My room set up for lessons that I used to be terrified about teaching
Part of my homework as an intern at MTC is to write a daily journal about how the day went and my thoughts and reflections. Yesterday, I wrote about the fear of the unknown and struggling when something is new and you feel like you don’t know where to start or have no control. While writing that journal entry, I knew it was something that I wanted to expand upon. We all have to deal with new things or doing things that give us anxiety whether we are a music therapy intern or not.
As I move further into my internship, I’m having more added to what I am doing and I know that will continue. One of those things is leading. This week I led for the first time. Just one song here and there during different sessions that I had learned for my repertoire check last week. It was exciting and scary and somehow felt both big and small at the same time. On one hand it was big because it was my first time leading since finishing my course work a while ago as well as my first time doing any leading at MTC but on the other hand it felt small because it was just a song, something I have done for a long time. It’s always relative. When I felt like the song didn’t go well it became such a big thing in my head but when it went well a couple hours later it was just something small I had achieved. As humans I think we have the tendency to make our mistakes or losses so much bigger than our wins. While I am currently leading one song, in the near future I will be leading whole sessions and it will be on me to plan and facilitate them. Starting in October I will be taking over two different sessions: a contract at a school and our Listen and Learn class. This was the week I started to really plan out the Listen and Learn class and figure out the music. So currently I don’t feel too nervous about it but I have found myself freaking out about going and leading sessions at the school.
To be honest I have always struggled with anxiety and OCD and in turn may have become somewhat of a “control freak”. For me, feeling like I have control over some part of the situation helps alleviate my anxiety. In new situations I don’t always know everything, like where to even start on a plan for October. In this case I don’t know what music to prepare or how that changes amongst the ages of students so I start to feel anxious and out of control. So I decided to share my process with you in the hopes that if you ever feel anxious and out of control when something new pops up maybe you won’t feel alone or will have some place to start so that you can get through. When you break it down sometimes it doesn’t feel so big.
Why am I feeling anxious?
I can’t do anything unless I know why. In this case I am anxious because I don’t have much experience with schools and though I have three weeks until I would even lead I feel like I am jumping feet first. At the point of writing this I haven’t even observed yet so my brain can make the situation as big and scary as possible
What do I have control over?
In my case there is more that I can control than I thought. I can go to the music therapist that worked with them before and talk about what worries me. I can ask to meet and talk through ideas for sessions and learn about what music they like. I can listen to the radio to learn what songs are popular right now and make and listen to a playlist of music they have used in the past. I can control how I think about it and not allow myself to go into the worst case scenario. I can also change how I talk to myself. I have education and I wouldn’t be here if my supervisors didn’t think I could do it.
What is it that I am afraid of happening?
In this case, I realized that I was worried about crashing and burning when it comes time to lead. I know I will write a plan and facilitate it. I am worried that it won’t work and then I will have to use the plan that doesn’t work two more times. In figuring this out I can then focus on what would be the outcome if it didn’t work. I would just have to try something different the next time. As my mom always told me growing up: “The world won’t end. The sun will still rise in the morning and the Earth will keep on turning”. Even if it doesn’t go well. Making a mistake is not a personal failure or reflect on me and somehow make me unworthy of being a music therapist.
Making a gameplan
Next week I go to observe. I am sure that will clear up a lot of anxiety for me once I actually see the group and see what is done in the group. Until then I am going to work on listening to music outside of my Spotify playlist and listen to what is on the radio. I am also going to be patient with myself and allow myself to feel whatever it is I feel even if it is nervous.
Last thoughts
In Music Therapy we can’t control and micromanage how the session goes. That is just not how it works. We don’t know for sure how a client will respond and you have to be able to adapt as necessary. I know I can’t control every aspect of life and that my worry of doing badly comes from a place of wanting to be the best I can be for my clients. We all learn as we go and I am still learning to let go of some things. I know I will accomplish so much over the course of my internship and that starts with doing new and scary things. I have done scary things before like teaching lessons since I started at MTC and learned that I love doing it so much. No one likes doing things that scare them, but it is in these moments that we can learn the most. If we never leave our box of what makes us comfortable, how can we ever grow?
