by Sammy | Oct 7, 2016 | Intern's Corner
Hello everyone!
As I approach the three month mark of my internship, I’ve started to write more original songs and learn about the recording process. It’s definitely been challenging; I’ve written a few songs during college, but besides that, don’t have very much experience. Thankfully, I have two very experienced supervisors who have been writing and recording songs for years and they have been helping me along the way.
I’ve realized that it is important to be able to write your own songs or at least be able to adapt a familiar tune so that a song and it’s musical elements can better target a client’s needs. Writing songs is so useful because songs can be written for any instrument and they can target specific goals/objectives for a client. Also, it’s also helpful being able to successfully adapt a client-preferred song in order to target a specific goal. I didn’t realize the importance and the value of this skill until my internship. That being said, I thought I’d give you an intern’s perspective of song writing and share some simple tips that I have learned these past ten weeks!
It’s best to keep things simple. This is probably the biggest thing that I have learned these past few weeks. When writing a song, I’ve learned that writing too much as well as making things too complicated can defeat the purpose of writing a song based on a goal. During the song writing process, I always write down the goal on the top of the page and I make sure that each lyric is simple and serves a purpose for the goal. Also, during a session, all attention should be on the client. That being said, I make sure that the chord structure as well as the melody is simple so that I don’t have to think about a complex melody when I’m singing and playing.
Also, I’ve recently learned that it’s important to think about facilitation and adaptation when writing a new song. Since I’ve been writing songs for a project, I’ve been asking myself how I can facilitate this song in a clinical setting and will it be effective? I also try to think about how a song can be adapted within a session. Not every song needs to be or should be adaptable, but I like to keep adaptability in mind. A few weeks ago, I wrote a song for rhythm sticks that targets the ability to follow multi-step directions. After using the song with a client, I realized that it was not very adaptable, especially if I needed to adapt the lyrics on the spot to fit the client’s needs.
I’ve just started on this song writing journey and I still have so much to learn, but so far, it’s been a lot of fun!
Thanks for reading my reflections!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Sep 30, 2016 | Intern's Corner
It’s finally starting to feel like fall outside here in Springfield, IL and it is beautiful. This morning, some of the music therapists at MTC and I decided to have a trip to the pumpkin patch for some fall fun. Also, I’ve never been to a pumpkin patch where you cut your own pumpkins, so it was a neat experience for me as well. It was a nice break from work and internship life.
However, after returning home from the pumpkin patch, I realized that I haven’t been great at practicing self-care recently and my body can definitely feel it; this week, I have been exhausted all the time and there isn’t a good reason for it either. I’ve noticed that I’ve been preaching self-care to my parents, friends, and sometimes even to my clients, yet I haven’t been practicing it. So this afternoon, I’ve come up with some ways that I will better practice self-care in the upcoming weeks in order to eliminate stress, take care of my body, and keep myself energized.
Eat healthier.
Stressing eating isn’t a good thing and it’s important to have a balanced meal as well. As I’m quickly learning from those around me, eating six small meals a day is better than eating three big meals, so I’m going to pack better, healthier snacks that I can nibble on throughout the day to keep my energy up.
Go to bed at the same time every night…no matter what!
Recently, I haven’t been going to bed early like I did at the beginning of my internship. This needs to happen because sleep is extremely important in order to process through what happened that day. Throughout these upcoming weeks, I will go to bed at the same time every night and try to wake up at the same time each day as well. It’ll be hard because there is always something to do, but sleep is SO important.
Exercise.
I dislike exercising. However, it’s a great way to unwind and eliminate stress. So from now on, I promise to at least try to exercise in a way that I like at least two to three times a week.
As therapists, we love working with others, but we often forget to help ourselves. Self-care is hard to practice, but it is the most important thing to do each week. If you’re an current music therapy intern, or even a professional or student, and have been struggling in the self-care area, let’s try this together!
Finally, follow me on live video every (or almost every) Thursday on Music Therapy Connection, LLC’s Facebook page. I will be answering questions, sharing songs, and discussing other topics as well! If you have a question or want me to talk about something, please let me know!
Thanks,
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Sep 23, 2016 | Intern's Corner
This week has been crazy (in a good way of course)! I’ve started to lead more in all of my sessions here at Music Therapy Connections as well as at the hospital and I’ve been pushed out of my comfort zone so many times. From these experiences, I’ve learned that there are some things that I should’ve practiced more during college that would have made my life a little easier now.
In college, I should have spent more time:
Building a HUGE knowledge of repertoire.
Typically, I only learned the music that I needed to learn for my practicum sessions. It wasn’t until this summer that I started pushing myself outside of the popular music realm and now I’m quickly realizing how important it is to know songs from each genre and decade of music. At the hospital, I meet with a lot of families and patients who have such a wide range of music preferences and I should at least be able to talk about or play the music they love the most! However, it’s literally impossible to learn every piece of music ever written, but having a general knowledge of a few famous bands or knowing how to play a few hit songs from each decade will be extremely important. Also, for current music therapy students, learn the National Anthem. You will never know when someone might ask you to play it. In general, it’s also just a great song to know.
Practicing playing in different styles.
Just like having a huge knowledge of different repertoire, it’s important to be able to play in different styles. Again, it wasn’t until late last semester and this summer that I started picking on the guitar and playing different songs with contrasting styles. I have started practicing simple songs such as “Twinkle, Twinkle” (or any simple song that I know the chords to really well) and trying to play it in different styles. This has helped me tremendously and something that I wish I had started practicing sooner.
