Music Therapy Connections has had an eventful week! If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen that we had our Winter Recital on Saturday. It was a wonderful day full of fabulous music!
This was the first MTC recital I have participated in and I had several students perform. After weeks of preparation, their hard work paid off!
I truly enjoyed getting to watch my students and all of the performers share what they have been working on. There was so much excitement, and also some nerves, throughout the room. I had not been to a recital like this since I was taking lessons myself in my childhood years. What fun it was!
There was so much to enjoy throughout the day. Here are some of my personal highlights:
My Students’ Performances
Much like the feelings I get when a client meets a goal in music therapy, there is so much joy in seeing your students finally perform what they have been working on for weeks or even months. I am so incredibly proud of all the work they have put in. They have grown and learned so much!
Other Students’ Performances
The recitals were marvelous across the board. It was fun for me to see what other students performed and have been working on. As a music therapist, teaching lessons is not my primary focus or specialty. I received some instruction in school on how to teach music, but I have also had to work on this skill myself. Watching other performances gave me ideas on what I could bring to my students.
Being With My Coworkers
It is not very often that the entire MTC team gets to spend a day together. It was such a blast getting to spend a full day with people I usually only see for moments at a time. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we all celebrated in our students’ victories. It was a beautiful time!
Holiday Music
With it being the holiday season, it was to be expected that holiday music would be performed. There is nothing like a young child singing your favorite holiday song to put you in the spirit of the season!
I know many other studios also had recitals this month! If you have been involved with a recital recently, what was your favorite part? Let us know in the comments!
I am sure all of you have your holiday list of music ready to go during this time of year. I started getting requests for Christmas music before Thanksgiving, which I suppose is quite common. I personally try to wait to listen to holiday music until after my Thanksgiving meal, but I will definitely break that rule if someone requests it. :)
The holiday season is definitely my favorite time of the year. There is so much joy to be experienced and to share with others. Lots of people have been waiting all year to hear their favorite holiday tune again. There is nothing else quite like singing a beloved holiday song with your group members and seeing the excitement in their eyes.
It has been fun to see all of the suggestions I have gotten so far. Here are just some of the requests I have gotten from clients ranging in age from school age children to older adults:
Adeste Fideles
Angels We Have Heard on High
Frosty the Snowman
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Hallelujah (Pentatonix version)
Here Comes Santa Claus
It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Jingle Bells
Little Drummer Boy
O Holy Night
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Silent Night
Silver Bells
Up on the Housetop
Winter Wonderland
While my personal list of favorite holiday songs is much longer than this, it has been interesting to hear what my clients and students are most often wishing to sing.
What holiday tunes do you get requests for most often? Let us know in the comments!
I have the privilege of providing music therapy services as well as music lessons at Music Therapy Connections. Throughout my internship and my new professional life, I have also been taking lessons. This feels a bit strange, as I am providing lessons and am considered a “teacher,” but also have someone else teaching me skills on those same instruments.
As music therapists, it is our duty to identify areas where growth is still needed and then seek supervision or instruction accordingly. At the beginning of my internship, I told my supervisors that I wanted to improve my guitar and piano skills. Thus, the lessons began!
Yes, it can feel a bit awkward when my own students or clients see me walking into a lesson, but I know that I am doing what I need to do in order to better serve them. It can be hard to get out of the mindset that “I am supposed to be the expert to my students”, but it’s also important to remember that, regardless of whether you are taking lessons yourself or not, they will continue to see you as the trained professional that you are.
I have found that lots of positive things come out of taking piano and guitar lessons. Here are just a few:
Improvement
This seems to be an obvious one. As soon as I started taking lessons, I saw my accompaniment skills quickly improve. Since I play piano and guitar every day, it was easy to apply what I was learning into my regular practice.
A Second Opinion
Often in my lessons I would bring a piece that I was already working on. In these cases, I sought opinions on what I could change to make it sound better. Should I add more bass notes? What about a different pattern? It was nice to get that second opinion.
Developing New Skills
Since I already had a foundation of basic piano and guitar skills from school, it was great to expand on those and learn some new skills! Recently, I have been working on finger-picking melodies on guitar and adding harmony behind it. This can also easily be used in the music therapy setting for relaxation purposes.
A Creative Outlet
I know too many music therapists and music therapy students, including myself, that only perform or practice material that they have been working on for a client. Throughout my internship, I brought music that I was learning for clients to my lessons. This is not a bad thing, as this was my primary concern for developing repertoire as an intern. Now that I have a good foundation of repertoire for my clients and students, I have been able to select music that I want to learn. It has been an amazing outlet for me to use my skills for my own enjoyment.
