Rhythm For Good

Archive | November, 2011

5 Bold Statements I Bring To You From Atlanta

By Kat Fulton on November 30, 2011 in Kat's Musings

Now that I’m coming up for a little air from the AMTA conference in Atlanta, I’d like to share with you a few bold statements:

1. Twitter is more powerful than your rolled eyes can handle. The only reason Ben Folds learned about music therapy and attended our conference is because of Twitter. The gate-keepers have come down, people. The ivory towers are burning down to the ground, at the same time that you are reading this post right now.

That crazy Ben, giving me the bunny ears again.

If you would like to reach out to a famous person, or the CEO of a large corporation, or big-time decision makers, or a big grant-funder then Twitter is one of your answers. If that high profiler is not on Twitter, then you probably don’t need to waste your time getting in touch anyway, because they are not as hip and progressive-minded as you.

Instead of 3-page long fan mail, high profilers can skim through extremely short fan blurbs from massive amounts of people. When they see something that strikes their fancy, they respond and take action.

Ben saw “#musictherapy” tweeted by Meryl Brown and Rachel See Smith, and was intrigued.

I would add that Twitter is not just for fun, goofy, time-sucking social time. Twitter is for serious business exchange. Try following @CNNHeroes to find a local healthcare professional with clout who just might love music therapy. Follow the hashtag #SLPeeps to find a rich, incredible community of speech therapists all coming together to swap info and collaborate with music therapists. But that’s only the beginning.

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I’m a mad producer, and I want you to be one too.

By Kat Fulton on November 27, 2011 in Business & Practice

I returned last week from the American Music Therapy Conference in Atlanta.

I briefly sat on a social media panel. I had to leave early for a meeting. This post fills up what I forgot to mention in my 5 minute spiel at the beginning.

Thanks to Kimberly Sena Moore, Meryl Brown, Michelle Erfurt, Rachel Rambach, Roia Rafieyan, Matt Logan, Bill Matney, Michelle Strutzel, and Sarah Sendlbeck for being Mad Producers in the social media panel at conference.

It seems as though they (and many more) have already realized web-based rejuvenation, inspiration, and just plain awesomeness.

There is a beautiful marriage created when you can pinpoint your unique talents and pair them with a deep need in the world community. That’s how to produce value and not get burned out.

While using your unique talents and producing stuff that makes you feel incredibly happy, you can self-rejuvenate AND help others at the same time.

That’s why I challenge you to throw stellar value into the web based upon your unique talents. Begin producing as much as you consume. But here’s the caveat… Only produce content/vids/products that inspire YOU.

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Your AMTA Handouts + An Announcement At AMTA

By Kat Fulton on November 14, 2011 in Business & Practice, Drumming, Older Adults

AMTA is right around the corner. I am thrilled and blessed to be able to participate this year. I was telling Jessy Rushing yesterday that last year was my first year ever giving a solo presentation. I still feel like such a rookie at this. [So nervous in a good way!]

If you would like to have access to all of my conference handouts, then visit this page and type in the password that I am giving out at the presentations. I’ve included handouts for the Get Drumified with Older Adults CMTE, Online Zennn concurrent, and 2 digital media round tables. If you’d rather have instant access to the PDFs, then you can enter your name and email below to get them now.

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3 Easy Phrases For The Rhythmically Reluctant

By Kat Fulton on November 10, 2011 in Drumming

I’ve got some special announcements at the bottom, but first I’d like to give you 3 little tidbits that you can implement into practice immediately! Oftentimes people are reluctant to make rhythm. Shyness, fear, or inhibitions get in the way of free expression.

This happens in most populations, from corporate drum circles to parents of toddlers. Here are three phrases you can use to side step the resistance and unveil the awesome rhythm potential inside of everyone.

1. “Strike the drum with your hand.” When I enter a session and say “Let’s make some music together!” . . . unless the group or individual is accustomed to making music with me already, usually there is resistance. However, when I give out a simple action step that describes a motion, the object, and the body part, then the rhythm maker just goes with the flow.

The specificity and simplicity do not allow for doubtful thinking such as “Make music? I can’t do that. I don’t have rhythm.” The brain just does what you tell it to, simply and quickly.

2. “Tap, tap, tap with me.” This phrase is a winner because it is rhythmic by nature. I say this phrase while I’m playing a simple beat.

I also move my body and walk to the beat while saying “tap tap tap tap.” That way the participant can visually and aurally perceive the rhythm and transfer to the drum.

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VIDEO: A Chant For You!

By Kat Fulton on November 2, 2011 in Music & Wellness

Hello! Today I’m sharing a chant from Ghana. This is one of my favorites. It makes you want to get up and dance. You can hear Sweet Honey in the Rock sing it here. They make it sound so beautiful!

Tuwe tuwe, barima tuwe tuwe
Tuwe tuwe, barima tuwe tuwe
Abofra ba ama dawa dawa
Tuwe tuwe
Abofra ba ama dawa dawa
Tuwe tuwe
Barima tuwe tuwe