My name is GraceAnne Prince and I am the new intern at Music Therapy Connections.
A little about me
I was born and raised in Rochester Illinois, so I am no stranger to Springfield. I have two brothers and a sister and between all of us there are too many cats to count. Currently, I have two cats Pomegranate (Pom) and Kiwi but I am an avid believer in the cat distribution system so I will probably end up with more.
I graduated from Rochester High School where I had a wonderful music education and was involved in Madrigals, vocal jazz, and the musicals. After high school, I went on to study Music Therapy at Western Illinois University. While there, I was a part of many ensembles including University Singers, Chamber Singers, Vocal Jazz, and Jazz Combo and was a part of the WIU Music Therapy Association. After being in Macomb for the five years I was in school, I am finally back in my home town.
Outside of internship I love to nap, sing, play guitar, snuggle with my cats, and spend time with my family, friends, and my partner. I also really love theater and have been involved in shows at the Muni and the Hoogland. I have been singing and performing since I was two years old!
My journey to Music Therapy and MTC
I decided I wanted to be a Music Therapist almost ten years ago. When I was fifteen I did some research on what resources were available to siblings of children with Autism. My brother was diagnosed with Autism when he was sixteen and I was eight so it was a topic close to heart. In my search I came across a research paper about a music therapy group for the siblings of Autistic children. This paper led me to the website of the American Music Therapy Association where I read as much as I could about music therapy. At that moment I decided that music therapy is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Lucky for me MTC was close to the town I grew up in and I knew of it before going off to college. When asked in school where I thought I would go for an internship, I always said I thought I would end up here. It took a while and plans changed but things came together. I moved back home and quickly found out that MTC was open to taking an intern and now I am here.
My first week
This week, although short because of Labor Day, was my first week. I got to observe multiple therapists in a multitude of settings in both group and individual sessions. In one week I saw as many sessions as I would see in one semester at college. At Western I never really got the chance to observe because COVID hit and we were all sent home the semester I was supposed to observe. Getting to observe has been a really cool opportunity. It has given me the chance to slow down and rely on what I learned at WIU. When I observe I write down everything I see and then I get to discuss with the music therapist after the session and compare notes. I know I am going to grow and learn so much over the course of my internship here.
My takeaways from this week
FLEXIBILITY Plans change, sometimes you can’t plan at all, and sometimes new things are thrown at you. You have to be flexible. It is something I have been working on and continue to work on. In this field of work you always have to be ready to change plans and go with what is being given to you. I loved seeing the music therapists I observed having to be flexible and how they did so with such grace.
SELF COMPASSION During a meeting I had this week I talked about how I struggle to not listen to my inner critic on every matter. When you are starting something new, in my case internship rather than school, it is easy to be critical and doubt every decision I make. My focus as I continue is self compassion. If I wouldn’t say it to a friend or a client why would I say it to myself.
I AM A MUSIC THERAPIST In the same vein as self compassion was this declaration. It has been hard for me to see past the fact that I am still technically a student. This has led to me questioning everything I do. In a meeting with my supervisor she told me this. This has become somewhat of a mantra over the last couple of days when I start to doubt myself. While not certified yet, with every day of internship I am on my way.
I want to thank you for embarking on this journey with me. I know this is just the beginning but I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one.
For a past assignment, I was tasked with writing a song. While all of my other song assignments were to be written for a specific client or clinical purpose, this song was supposed to be all for me. I was a bit perplexed, as I didn’t know what to write about.
One night I was attempting to learn an Olivia Rodrigo song and was failing miserably. I began plucking at my guitar and reflecting on how internship was going so fast by and how crazy it was that I only had 2 more months left. As I plucked, the words “faster and faster” kept echoing through my head. Soon I began putting the words to a melody.
