Sound Matters Music Therapy, LLC
Serving adults with developmental disability in Minneapolis, MN
I have been listening to WNYC’s “Radiolab” podcast for years now, and I always love their episodes that have to do with music. “The Septendecennial Sing-Along” is no exception.
As a short description, I’ll say that the story is of a man who plays clarinet with animals. One species he interacts with musically is the cicada. This is a really fascinating episode, and you can find it by clicking on its title (above) right here.
I had the privilege to meet with one of my internship supervisors for a few minutes a couple of weeks ago. I wish I stayed in better touch with her, but I was happy to get to see her for just that short amount of time. Inevitably, we spoke about the fact that I am expecting, and I asked her if she knew any music therapists in the Twin Cities who work in sound birthing. I recognize that I am a music therapist, but those therapists who work in childbirth are not known to me; I have heard there are a few who work at or through a hospital in one of the suburbs. My former supervisor said she knew of a few therapists to contact, but that I should really be thinking of my own playlists in case I can’t have a therapist with me.
Hm. My own playlists? I am pretty accustomed to thinking of my clients’ music, but my own is sort of another story. I’ve been feeling tired of my music, but I have found one blogger whose “new tunes” posts reliably inspire me. I guess it’s time to start putting together a few different lists– stimulative, sedative, active, etc. 
Do any of you work in sound birthing? Did you have a music therapist at your birth? Tell me stories.
I had another enlightening supervision session tonight. Thursdays are my really busy days, and I’m always a messy pool of goo when I finally make it to 6:45 and talk with my supervisor, but regardless, I took away a great thought:
“The therapist’s job is to say the unsayable.”
I’ve been noticing one of my clients offer resistance in regard to potentially uncomfortable emotions she seems to be experiencing. I say “potentially” and “seems to be” because alas, we haven’t gotten too far into some of these issues. (Which is not to say that we must; just to say that I’m aware of her blocking certain subjects.) Anyway, the above quote is valuable to me because I could actually speak the words “I’m noticing you don’t seem to want to talk about this anymore” (or anything else along those lines), as opposed to drifting over the silence or the displacement or however else that discomfort and unease is manifesting itself without acknowledgement.
That’s my very brief thought on this very big idea. Happy Thursday.
I could go on and on about what instruments I think I need, but I have to say that I am preoccupied by needing and even wanting a 3/4 dreadnought, also known as a “baby” Taylor or Martin. 
My favorite part of the week thus far: When one of the elementary school kids I see in a special education class teaches me the lyrics to a song, and then goes on to add harmony before creating a song of his own about the Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas. Man, that kid made my week. Or month, even.
I love what I do.
Music is such a great co-therapist. What a revelation for a music therapist to have.
I can know this, and have known it intellectually, for years, but much of the time I have trouble trusting that the music in my music therapy sessions works more effectively than anything else.
One of my clients tonight had a lot of trouble transitioning into our session together. So much so that he balled himself up into a chair and decidedly did not communicate with me, verbally or otherwise. I sat with him in quiet before laying out a number of instruments, including the drum sets and kits on GarageBand (a favorite of his). I then played piano for a few minutes before he unwrapped himself and explored the instruments in front of him. Soon we had a conversation on our instruments, and I’ve never felt more connected to this client than I did tonight. Though he’s able to communicate verbally and has done so unabashedly in the past, we related to one another differently, and seemingly more clearly, tonight.
It’s nice to have another therapist in the room.
I felt like a fantastic guitarist today because I wore a sweater.
I’ll explain.
If you play ukelele with any variety of strum patterns, you know that there are quite a few patterns that use muting or slapping. (I’m sure there are correct terms for these techniques, but I just don’t have them on hand right now.) I’ve never been great at that kind of strumming, but I’ve always loved it. Today, while at my first site, I noticed I was affecting my guitar strings the way I’ve always wanted to affect my ukelele’s — all because my sweater was getting in the way of my strumming.
I’m glad that that Saturday-after-Thanksgiving-that-doesn’t-have-a-name Sale got me something good.
I was adding suspensions and letting my sweater do its work all day today, and alas, I wasn’t boring myself with the guitar skills I have.
What will I do in the summer, when there are no sweaters to be worn?
Oh, the power of Ted Talks.
Here is another Talk I enjoyed:
I love Ted Talks, as I’m sure most of everyone else does, too.
This is a great Talk on autism.