by Rachel | Uncategorized
You know what’s really NOT fun? Trying to string an acoustic guitar without this handy little tool. I know, because I’ve done it both ways. And I had no idea what I was missing, until I shelled out the $8 and realized how much time and elbow (wrist?) grease I’d wasted previously.
The Planet Waves Pro String Winder not only winds the pegs, but it also snips off the leftover part of the strings. My favorite feature is the fact that it can also pull out the bridge pins, which I’ve always had the hardest time doing with my fingers.
I always dreaded stringing my guitar before, but I’m happy to report that is no longer the case! I’m probably the last person on earth to discover this super convenient little tool…but I’m writing about it here just in case I’m not :) Do you use the Pro Winder, or something similar?
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Confession: this post has nothing to do with music therapy, education, or children. But I’m so excited for my trip to the Windy City this weekend that I couldn’t resist writing about it. It’s been a long winter full of work-related weekend obligations, which means this trip — which has NOTHING to do with work — is the perfect way to ring in spring.
Our little weekend getaway does have something to do with my husband’s work, but that’s a good thing. Every March, his company invites its top performers to Chicago for a hotel stay and awards banquet. Zach and I have attended for the last 4 years, and this will be his 2nd year receiving the Agent of the Year title.
So that’s what we’ll be up to on Saturday night. But we’re heading out this afternoon with plans for a fancy dinner tonight followed by an overnight stay in a suite at the Wyndham Hotel. We love trying out new hotels every time we visit Chicago; back in August, we stayed at the super-cool W Hotel, and on Saturday night Zach’s company is putting us up at the Sax Hotel. Our favorite is the Peninsula, but you have to take out a small loan in order to stay there :)
Ahh, a weekend full of eating out, dressing up, and relaxing. It doesn’t get much better than that. What are your plans for this weekend? Hopefully they’re equally as fun!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
There’s been a lot of buzz about this book in the music therapy world for the last few months. Why? Because the protagonist is a music therapist! That doesn’t happen very often (in fact, I only know of one other book where that is the case), which is why it has caused such a stir.
So of course when the book came out, I made a mad dash to my computer to download the audio version and started listening right away. It’s safe to say that I enjoyed it, considering I finished the book in just a few days.
Sing You Home is not just about music therapy, to be sure. Jodi Picoult tackles several big issues, including infertility and same-sex marriage. As with all of her other books, there are emotional highs and lows, twists and turns, and my favorite aspect of her writing — wonderful character development.
Zoe, the main character who is a music therapist, came alive for me after just a chapter or two. I felt like I knew her, and the same went for the other characters. It was so much fun to listen to the descriptions of her music therapy sessions — I kept forgetting I was reading a mainstream novel!
Many of the sessions she led in the book sounded similar to the kinds of things I do in my own sessions, although she worked with a wider range of populations than I. Zoe faced many of the same struggles that we as music therapists do, including having to explain what she does repeatedly and having to stand up for music therapy as an evidence-based treatment modality.
I don’t want to include any spoilers, so I’ll leave you with this: read the book. And not just because music therapy is involved! It’s beautifully written, fast-paced, and makes you think. Have you read it yet?
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Last summer, I received an email notifying me that a former student’s family had donated $2,000 to my music therapy program at The Hope Institute. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait for school to start so that I could take inventory of our current instrument collection and decide what to add to it.
Rainsticks, jingle bells, tambourines, cabasas, and a Q-Chord were immediately added to the list, as were all 5 Garageband Jam Packs. And then, a few months later and with a little over $1,000 of the donation remaining, my music therapy intern suggested that we order some new hand drums.
I took the drums with me to classrooms for the first time this week, and they definitely did not go unnoticed. Students and co-workers oohed and aahed when they spied them on my cart in the hallway, and it was apparent that the drums had quickly replaced the shaky fruit as their instrument of choice.
Karen (my intern) and I are using these drums to address all kinds of objectives, including the concepts of slow/fast, soft/loud, counting, 1:1 correspondence, imitation, and more. But I don’t consider myself a drumming expert at all, so for those of you who are, what are some cool ways I can incorporate these drums into my music therapy sessions? (I’m looking at you, Kat Fulton!)
by Rachel | Uncategorized
This book was recommended to me by the lovely Music Therapy Maven at the perfect time in my life. Last year around this time, I was just a little stressed (and by a little, I mean so much so that I wrote this blog post). But I listened to the audiobook version of Getting Things Done, and immediately implemented the system.
My biggest problem before reading this book was carrying my to-do list around in my head and letting it cause anxiety day in and day out. It was a total “duh” moment for me when I read the part about getting the tasks out of my mind and down on paper. Not a huge list, as I was used to compiling on a weekly basis, but a single action step I could take towards completing a task or project.
That’s where the tickler file comes in. A simple concept, really: file folders for each month of the year, plus one for each week of the current month.
That phone call I needed to make this week? I wrote it down on a sticky note and put it in this week’s folder at the beginning of the month so that it was waiting for me. The conference I’m presenting at next September? All of that info is in the August folder, so when it’s time to start thinking about it, I can pull it out and do so. No longer do random papers, forms, and bills clutter my desk’s main inbox and cause me stress on a daily basis.
There’s one more folder in my tickler file, and that’s the “Someday/Maybe” folder. What goes in there: ideas I don’t have time for right now, information that may become useful at some point, lead sheets for songs I find that I might want to adapt and use in the future, etc. It’s my go-to place when I have some spare time and might be able to take action on any one of those items.
It’s so much easier to look at a project as a list of steps, rather than one big scary cloud hanging over my head. Of course, I still experience stress, but nowhere near the levels at which I once did. And anything that can lower my stress is effective, trust me! That’s why I always recommend Getting Things Done to everyone.
What about you? Have you read the book, or do you have another system for getting organized and keeping your to-dos from overwhelming you?