What I ended up with was:
“Faster and faster, this train keeps going, when will it ever slow down? One minute you started, the next thing you know, your getting off in the next town.”
That’s how college and now internship has felt. As soon as I get used it, it’s time to move on to the next phase. The song developed from there, and was one of the most natural and authentic to me songs that I have ever written.
Well now it’s time for me to “get off in the next in the next town”. I don’t really know what the next train will be or when it will come. This is scary beyond belief, but incredibly exciting at the same time. I feel so fortunate to have MTC be my “train” these past few months. I’m going to always to have a spot in my heart for my supervisors, mentors, and clients I have gotten to work with these past 6 months. Thank you all for riding along with me on this journey as well.
Faster and Faster
by Lillian Schierbrock
You get on the train at the home station to start on the ride.
Don’t know where you’re going, but you’ll figure it out in time.
You see mountains and plains, other marvelous things.
It’s a sight to behold.
But then you hear that it’s getting close to the end of the road.
Faster and faster this train keeps going. When will it ever slow down?
One minute you started, the next thing you know you’re getting off in the next town.
One year, two years, three years, four.
Then it’s time to leave to see more.
You get used to the train and everything that comes along on the ride.
You know the sunset is best seen from seat 2B on the left side.
You know the best food in the dining car,
And your favorite conductor by far.
It’s becoming like home, but the next you know it’s time to go.
Faster and faster this train keeps going. When will it ever slow down?
One minute you started, the next thing you know your getting off in the next town.
One, two, three months, four, five, six.
Who knows what is next.
Don’t know what the next train will look like, don’t know where it will go.
Your so excited, but scared to death because there is so much you don’t know
Faster and faster this train keeps going. When will it ever slow down?
One minute you started, the next thing you know your getting off in the next town.
My best attempt at recreating the scene from the Inside by Bo Burnham
I am required to take part in weekly repertoire checks during my supervision time. Often my supervisors will request particular songs or types of songs for me to bring to my repertoire check. This last week, my supervisors requested I bring in a song that reflected how I am currently feeling.
The song I chose to bring in was “That Funny Feeling” by Bo Burnam. To me, the song reflected the complicated way I have been feeling during this time of change with all that is happening in my life and in the world around me. As the song is very specific to what the writer was feeling, my supervisors requested that I rewrite the song about how I feel. I recently brought my version of the song to my supervision this week. My supervisors encouraged me to share this version with all of you as my blog post this week.
That Funny Feeling (Lillian’s Version)
Showing a patient how to use the guitar tabs app.
Getting Starbuck’s coffee when you feel like crap.
Turing Red’s self-awareness, loving parents, no time for fun.
The ending of your internship means the rest of life has begun.
There it is again, that funny feeling
That funny feeling
There it is again, that funny feeling
That funny feeling
Working on my final project, trying to keep up the pace.
Looking at Shein Dresses, imagining what’s to come.
But COVID meanders, no clear answers, possible war.
The whole world at your fingertips, but you can find the answers you’re looking for.
Encantos everywhere, learning to sing with gusto.
Almost five years of this, a couple more weeks to go.
People get fired, Getting tired, Unfair decrees.
My issues seem so small yet so big to me.
There it is again, that funny feeling
That funny feeling
There it is again, that funny feeling
That funny feeling
Reading TikTok’s terms of service, going for a drive.
Driving aimlessly, not knowing what you’ll find.
Full Atychiphobic, just keep your focus, won’t be disowned.
A book on getting better from your supervisors on loan.
Feeling nothing and everything at the same time.
Googling jobs, being overwhelmed with what you find.
That warmth of spring breathing through the winter air.
For my assignment this week I read the book Big Magic; Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. Gilbert divides this book into six parts; Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, and Divinity. Each of these parts focuses on how one can embody each of those things to let go of their fear and to embrace their creativity in life. Gilbert shares many good thoughts on combating fear and embracing creativity in this book, three of these ideas particularly stuck out to me.
