Archive | April, 2011

ABC’s of DrumSkype

By on April 27, 2011 in Drumming

So far, I’ve Skyped 4 drumming experiences. I’m so grateful and excited to have taken part in these opportunities!

1. The first one was for Daniel Tague and his music therapy drumming class at the Florida State University.

2. The next one was for Meryl Brown and the Illinois Association for Music Therapy Student Retreat.

3. Then came the impromptu DrumSkype with John Lawrence‘s students in Canada (Edmonton, AB).

4. Finally I revisited FSU with a new class this term.

DrumSkype at Florida State, April 7, 2011 (Used with permission)

The last one was the best. I think we finally hit the nail on the head this time. Here’s what I’ve learned…

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Create Space in Therapy: Clearing, Setting Up and Preparing

By on April 21, 2011 in For Music Therapists, Music & Wellness
Create space

Bench outside of the Hilton Downtown San Diego

Whether you are a business person, a lawyer, a mother, a pilot, a therapist, or an artist, you can probably relate to how difficult it is to get work done when there is a mess. Mess leads to distraction, discombobulation, confusion, misunderstanding, and miscommunication.

As a therapist, the process of clearing space applies to my office, my home, and my clients. Whether I’m seeing clients in facilities, in their offices, outside at a park, at my home studio, or over Skype, I aspire to be cognizant of the environment and the effects thereof.

There are certain environments that are more conducive to wellness than others. For instance, when I walk into a store, environment is huge for me. As much as possible, I avoid all of the larger grocery stores, Walmarts, and Targets, simply because the environment is too over-stimulating and stressful for me personally.

I’ve written about throwing things away, minimizing mess, and cleaning up before, and now I’m excited to dish out my two cents and listen to your thoughts on environmental clean-up for clients.

A few weeks ago, Crista Orefice asked this on Facebook:

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VIDEO: People Make Music.

By on April 14, 2011 in Music & Wellness

When I first started to blog, I dreamed of doing a video series called “Music Therapy: Takin it to the streets.” It would look similar to Jay Leno’s street videos, but instead of catching people off guard and making them look stupid, I wanted to unveil the awesome capacity for making music in the regular, average person on the street! After all, our natural state as human beings is feeling good, being well, living authentically, & expressing ourselves through music, dance, and art… whatever FORM that takes. So, the video below is a step closer to that dream coming true.

People make music

I ran into John Fitzgerald of Remo last weekend at the WRAMTA conference, and he said something that struck me: “Kat, it’s not musicians who make music. It’s people who make music.”

In all my time spent preaching that if you have a heartbeat, then you are a natural born rhythm-maker, I had never thought of it *that* way before!

I tested John’s theory during a visit with my neighbors Clyde and Carol in the video below. Apparently, Clyde doesn’t claim to be a musician, but he makes some mad music with me anyway… Enjoy~

 

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All aboard! #WRAMTA11 Low-Down

By on April 6, 2011 in Kat's Musings
Queen Mary

#WRAMTA11 is the Twitter hashtag for the 2011 Western Region American Music Therapy conference. If you were able to follow the excitement this past weekend on Twitter, then #WRAMTA11 was the special code that let you in on all the conference goodies, tweet by tweet!

If you didn’t follow us this year, then consider next year #WRAMTA12. Or consider following the national conference hashtag in November: #AMTA11. People are already tweeting about it.

Now for the low-down. We all stayed aboard the massive ship in Long Beach known as the Queen Mary. We were literally rocked to sleep at night, and surrounded by incredible, historical woodwork during the day. The conference rooms were gorgeous. I’ve never stayed on a boat like this – definitely an experience to remember. Oh, and the ship is haunted, but I didn’t have any “encounters” during my visit.

After a couple of incredible institutes (Strength-based improvisation and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy), we opened the conference with The WRAMTA Tonight Show! Tim Ringgold took the stage as our host for the evening. He played back and forth with the *sizzling* house band, special musical guest (Summer Mencher), and featured guest (Barbara Reuer). The topic of the night was building a recession-proof career.

Tim made a point to inform attendees that we were all GUESTS and to be taken care of during our stay on board! After opening night, not only were we uplifted and inspired by the recession-proof talk and house band, but also we knew that we were taken care of. I have to say, this opening show sets the bar pretty high for conferences in the future that I attend! Nice job, Tim!

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Congratulations Online ZEN Participants!

By on April 4, 2011 in Online ZEN
Balloons

Congratulations, Online ZEN Participants!

I’ve been throwing stuff into the Cloud (Internet) for just over a year. The Online ZEN series is just a little bit about how I’m using the Cloud more efficiently to make my life in the physical realm easier. Thanks for joining me in unveiling my rhythm in the Cloud! =)

Here’s the Prezi I created for the 5-hour CMTE offered at the Western Regional American Music Therapy Conference in Long Beach yesterday. The participants were AWESOME! Everybody was on a different path along the journey, and we were able to cover the basics.

Topics included fun Facebook tricks, Tweetdeck in all its glory, the Blog-o-sphere, Advocacy- it’s about the conversation, Email emptiness = Email bliss, and more tools and links included in a MONSTER handout. Enjoy the video below, and tell me: How do you make the internet work for you?

 

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