Practicing the things that scare me the most.
Public speaking scares me. My brain gets all the words jumbled up whenever I have to give a presentation or talk to someone I don’t know. However, as a music therapy intern transitioning to a professional, I’ve had to talk to so many different people. I wish that during college I had pushed myself out of my comfort zone and talked to new people instead of avoiding it. We’re asked every day what music therapy is so oral communication skills as well as people skills are extremely important. One way that I am practicing becoming more comfortable talking to people is by striking up conversations with new people I see throughout the day such as having a quick chat about someone’s day in the line at Meijer. That being said, find something that scares you and face it head on every day!
Even though I did practice these things before my internship, I should have challenged myself even more. Thankfully, I am in an environment where I can challenge myself everyday to learn these skills, grow, and continue pushing myself outside of my comfort zone so that I can continue to effectively transition from a student to a professional!
Have a great week everyone!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Sep 16, 2016 | Intern's Corner
To be honest, this was a hard week; I struggled with confidence every day. In previous blog posts, I’ve written about how confidence has been an issue my entire life, but today I had a realization and I hope it helps anyone who is also struggling with confidence.
I decided to take some time for self-care this morning and play my flute.Although I hadn’t played the flute in a while, it came back to me easily. I reflected on my journey with playing the flute and realized that it hadn’t been easy. When I was younger and had first started playing the flute, I hit many bumps in the road and felt like giving up because nothing came easy. I spent hours practicing and perfecting each piece, learning the basics and then the technical skills. But I put in the hard work then, which now makes playing the flute a little easier.
How does this all relate to music therapy and my internship? I felt confident in my flute playing because I had practiced and worked for so many years on it and now it comes naturally to me. During my internship, I am taking voice lessons, learning to play different styles on the guitar/piano, and practicing improvisation. This week, specifically, I beat myself up because I struggled in these areas and was not “perfect.” Just like I struggled with my flute playing at first, which is now an extremely comfortable instrument for me, I will get comfortable with singing, playing those different styles on guitar or piano, and improvising during a session, if I practice them frequently. My confidence will increase over time. It took me several years to be confident in my flute playing, but I was eventually confident, with practice.
You can’t expect yourself to be great at a new skill immediately; that is what I learned this week. Sometimes you just have to get out of your own head and stop expecting perfection. When I first started playing flute, I wasn’t perfect and I STILL can grow and learn new skills even after playing for so long. The same things apply to my internship. I choose to keep learning, growing, trying my best, and being confident that confidence with these skills WILL come with practice.
Life is a fun journey and it’s even better with confidence!
Have a good week!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Sep 9, 2016 | Intern's Corner
My schedule is officially full and I’m starting to lead more during sessions and adaptive lessons. I’ve also received more constructive criticism, but that is an important part of growing and learning! All of this new information and learning that I am doing and the fact that I am a perfectionist makes it fairly easy to quickly become overwhelmed. Sometimes I feel like there is so much to learn and that there isn’t enough time to learn it all before becoming a professional music therapist.
For those who might be feeling the same way, you might feel like you want to give up and stop trying completely; this is normal and sometimes I feel like I want to shut down too. But perseverance and remembering your dreams and goals is important in pushing through. Remembering that I want to work with children, perform research furthering the field of music therapy, and maybe one day run my own private practice, helps me refocus and continue learning.
During my internship, I have the chance to absorb so much new information and experience every opportunity that arises. I have the chance to learn from my mistakes and work towards being a professional and great music therapist with two wonderful supervisors encouraging me and helping me along the way. As my internship progresses, it will become more manageable and the skills that I am currently learning will become second nature. I just have to get over this hump and the only way to do that is to persevere and keep my goals and dreams in sight. Everyday is a new learning opportunity, and I don’t have to be perfect because no one is perfect!
If you breathe, refocus, persevere, and continue learning then you will become successful no matter what.
Thanks for reading!
Sammy Springer
by Sammy | Sep 2, 2016 | Intern's Corner
Hello everyone!
I can’t believe that I am officially done with my first month of internship! I have learned so much in this past month and am so grateful for all the opportunities that I’ve had so far.
The biggest thing I’ve learned this month, besides everything clinical, is how to be and stay organized. You go from seeing one client or group once a week for an hour during practicum to seeing fifteen or more clients in your internship. It’s definitely an adjustment and extremely important to stay organized. During the past month I’ve figured out some ways to make sure I am organized so that I can concentrate on learning.
I created a song binder that includes every genre of music (music from different decades, movies, Disney, children, pop, hello/goodbye, and movement/instrument songs). When a client wants a specific song and I don’t have my IPad available, I can just look in my song binder for the lead sheet.I also have a binder that has tabs for each day and each client (with just the first initial of their first name) where I keep all my documentation sheets. It’s easier to plan a session when all the information is presented in a concise way under that client’s tab. I also have a binder for each off-site facility that I go to so that I can just grab that binder and go.
Also, I kept all of my notes from college. Inspired by Katey and Rachel, I organized my notes into different categories (such as MT & Medicine or MT & Schools) and placed them into a binder as well. When I go to study for my board certification exam, I’ll be thankful I put in that work so that I can easily reference/review any material.
I know it sounds like a lot of binders, but this system of organization works for me. If you are a current music therapy student or just starting out your internship, I encourage you to create an organization system that works for you that will help make your life easier! My supervisors helped guide me and showed me their methods of organization, which helped me develop mine.
Have a good week!
Sammy Springer
