January 2011

Being a Therapist & Becoming a Mom

January 31, 2011

I know what you’re thinking right now after reading the headline…so I’ll tell you right now that I am not expecting! Rather, this is a guest post by Rachelle Norman, MA, MT-BC. Rachelle is a fellow music therapist who owns a private practice in Kansas. Be sure to check out her blog for more thought-provoking [...]

Sunday Singalong: Winter All Around Us

January 30, 2011

I know what you’re thinking…not another song about winter! Trust me, I don’t like winter any more than you do, but my students (and yours as well, most likely) need to hear about and understand it as it’s happening. As I mentioned in the video, this is an older song that I don’t use very [...]

A Starbucks Kind of Saturday

January 29, 2011

Some days just cry out for a cup of Starbucks coffee, don’t you think? Today is one of them: a cold, cloudy Saturday with a long to-do list awaiting my attention. Luckily, I received over $100 in Starbucks gift cards from my lovely students for Christmas, so each cup of coffee is like a little [...]

Friday Fave: Building an Empire

January 28, 2011

A little over a year ago, the lovely and talented Kat Fulton introduced me to a guy by the name of Chris Guillebeau. I can’t thank Kat enough, because Chris has been a huge influence on the way I live my life and build my business. Chris’ blog is called The Art of Non-Conformity, and [...]

Why Playing Music is Like Housecleaning

January 27, 2011

I made this unexpected connection in the middle of teaching a piano lesson last week, and my nine-year-old student looked at me like I was nuts. Honestly, though, I couldn’t blame him. I was surprised to hear the comparison come out of my mouth, but as I started to explain what I meant, it made [...]

My Insurance Agent Taught Me a Lesson

January 26, 2011

My insurance agent isn’t a music therapist; he doesn’t work with children, or even play an instrument. But he did teach me a lesson that has been extremely valuable to my private music therapy practice and teaching studio. The fact that my insurance agent is also my husband has no bearing on this particular story…I [...]

Jumping for Joy

January 25, 2011

Sometimes I wonder if I’m really making a difference. That question ran through my head just last night, in the middle of a music therapy session. I’ve been working with this particular child since she was 4 months old; she’ll turn 4 years old in May. She’s making big strides, but how much of that [...]

Messy Desk Confessions

January 24, 2011

Recently, a reader wrote to me the following: “I don’t know if you’d want to blog about your desktop but I’d like to know…is your desk always so ordered? I have a feeling you have an ability to clear the desktop daily. I am consistently in the midst of so many huge projects with my [...]

Sunday Singalong: I’m Gonna Catch You

January 23, 2011

At school one day last week, one of my coworkers told me that she had watched every one of my videos (there are almost 50 now!) and was sharing them with all of her friends. Before I left for the weekend, she told me she was looking forward to today’s video…and the pressure was on. [...]

Today at Listen & Learn Plus!

January 22, 2011

Remember that custom song, What You Mean To Me (A-Z), that I shared with you recently? Well as it turns out, Rene (the teacher who came up with the concept for her students) isn’t the only one who could use such a song in her classroom. Listen & Learn Plus members can download the lead [...]

Adventures in Songwriting: Collaboration

January 22, 2011

Lerner & Loewe. Rodgers & Hammerstein. Kander & Ebb. Lennon & McCartney. Simon & Garfunkel. All famous songwriting duos whose names just belong together, right? To be honest, I’ve never collaborated with another songwriter when it comes to music therapy/children’s songs. (Unless you count therapeutic songwriting with students or piggyback songs, that is!) I’ve definitely [...]

Friday Fave: iPhone Apps for Songwriting

January 21, 2011

Today’s Friday Fave is actually a spin-off of yesterday’s guest post at Time for Music, which is the second installment of my “Adventures in Songwriting” series. I mentioned that I use the voice memo app during the songwriting process, and Susan of the wonderful blog Make Me Musical wanted to hear more about it. I [...]

Adventures in Songwriting: My Process

January 20, 2011

Want to read Part 2 of my “Adventures in Songwriting” series? Well then you’ll have to scoot on over to Wade Richards’ blog, Time for Music! There you can read all about the process I use to write my songs — and check out all of Wade’s great articles and music therapy resources. So what [...]

Adventures in Songwriting: The Beginning

January 19, 2011

When people find out that I write my own music therapy songs, they usually have lots of questions. How did you start writing songs? Is it hard? Do you prefer using your own songs to others’ songs? These questions came up again last week during a presentation for speech & language pathologists, and I made [...]

It’s Cold Outside! (A Song by Wade Richards)

January 18, 2011

I’m super excited to share a song and experience by Wade Richards, a music therapist in New York who continually boggles my mind with the amount of amazing work he does. And I thought I was busy! Wade shares all kinds of songs for music therapy clients and students of all ages on his website, [...]

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17, 2011

Today is more than just a day off from school and work. It’s an opportunity to honor a great man (as I mention in my January song) who did big things, and to observe how far our country has come as a result. I wish I could say that I have a song for this occasion to [...]

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