Courage
In the part entitled “Courage”, Gilbert discusses being courageous in the face of your fears. She states that we shouldn’t live with an absence of fear, that is unnatural. We need to live with our fear, but not let the fear control our lives. Gilbert makes an analogy about going on a road trip. In this analogy, you are going on a road trip with your creativity and fear. Fear is welcomed on this road trip, but is not allowed to drive. Fear can have an opinion on where you go, but fear does not have a vote on it.
I really liked how Gilbert discussed fear in this analogy. In my life I often let fear have a say in what I do, I have even let fear be in the driver’s seat from time to time. I always thought the way to get rid of fear was to eject it from the car all together. However, getting rid of fear completely is not attainable. It’s healthy to have fear and to acknowledge its existence, but not let it control your life. That is something I hope to do going forward.
Enchantment
Something I found particularly interesting in the section “Enchantment” was when Gilbert discussed how the fear of peaking can keep a person from trying again. She discusses how Harper Lee did not release another book after To Kill a Mockingbird because “When you’re at the top, there’s only one place to go.” This fear makes creating about winning or losing, with the fear of losing stopping us from embracing our ideas and trying to create again.
I’ve had many ideas in my life that I have not pursued due to fearing they will not be successful. This was something that held me back a lot during the first few months of my internship. When working with clients and patients, I didn’t try out ideas I had in fear of them not working. Additionally, I didn’t share ideas I had in fear of them not being good enough. I have worked through a lot of these and have discovered that just because something didn’t work doesn’t mean I am a failure as a music therapy intern. I am incredibly proud of the progress I have made, and will keep working on not letting fear stop me from trying.
Permission
The part entitled “Permission” discusses how to allow yourself to look past fear and embrace your creativity. One part of this that stuck out to me was about “entitlement”. Gilbert states “creative entitlement means believing that you are allowed to be here… you are allowed to have a voice and a vision of your own.” She discussed sharing and owning your creative intent, not letting others scare you away from the life you are entitled to.
This part reminded me a lot of imposter syndrome. I have found myself falling into its traps many times in my life. Imposter syndrome leads to feelings that I somehow don’t deserve to be where I am and doing what I am doing. This has happened when I have started new ensembles, started new jobs, and especially happened when I started my internship. I’ve learned to push through this fear, but it often causes a lot of growing pains. I need to work on owning my intent and entitlement as soon as I start something to combat the feelings of fear and imposter syndrome. I am going to be a music therapist and I have worked hard and deserve to be where I am.
Overall, I really enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert’s point of view on embracing creativity and combating fear. As someone who lets fear and anxiety often control her life, I found Gilbert’s book to be thought provoking and I look forward to adopting some of her mindsets going forward.
A majority of music therapy students have to leave their home areas for internship. This was also the case for me. I am from a small town in Iowa, so Springfield, IL was a big change for me. I love traveling and exploring new places, so I have enjoyed getting to explore Springfield during my time in internship. These are some of my favorite things about the Springfield area.
The Stores
As stated, I am from a very small town. Something that excited me when I got to Springfield was that there was a large mall and a Target in town! Where I am from the closest mall and Target are a half an hour away. I have had so much fun on weekends window shopping at the mall and going to Target. I’ve enjoyed exploring local boutiques, music, and record stores. I have enjoyed going to the Springfield Old Capitol Farmers Market on Saturdays! Additionally, I have found the Scheels store here in Springfield to be incredibly exciting, there is a full size Ferris wheel!
The History
I am a bit of a history and architecture nerd. I was thrilled to discover all of the history and old houses that are in Springfield. I have enjoyed going to places like the Dana Thomas House. Additionally, I have explored many of the Lincoln sites like the museum, house, and tomb. I have enjoyed going on drives around Oak Lawn Cemetery and past the beautiful houses near Washington Park.
