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Welcome, Spring! An update from Sound Matters Music Therapy, LLC

Ah, yes. I have been away for quite some time. Frankly, this Winter offered me too much to combat, and some things– like writing as much as I really want to do– fell by the wayside.

However, I plan to be back here on a regular basis. I truly believe that the darkness and the cold of Winter tore apart my ability to create a cohesive work day. Now that the sun is out (even though it was at freezing temperatures today), I am feeling rejuvenated.

To serve as a brief update, I will say that I found out that I am going to be having a baby at the end of August; our MinnTwin Music Therapist Group has met once to discuss the happenings of the Minneapolis area music therapy scene; I have moved residences (and therefore offices); I am continuing to write as a guest blogger at Child Development Club; I was in a car accident that took me out of work for one week (which could’ve been much, much worse); and I am finding more stability in my definition of my practice as a music therapist.

Find my last blog posts at Child Development ClubChild Development Club. 

Any Family Can Be a Band of Musicians

Shake and Pass Your Egg Shakers

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Perhaps I’ll give up sleep

I was posed an interesting question today. “What do you do for self-care?” Well, I have a clinical supervisor and a therapist, and I also have the pleasure of seeing a music therapist for GIM sessions. All of those things amount to a lot of self-awareness. Day in and day out, though? I think it’s hard to say. Because I have the luxury of creating my own schedule, I can also figure in pockets of time that I can use to do whatever I need or want to do. The hardest question for me, though, is, what do I need, or want, to do? If not something directly related to productivity, then there has to be something indirectly related to productivity that I can manage in my between-time.

Currently, life revolves around traveling to see clients, seeing them, documenting the sessions, and then moving on to the next client. Where else is there time? Should I give up sleep? I could try. Oh, to have a scheduled recess like I remember in elementary school.

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Christmas instrument wish-list

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. 

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And it’s winter

Out the front door

Yesterday, we here in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas experienced snowfall for about 24 hours, amounting in 15 inches or so in my neighborhood. This is a shot out the front door.

Luckily, even though I schedule myself rather tightly, I still lumbered my way through the streets and made it to nearly all of my sites. My big concern this winter is what to do when a storm like this hits in the middle of a weekday. I’ll have to pick and choose, and then probably re-schedule sites and clients for the weekends.

Snow. Lots of it.

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Motivation

Working in private practice offers its set of challenges. One such challenge, for me, is finding consistent motivation to KEEP UP ON MY PAPERWORK. I’m actually pretty scheduled and somewhat determined, and definitely goal-oriented. But, my lists and post-its and planners and web-based calendars amass entries much faster than I can strike them (or recycle them, in the case of my post-its).

Today, I figured it out. Today, I felt productive. Today, I drank twice the amount of coffee as usual — and continued drinking it well into the dark of mid-afternoon (I hate these short days) — and today, I see a space in the lineup of paper product piles assigned to to-dos.

Today, there was coffee.

 

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Mixed groups

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work with large groups of adults with developmental disabilities. This particular facility is unique in that I go to a different room each day. However, there are a few clients who are brought to whatever room I’m in that day, regardless of whether or not it is the room in which they’re stationed on a regular basis. Honestly, this is difficult for me to negotiate. I have trouble learning about those clients whom I don’t see often, and I find that I treat the groups as community music instead of music therapy. But, there are those few individuals who do make it to the music group on a regular basis.

I’ve decided the best term for this particular site is “mixed.” A sub-set of the larger group is with me each day I’m there, and with them, I can work therapeutically. Because I see the other individuals on an irregular basis, I view them more as a community music group. But I work with everyone simultaneously!

I had thought I would write about something altogether different tonight, but alas, this is what came up. I wonder if anyone else has a similar situation.

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The last of the weekends

I believe that today will perhaps be my last “light” day, as I’ve taken on a number of new clients and contracts that will be starting this week. I am pretty thrilled, however feeling a headache come on with all of the scheduling that it’s taking.

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Inaccessible music

I keep a limited amount of music on my iPhone, because it doesn’t have enough capacity to hold my whole library (and frankly some of my music is embarrassing). My husband has thousands and thousands of tracks on Google Music, and though I know the password and where to log in, I am not able to do so when suddenly, for instance, a client says, “I like [this artist].” I know we have that music available on Google Music, but it’s obscure enough that I don’t keep it handy in my iTunes.

This happened three times tonight alone.

Dang. It. 

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Reporting to caregivers

There are a few things about working in private practice that I’m “testing.” One is to report to the parents or caregivers of my clients and students directly (meaning within the same day if they’re clients or students I see weekly, or within the same week if they’re clients I see monthly) following each session or lesson I provide. I’ve been doing this for each of my clients and students for the past three weeks, and am already finding this to be a productive practice in that the parents or caregivers respond to me quickly with questions and ideas.

The reason I do this is because, though I’d like to, I don’t have the ability to meet with the parents and caregivers in person on a weekly basis. Most of the time, my time slots are filled back-to-back. (I may revise this in the future, but for now, this is how I’m operating.) I’m finding that regular and timely reporting via e-mail is the most effective way to include family members.

I try to cover three topics:

  1. Strengths in the session or lesson, and progress being made toward goals.
  2. Progress I see that can be made in future sessions or lessons.
  3. Plans I have for future sessions or lessons.

I’m pleased with this method, but I’ll keep looking for a more streamlined approach.

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Being sick requires work

My sinusitis simply did not let up, all through last week, and then coupled itself with a perky little migraine that took me to urgent care. I am feeling better as the days go by, but truthfully, being sick takes work.

What have I learned in this?

  1. Don’t push it. Go to sleep, if possible, when I feel like it.
  2. Don’t sing if I don’t have to sing. I need that voice.
  3. Drink as much as I can, even when water is boring.
  4. Don’t expect to get done what I’d normally get done.
  5. Don’t make plans that I’ll feel guilty about abandoning.

I’m usually so plan-driven that being sick like this completely bottomed me out and required me to re-evaluate my plans. I don’t like re-creating plans, but I simply had to do it the past few weeks.

Here’s to pain medication.