Can I just take a second to say...

I graduated!

Welcome to the actual ceremony. GREAT speaker I might add. Congrats to all those (especially MT!) who graduated.

This is me and my beautiful family (and boyfriend). They all came to support me on my big day.

I'm feeling sentimental...

I'm amazed that I have just 3 weeks left of my internship. It will be difficult to move on because I've had such great experiences at the BHC. I am so thankful to my supervisor and the staff, all of which felt more like family than coworkers. I have met great people-patients included-that I look forward to seeing everyday. Spending hours a day with them will be what I miss most about my internship. The lessons I have learned will stay with me throughout life. I am truly grateful.

Beach ball game

I am working on a session with one of my groups with the theme of "Beach Party." It being summer in Florida, it seemed only appropriate. One of the games I have planned is a game of catch with a goal of cognitive stimulation. To fit the beachy theme, I am playing catch with a beach ball. But really, you could toss a beanbag, a regular ball, etc.

Materials:
Beach ball
iPod/speakers (the song I chose for this activity was "Surfin USA" by the Beach Boys)

Procedure:
When music begins, clients will toss ball back and forth. When MT stops the music, the ball stops moving. The person left holding the ball when the music stops will be asked a question*.

*The question asked will depend on the functioning level of the patient and the goals you are working on in that group. The patients I will see tomorrow are generally low functioning adults. I may ask questions like, "What kind of things can you find at the beach?" or "Name another song that the Beach Boys sang." If I am working on self-concept with children, I might ask them to name one thing they like about themselves.

Benefits of student AMTA membership

I am excited today because I got in the mail my first personal copy of the Journal of Music Therapy. And so I wanted to take a few seconds to rave about the benefits of joining AMTA as a student. The biggest benefit is the low costs of joining as a student as compared with joining as a professional. As college students, I'm sure we can all appreciate this. I need a break every place I can get it, thank you.

And the discounts aren't only in the membership fee. Students are eligible for discounts on music therapy textbooks, national/regional conferences. There are more opportunities for discounts on AMTA products (such as a flash-drive filled with research publications), and first year of professional membership.

There are also a large number of scholarships available to AMTA students and interns. In fact, AMTA has recently posted new deadline dates that can be applied for now.

As you search for internships, AMTA offers a list of AMTA-affiliated internship sites. As you begin your career, AMTA offers information for building connections with other professionals, and up-to-date information to help you set fees for your own music therapy services.

As I mentioned, I received my first research publication. Members will receive 4 Journal of Music Therapy publications, 4+ Music Therapy Matters, 2 Music Therapy Perspectives, and 1 AMTA sourcebook. As I understand it, if you join now, your membership will need to be renewed again at the start of 2011. However, you will receive all of the publications available to members from January to December 2010.

A student membership is $80. (A professional membership is $220!) Join now, these are my words of wisdom.

An activity that will be a lifesaver

Today at the BHC, I had a plan prepared for one of the units. I spent the morning putting it together, copying songs to a playlist on the computer. With 15 minutes to go-time, I plugged in the iPod only to find that the computer would not recognize the stupid machine. Not only that, but the iPod screen completely froze! And yes, we have another iPod but no, for complicated reasons we cannot play video from it.

What is one to do with an iPod full of music and no time to plan?

Music trivia! Music trivia for mental alertness, cognitive stimulation, and mood elevation.

Materials:
iPod and speakers
White board
Dry/erase markers

Task Analysis:
1) Split your group into two teams. Have them come up with a team name.
2) Decide who goes first (the team who has a person with the closest birthday goes first, for example).
3) Play a song for that team. Teams get one point for artist, one point for song title. You can throw in fun points here and there, like a point for dancing the Cupid Shuffle or a point for naming the movie that Eye Of the Tiger is famous for.
4) Repeat step 3, alternating between teams. If a team is at a loss for artist or title, you can allow the other team to "steal" their point.
5) Towards the end of the session, make it a "free for all." Anyone can guess at any time. Warning: you have to pay close attention to who guesses correctly first. It is hard when a few people shout it out at once.