Washington Park
Washington Park is one of my favorite places in Springfield. Washington Park is less than five minutes from MTC, so on many occasions I have spent my weekly self care time there. I love the botanical gardens and listening to the bell tower. Additionally, there is a lagoon full of ducks and geese. I love going there and watching the ducks and geese swim around.
Surrounding Towns
I love going on drives and exploring the surrounding area. Because of this, I have gotten to discover and explore many of the wonderful towns near Springfield. I have discovered many wonderful antique shops in some of the surrounding towns. One of my favorite towns is Petersburg. Petersburg has some beautiful houses, wonderful downtown area, and has some very wonderful historical sites. Additionally, I enjoyed exploring Elkhart when my family visited a few months ago. In Elkhart there was an adorable restaurant that had some of the best pie I have ever eaten.
Horseshoes
For those who are not familiar with the beauty that is a horseshoe, horseshoes are a dish that consists of a piece of bread, some sort of meat (particularly a type of burger), french fries, and cheese sauce. Prior to arriving in Springfield, I had never had a horseshoe before. During my first visit to Springfield, I read about how the horseshoe is a Springfield staple. Naturally, I felt like I needed to try these famous Horseshoes. After trying a horseshoe, I fell in love. Horseshoes are now one of my favorite meals and I have enjoyed trying different horseshoes around Springfield. I have discovered that I particularly like horseshoes with bean burgers and white cheese sauce.
Music Therapy Connections
Of course I couldn’t leave MTC off of a list of my favorite things in the Springfield area. :)
Hello all! I hope your week has been going well! As of this Friday, I have one month left of my internship!! During these last few months of my internship I have taken on more and more responsibility during music therapy sessions. Along with this greater responsibility, I have also gotten to experience things that I have never gotten to experience before. During my blog post this week, I will be discussing some of these new experiences!
Leading Sessions Alone
Last week, one of my supervisors had an emergency situation. Due to this, my supervisor was unable to accompany and supervise me while leading my sessions. I had been leading sessions solo for about a month at this point, but I had my supervisor there to supervise me and give advice before and after sessions. Now, I unexpectedly had to go on my own to the contract sites and see clients alone at MTC. This was very nerve racking for me, but it required me to trust in myself and my abilities as a music therapist intern. I was unexpectedly put into this new situation, but I was proud of myself for taking on the challenge and responsibility.
Trying a New Instrument
I had been brainstorming new interventions to use with my clients at MTC. Particularly, I wanted to find a new intervention to target fine motor skills with one of my clients. I thought about using an autoharp to target this goal. However, this idea quickly had to change when I discovered MTC does not have an autoharp. One of my supervisors shared with me that there was a Q-Chord at MTC. A Q-Chord is an electronic instrument that plays a chord when pressing a button. I was familiar with the Q-Chord, but I had never played one before. I worked to become acquainted with how to use and play a Q-Chord over the week. At the end of the week, I implemented the Q-Chord into the session with the client. The client took to using the Q-Chord quickly and I look forward to using it in upcoming sessions with this client.
Co-treating for the First Time!
One of the most exciting new experiences I had this last week was that I had the opportunity to co-treat with a physical therapist at St. John’s Children’s hospital! As I have written about in the past, I love interdisciplinary work! One of my upcoming assignments is to co-treat with a related professional. One of the patients I have been seeing regularly at the hospital has also been receiving regular physical therapy services. Because of this, my supervisor and I reached out to the physical therapy services at the St. John’s about possible opportunities to co-treat.
I was thrilled to receive a call from one of the physical therapists about two opportunities to co-treat! I was very excited for this opportunity to co-treat, but I was very nervous because this was something I have never done before. Going into the sessions, I found it difficult to find where to insert myself into the session. However, I tried not to overthink this and worked to find places where I could support the work the physical therapist was doing. In the end, I was thrilled with how the sessions went and the physical therapist also stated excitement about the sessions and co-treating with music therapy in the future.