The idea of taking lessons can be intimidating, but, if you are wanting to further develop your skills and have a creative experience for yourself, I would encourage you to try it. Taking lessons does not make you any less of a music therapist or teacher!
A big “thank you” goes out to my awesome MTC lesson instructor, Robert Reynolds!
Do you already take music lessons? Please share your thoughts on your experience in the comments!
My colleague, Heather E Johnson, and I at the 2017 AMTA National Conference.
Hello again and Happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for a multitude of things, including all of you! In this time of giving thanks, the MTC team shared what they are thankful for. If you haven’t seen them yet, go check out our Facebook page!
Though I have already shared some things that I am thankful for, I have been reflecting on just how thankful I am for everyone in the world of Music Therapy. It’s a small world (see what I did there), but it’s growing and is full of marvelous people!
There are so many people that I am thankful for and have met because of music therapy. I could never name everyone, so I’ve broken it down into 3 categories:
The Music Therapy Community
Thank you to all of the music therapists out there. I feel so incredibly supported each time I meet another music therapist or reconnect with one I’ve known. I was not able to go to the National Conference this year, but every other conference I have been to has been so uplifting. I remember going to my first conference and being so overwhelmed with emotion by how many music therapists were around me. The love and support in our community is so crucial to the growth of our field. So, thank you to my fellow music therapists for supporting me and others.
Supporters of Music Therapy
Thank you to those who are not music therapists, but support what we do. This includes other medical professionals, families, guardians of those who receive music therapy, and more. I am beyond thankful for people like my non-music therapy coworkers, family, and friends who support what I do. Sometimes our biggest advocates are those not actually working in the field.
Those Who Benefit from Music Therapy
A HUGE thank you to those who seek out and/or benefit from music therapy services. Every single client I have had the privilege to work with has impacted me in such a positive way. They have helped me learn and grow in ways no one else has. I am so thankful.
So, as a new professional, I guess if I could sum up what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving into two words it would be MUSIC THERAPY. Thank you to all who are music therapists, supporters of music therapy, or those who benefit from music therapy.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving wherever you are! I’m curious: what are you thankful for this year? Let me know in the comments!
Hello again everyone! Did you think you saw the last of me? Well, surprise! I’m back! As my internship has come to a close, I’m adjusting to my new professional life and preparing to take the Board Certification Exam for Music Therapists.
As I gather materials and refresh on all I have learned throughout my music therapy education, I am realizing that I learned A LOT in four and a half short years. It has honestly been pretty daunting thinking about everything I need to study or refresh on (I’m looking at you music theory).
Yes, there is a lot of material to cover, but it’s important to remember that you learned all of it at one point. Plus, much of it has been applied in numerous real-life situations throughout college practicums and internship. Now it’s just a matter of getting it back fresh in your head. Here is how I’ve been preparing for the exam:
The New Music Therapist’s Handbook by Suzanne B. Hanser
I remember reading this book my freshman year of college. It is full of so much information, and breaks it down into chapters that are similar to the CBMT Domains. I re-read the whole book, but if there is a certain section you are specifically concerned about, I would recommend reading its corresponding chapter in the book. This book is a great refresher on the individual components of music therapy fieldwork.
Flashcards
I have made lots of flashcards for this exam. Most of them include definitions that may appear in the questions on the exam. As I create and study these flashcards, I need to keep reminding myself to set aside what I already know well, and focus on the ones that need a little more work. It will make the process of studying seem a lot easier.
While studying the flashcards, I also think about how the information may be asked on the exam. I ask myself questions like: What aspects of the term on each flashcard set it apart from others? What makes this specifically unique? How should I respond if this happened during a session?
Take Advantage of the Practice Exams
CBMT offers two practice exams to help you prepare. I took one after reading the Hanser book but before making flashcards and studying further. I did this to see where I was and how I was doing so far. This helped me pinpoint what I really needed to study and focus on. I plan to take the second practice exam closer to my actual test date.
This is what I am currently doing to prepare myself for the Board Certification Exam for Music Therapists. Everyone will have different study techniques, but this is what is working for me right now. If you would like to read some more tips, check out Molly Robitaille’s blog post about her strategies for conquering the exam!
As I continue to prepare, I would love to hear what has worked for you while studying for this exam. Please let me know in the comments!