I do not blindly choose songs either. There are two reasons that I can think of to rig the game this way. (A) I want to set the patient up for success. If they are slow to answer and points are popping up from everyone but that patient, play something you think they will know right off the bat. (B) I want to shape a person's mood. Today a patient came into session late. She planted herself right in front of me with arms crossed and started yelling at the staff. Well, my next song was Michael Jackson, something I really thought she'd enjoy. By the end of the hour she was dancing like crazy, smiling and laughing! It is awesome to see changes like that happen in front of you.

Crafty sessions

At the BHC, I have had the opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary team with art therapists. Some people might disagree, but I think music and art therapy can go beautifully together. We must accept that not all of our clients will respond to music therapy. There are some people that just don't like music (I think I read that it was less than 1% of the population?). Where you can't connect with someone through music, you may be able to build that relationship through art.

I must be respectful however in insisting that we do not claim that we are practicing art therapy. After all, I would not want someone who did not have the training and credentials I have to call themselves a music therapist. Similarly, unless you are working side by side with an art therapist, do not tell anyone that you are implementing art therapy.

So, a simple, fun, and music-related craft project: a rainstick! Great for children and adolescents, these rainsticks can be decorated with construction paper and require little more than (safety) scissors, paper, and tape. this entire project comes from Enchanted Learning.

Supplies:
Paper towel tube
Aluminum foil
Small dried beans (like lentils), unpopped popcorn, dry rice, or tiny pasta
Construction paper
Glue
Scissors
Crayons or markers

Task Analysis:
1) Place one end of the paper towel tube on a piece of construction paper. Trace around the end of the tube to create a small circle.

2) Lift the tube from the piece of paper and set aside. Around the circle drawn on paper, draw a bigger circle that surrounds it.

3) Complete the circles by drawing "spokes" between the two circles. Cut out the circle, then cut along the spokes.

4) Use tape or glue to secure the construction paper to one end of the tube.
5) Cut a piece of aluminum foil 1.5 times the length of the tube.
6) Shape aluminum foil into two "long, thin, snake-like shapes.

7) Coil the snake-like strips into springs. Put the foil springs into the tube.
9) Fill the tube 1/10th full with the dry beans.
10) Repeat steps 1-3 on the other end of the tube.

11) Decorate as much as you want.

A therapeutic guitar lesson

Today, with just one patient on the children's unit at the BHC, I had the opportunity to lead a one-to-one session. If your patient has an interest (like mine did) in learning the guitar, this can turn into an awesome session with a focus on cognitive stimulation.

Preparations:
Tape strips of paper to the neck of the guitar that number each fret (the paper should sit just above the fret, not under the strings).

Create flash cards of the chord fingerings you want to teach, (use a different color of construction paper for each chord). I chose to teach C, D, em, G, A, and A7.

Tape three strips of paper on the fret board; place one in the 1st fret, one in the 2nd fret, and one in the 3rd fret.

Color dots where fingers should be placed for each of the chords you chose. Correspond the color of that dot with the color of the flashcard. To color, pull the strings away carefully to get access to the paper taped onto the fret board.

Materials:
Guitar with paper labels of frets/chord fingerings
Chord flashcards (with finger numbers)
Markers
Sheet music

Task analysis:
1) Teach the patient finger numbers (1=index, 2=middle, 3=ring, 4=little). Quiz patient on finger numbers by calling out numbers and having them wiggle that finger.

2) Teach fret numbers. Quiz: e.g. "Put your 3rd finger anywhere on the 2nd fret."

3) Teach string numbers. Quiz: e.g. "Put your 1st finger on the 5th string on the 3rd fret."

4) Explain to the patient how colors of the dots on the guitar correspond with the chords on the flashcard. Teach them how to finger their first chord (mine was D). Quiz: e.g. "Take fingers off the guitar. Finger the D chord again." Repeat, repeat.

