and helped me integrate myself into the San Diego life. From taking out to dinner, allowing me to tag along for family events, to including me in the Monday night Bachelor/Bachelorette show. I will always be grateful for their kindness and love. Finally, my internship directors and supervisors who have endured my many questions and helped nurture me into becoming a successful music therapist. Without their guidance, support, and encouragement I would not be the music therapist I am today. Thanks to these amazing women I have a solid foundation in music therapy and I am not afraid to step out into the big scary world and thrive. So here is a big thank you to everyone who has encouraged me along the road!

Much Love,
Beth

The acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or study, or by being taught.

After high school I thought that I had learned all that I needed to know. But as I have gone through life I have found that learning is an on going adventure for me. As I have matured I now enjoy learning new and exciting things. Since pursuing my music and music therapy degree I am fascinated by how the mind and body respond to music. I never would have this knowledge if I had stopped learning after high school.

Treat yourself to a learning experience today, pick up a interesting magazine, book or Google something that you want to know more about, you just might learn something interesting, fun and new.

Keep learning,

Craig

The sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual is a clear, concise, and boring definition of personality. Everybody’s is different and can change depending on the situation. Personality is also influenced by the company one keeps.

When I first started my internship, I was witness to a variety of personalities. Some clients were bouncing off the ways with enthusiasm while others were shy and uncomfortable with a new face in the room. Throughout my six months here though at the Music Therapy Center, I have created relationships with these clients each one is unique and special to me. I have seen their personalities emerge and shine through music. Each client that I see is different and as I come to the end of my internship I am sad to have to leave the amazing clients  at the Music Therapy Center of California.

Beth

To join together, a cooperative effort.

We have all been on a team. As a young person it would be sports or academics, such as a debate team. Even though those were teams, there was a large amount of individualism: who is the best hitter, or pitcher; who can run the fastest; who can jump the highest, or go the furthest.  Recognizing individual strengths, and using them together produces a winning sports or academic team.

Now I am with a true team of individuals working together. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses; we recognize them, and we work as a team. If I am weak in a particular area, someone on the team may excel in that area and can give guidance or assistance, and visa versa. As a team, we now work at what we excel at to assist our clients in the most efficient way possible.

We also work in close collaboration as a team with other professionals as well. Working closely with the speech, occupational, behavioral, and/or physical therapists of our clients. Effectively working as a team with other therapists, we can formulate a joint plans for our clients that supports the clients needs in the most efficient way.

I really enjoy being on this TEAM.

GO TEAM!

Craig

I have been a singer most of my life. I started taking voice lessons in the sixth grade and continued throughout college. Singing has been such a common occurrence of my life. I sing every day, not always well, but there is singing:)

Being a music therapist requires singing, we make many connections with our clients through music, but more specifically singing. Throughout my internship I have learned a lot about how the brain processes music. For example, I find it very interesting that an autistic child may not be able to process spoken directions but sung directions are processed easier in the brain. This shows one aspect of how singing is important within a therapeutic relationship.

Neurologic music therapy has a technique that I find applicable here as well, known as therapeutic singing. Michael Thaut explains what this is in his book, “Rhythm, Music, and the Brain” therapeutic singing is where singing is used to facilitate initiation, development, and articulation in speech and language. This is all accomplished with singing. You can see how important singing can be if so many different reactions are possible and beneficial.

So in conclusion, don’t forget to sing every now and then you never know who is listening.

Beth

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