Seems as though I have a sinus infection. Yay!
IN2L
I wonder if anyone out there who works in nursing homes has ever heard of, or uses, the IN2L system. Ours has had it for at least the year I’ve been working on their staff. The IN2L (stands for It’s Never 2/Too Late) is a computer system (pardon my lack of technological language) that provides a number of programs, if you will, that are supposed to be interactive and can be shared with groups or individuals. The touch screen allows for some easy use by a resident.
I don’t find the system particularly useful, and the times I’ve tried to work with it, it hasn’t exactly provided what it says it will, but that’s another story.
The reason I bring it up is because my fellow music therapist/palliative care unit coordinator brought it into our office and said that with the system’s last update, there was installed a “music therapy” program. Hm. She said that the program’s title was “Music Therapy,” and that, when opened, it provided a large number of song selections from different genres of music. This is very nice, and seems to be a step up from the music offerings the system had before, but, I question why they call it “Music Therapy.” A better title could be “Music As Therapy,” or simply, “Music,” but not “Music Therapy.” Unless, of course, a music therapist is using those programs with a resident, and having that supplement the therapeutic process.
I’ll have to do more investigating of it. 
Who Dat
Here we have a tambourine my parents acquired while on a trip to New Orleans in January. Who Dat!
(You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me) Technology
I led a group at the care center yesterday that included two family members of one of the residents. The group was going really well, and the family members seemed so happy to be there. (They asked several questions about music therapy following the group session, and requested information from me regarding research. I was impressed by their interest in music therapy, and not simply music, if that makes any sense.) At one point in the session, one of the family members requested the song, “(You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me) Lucille.” I don’t happen to know this song, for which I apologized, but I was able to access it because our department recently acquired tablets for each staff member.
I’ve used the tablet several times for different reasons, and I was able to pull up YouTube and search for the song. I found this:
However, the connection failed right away. I refreshed it, and then it failed again. Repeatedly.
You picked a fine time to leave me, Tablet…
All smiles
I had a fantastic night with a certain client. He crossed midline with ease, he tracked a little better than is normal, he remained seated for the amount of time as is his goal, and he passed his instruments off to me with essentially no prompting.
And, this client is all smiles.
I love what I get to do.
Enhanced karaoke
I’m not too interested in karaoke (I think I sing and play other people’s music enough as it is), but one Ray Evangelista certainly is. A story was broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio tonight — apparently there are people who have gone to see him for ten years straight. He calls his version of karaoke “enhanced.”
Find the whole story here. 
Breaking Boundaries Dance Company
Though this isn’t exactly music therapy related, this post is my therapy related.
For my birthday, my fiancé Thomas had the perfect idea to purchase tickets to four different modern dance performances throughout this season. After the first performance a few months ago (of the Zenon Dance Company), I was inspired to go to an “open dance class.” I decided the word “open,” and the words directly under that text on the flier, “open to anyone,” meant that I, having taken some modern and some jazz back in the day, would be able to attend the class.
Best $10.00 workout I’ve ever had. I was sore in every part of my being for a week.
Turns out the words “open” and “open to anyone” didn’t quite include me. However, I absolutely loved being in a dance space with real dancers.
We went to a Breaking Boundaries Dance Company performance tonight. Enter my therapy. I have always loved dance, but never so much as to attend more than one performance in, say, five years (they’re pricey). I have to acknowledge that my discovery of one of my favorite artists, Tom Waits, was at a dance performance back in college. I saw a dance choreographed to “God’s Away on Business,” and I won’t ever forget it. For a few months following, I was consumed by Tom Waits, and that particular song.
My point is simply that I am fascinated by this other art form. I love the physicality of the music. I love that I have no idea what the story is, most of the time, and that I don’t have to figure it out. I adore how dance activates and agitates me.
Stupendous.
Using a list to engage
I remember a time only a while ago, maybe only a couple of weeks, where I proclaimed that I was making progress toward goals with one of my private clients. Tonight, however, I feel that the one step forward we’d made has disintegrated and my grasp on the best approach to working with this client has faltered.
I had had a certain amount of success engaging this person with providing a list of experiences that he and I would target during the session, and ask that he put them in order based on his preference. (Thanks, Lynn, for this awesome tip.) Tonight, the client seemed just as willing as he has been to arrange an order of experiences for his session, but essentially refused to participate in them. I feel that I floundered in his session tonight, and that, again, I don’t have enough tools to utilize for him. Yet. I have to have some sort of hope that I will acquire them. And patience. Uch. Patience. I have trouble with that.
Suzuki Mom
Tonight I essentially made my fiancé sit with me for more than an hour as we waded through a couple of years’ worth of my home video. The reason I suddenly decided to do this was that he and I had just returned from meeting a potential wedding photographer, and I wanted to prove to him that I haven’t always loathed being in front of a camera and/or camcorder.
When I was really little, my family got together and performed Christmas concerts for one another. There was a section of video that caught me attempting to play my teeny violin, but complaining that “I can’t hold it up,” and “I can’t do this.” My mom sat there next to me, encouraging me. I believe I lasted a minute, and then just stalked away (a graceful child I was not).
My mother is the most patient person there is.
Thanks for your perseverance, Mom.
Guitar lessons
I am excited that I now will be offering guitar lessons (both adaptive and traditional) through the studio where I have been offering solely music therapy sessions. My first student will start next week.