5) If they do really well with all these tasks, allow them to try to figure out the next chord (A) on their own. Quiz as you did in step 4, but then ask them to finger the switch between fingering the first chord and fingering the second.

6) At this point, the patient may play a I-V-I song.

7) Teach another chord (G) and the patient is ready for a I-IV-V-I song! The songs I used for this step were "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "This Little Light Of Mine."

8) If you have time to advance, teach more chords (C and Em). A great song that utilizes only the chords mentioned in these steps is "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay.

Playing for change

Speaking of music videos, I want to share a couple that are very popular at the BHC. The two songs I am posting below come from a group called Playing For Change. The group began in 2005 to bring "peace through music." They have traveled to many places in the world to record musicians playing songs like "One Love" and "Stand By Me."

The result is a music video that overlaps all these musicians to make one song. As you watch these, you'll count dozens of different locations. Musicians from the U.S., Africa, Europe, and Asia play with their native styles, instruments, and languages.

One Love


Stand By Me

Music videos elevate mood

I have officially finished my first week of internship!

I saw a lot of activities this week that I will be sharing throughout this blog's life. Let me share some information about the BHC first. The BHC has four units, one of which is a unit for geriatric and psychiatric patients. People that get put in this unit may require a little bit more attention from the doctors and nurses than the rest. However, the music therapists meet with all four units almost every weekday.

In the unit I described above, there is very often a very diverse group that comes in. Patients may have very different levels of functioning or interests. So, transfer this outside of the BHC. You may find yourself with a group (small or large) that is difficult to meet all the needs of its participants. In this case, consider music videos.

Music videos are a great way to address mood elevation when you have some patients with low or unclear cognitive capabilities. It does not require a great deal of discussion (though you do have this option if you think it is appropriate to your group). Create a playlist on your iPod that is specific to that group and full of music videos (you will need to watch them all the way through to ensure that they are clean). I will soon post a couple videos to add to your collection that are an absolute hit at the BHC.

The Intern Strategy

Yesterday was my first day at internship! I observed two sessions, filled out paperwork, learned how to enter assessments into the computer, and most important: met a lot of people.

I consider this to be the most important thing I did all day because the relationships I build will determine my success as an intern. It is definitely important to build rapport with patients, but I would venture to say that it is more important to build a stronger rapport with your colleagues. We'll call this part one of your "Intern Strategy."

What is the Intern Strategy? Well, the title is something I just pulled off the top of my head now, but the concept has been floating around in my mind for quite some time. Its purpose is to be the best-loved intern you could be.

In part one, I am stressing the importance of learning as many names as possible throughout your building and the places you frequent. Go around within the first two days and introduce yourself to every new face you pass. Try to remember as many names as possible (repeating them as you shake hands helps), but if you you can't remember everyone, don't stress! There will be plenty of opportunities to catch them later down the road. The best thing you could do is to ask them within that first week: "I'm sorry, I've learned so many new names this week. Would you remind me of yours?" People will really appreciate a confident hand shake, smile, and hearing their name repeated aloud with "It's so nice to meet you."

That is step one of part one. Step two of part one is to continue building those relationships. You have learned their names, but you need to spend some time getting to know that person. When it does not interfere with your work (that would be bad, Intern), approach a colleague and ask them how their day is going. Hopefully that will start a conversation. Questions to get the ball rolling might include, "How long have you worked here," "What do you like most about your job," and "What is your role here?" I advise you: don't just do the minimum to get by.

These relationships will help you down the road because people will be really warm towards you and your work. They can help you find more jobs, assist clients, and make sessions run more smoothly. Plus, it feels good to have that comfortable connection with your coworkers. I do this partially because I hate walking into a building and feeling like I have to look down at my shoes awkwardly.

All in all, I am so excited about my internship. I will continue to share all my insight with you as the weeks and months progress. Happy internship!