Overall, these new experiences were scary and challenging at times, but I feel I have grown so much from them! I look forward to seeing what other new experiences I get during the last month of my internship and throughout my career as a music therapist.
We all have our personal holidays; birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I have my own personal holiday that happened this last week that is a bit peculiar. February 15th marked my 5th annual Rejection Day celebration. A quick disclaimer, this day has nothing to do with Valentine’s Day, which occurs the day before. Rejection Day is the day that found out I was rejected from what I thought was my dream college. I figured this is a timely story to share as many are applying and auditioning for music therapy programs and internships this time of year.
When I decided that I was going to major in music therapy in high school, I knew the college I wanted to attend. The college appeared perfect; it had the populations I wanted to work with, it wasn’t too far away from home, and it had a brand new and amazing music building. For years, all I could imagine was going to this college and having all my music therapy dreams come true.
My senior year of high school, I originally applied for two colleges. These colleges were my “dream college” and a back up. I put a lot of time and effort into my auditions. Additionally, I worked with a voice instructor to be musically prepared for the songs. However, I wasn’t a strong sight reader and wasn’t feeling well the day of my audition at my “dream college”. I remembered coming out of the audition not feeling like I did great, but still hopeful I did well enough to get in.
A week later, I remember my Dad calling to tell me there was an email for me from the school of music at my “dream school”. I remember sitting in my car opening that email and my nervous excitement. Little did I know at the time how badly that email would hurt to read. In that moment everything I had imagined for myself felt like it shattered.
This wasn’t the end of the line in anyway, I had been accepted by the other college I auditioned for as a music therapy major. However, I did not get a good feeling when I visited that other college. I felt so lost, I didn’t get accepted to the college of my dreams and the college I was accepted to didn’t feel like the right place for me.
In between feeling sorry for myself and bowls of ice cream, my Dad suggested we call Western Illinois University. WIU was a college I had talked about applying for, but never got around to it with the excitement of senior year and focusing on my other auditions. We called WIU, and everything just seemed to fall into place. I scheduled my audition that day, and a week and half later I was in Macomb, Il at my audition.
Walking into Browne Hall for the first time just felt right. It wasn’t a big, fancy, or brand new music building, but it was welcoming. All of the students and professors I interacted with were so kind and inviting, I could see myself being a student there and working with these professors. So from that day on I knew that I was going to go to WIU.
In hindsight, I feel so fortunate that I didn’t get into that college. If I would have, I would have never gone to WIU. In turn, I wouldn’t have met my best friends or had the many wonderful opportunities that I got to have at WIU. Additionally, I wouldn’t be interning at Music Therapy Connections.
One of the things that I was most proud of was that I didn’t let this rejection deter me from my dream of becoming a music therapist. I could have very easily let that rejection define me and given up, but I didn’t. I just found a different path toward my dream.
Life is unexpected and being rejected can hurt so bad. What I learned from this is that rejections aren’t the end of the road, they are just pointing you down the road you’re supposed to take.
Due to Valentine’s Day, love is a hot topic during the month of February. I figured for my blog post this week I would share something that I love, songbooks! With the internet, songbooks are not as necessary as they formally were. However, I find songbooks to be incredibly great resources for discovering and learning songs. Following are some of my favorite song books that I love to make use of during my music therapy work.
The Daily Ukulele
The Daily Ukulele is wonderful. This book has an amazing range of genres, ranging from jazz, musical theater, rock and roll, and country. The songs in this book can be used with children through older adults. It is one of the first books that I reference when looking for songs and is one of my favorite songbooks.
The Big Book of Nostalgia
The Big Book of Nostalgia is another book I like to reference when I am looking for songs. This book is full of classic songs from the early to mid 1900s. It also gives a short explanation of all of the songs, along with a chart of when the song charted in the United States. I have found this book greatly supports my work with older adults
The New Decade Series
I currently own three of the books in this series; Hits of the 1940s, Hits of the 1950s, and Hits of the 1960s. This series of books runs from the 1920s-2010s. I have found that they are a great resource to find what the top songs of each decade were for the past 100 years. Additionally, these books come with a code to access recordings and accompaniment tracks for each of each song. I have used these books in my work with older adults and with the clients I work with at SPARC.
The Guitar Songbook for Music Therapy
This was the first songbook I bought as a music therapy major my freshman year of college. It is not a very big book, but it is a wonderful resource for folk songs, spirituals, and children’s songs that are often used in music therapy work. Additionally, the book gives ideas on how to implement many of these songs into your music therapy sessions.
The Tune Book
The Tune Book is the most peculiar of all of the songbooks I own, but is also one of my favorites. I found this book during a music library sale my freshman year of college. The book appears to be from the 80’s or 90’s. It has the strangest set up of any music book I have ever seen, with the publishers cramming as many songs as they could on each page. It’s song range is very allectic as well, ranging from folk songs to hymns to country to reggae to classic standards. I have no idea what audience this songbook was intended for, but it has become one of my favorites and greatest resources as a music therapist in training.
That is only the tip of the iceberg of my songbook collection. These books have been such a great resource to me as a music therapist in training! What are some of your favorite song books?
Hello all! We had a lot of snow this last week in Springfield. I hope you are staying warm wherever you are at!
Snow days are something I thought would not experience anymore after finishing school. However, with the snowstorm that hit Springfield, I had two snow days. As a child, I loved snow days; it was so much fun to have a day to play in the snow and watch movies. Even in college, snow days were a wonderful opportunity to practice selfcare and to get ahead on assignments.
However, I found that I don’t quite enjoy these snow days as much as I did in the past. The past few weeks have been full of cancellations due to COVID-19. I was looking forward to a “normal” week again, something I haven’t had since the December holidays. To quote my supervisor Emma, “No week is normal when working in private practice”. I attempted to make the best out of my two days off. In this bog post I will be taking you through what snow days looked like as a music therapy intern.
Pre-Storm: Tuesday
Throughout our day at the Hope School, Emma and I heard whispers of the upcoming storm and the possibility of a school cancelation. By the time we left Hope that day, it was confirmed that classes were canceled the following day. When I got to MTC, my supervisors encouraged me to take home anything I would need from MTC and I was advised not to go out the next day. I ended that day grabbing a few extra supplies from Aldi’s before returning to my apartment, where I would spend the next few days.
Snow Day #1: Wednesday
Typically I go with my supervisor, Molly, to SPARC on Wednesday mornings. Due to the storm, SPARC was closed for the day. I spent my morning working on songs for my sessions at SPARC, Concordia, and MTC. I then finished out my morning zooming with my supervisor, Emma, which we discussed how to lead virtual voice lessons. That afternoon, I helped lead a virtual voice lesson and led two virtual piano lesson. I also gave myself some selfcare breaks throughout the day that consisted of watching Grey’s Anatomy and cuddling with my cat.
Snow Day #2: Thursday
I typically start my Thursdays at St. John’s Children’s Hospital with my supervisor, Katey. After assessing the road conditions and realizing my car was stuck in a snow drift (see picture above), I came to the sad concussion that I was stuck another day. I spent my morning similarly to the day before, lots of practicing for upcoming sessions. I attended my weekly supervision and repertoire check via Zoom. I then spent the afternoon working on more songs, taking self-care time, and plotting how to dig my car out of its snowy prison.
Friday: Freedom!
I was determined to see my clients at St. John’s and Concordia. I figured out how to use a plastic trash can to scoop the snow away from my car. After about a half an hour of digging, my car was free, I was able to go to my sessions that day, and even grabbed a Starbucks coffee during my scheduled self care time.
Overall, while I didn’t enjoy being cooped up in my apartment, I did learn a few things from my two snow days.
Flexibility
Adaptability
How much I love working with my clients and patients
