Today I pay homage to my beloved field of music therapy. I’m so grateful for finding this field that allows me to be a musician, healer, people-person, full-on expressionist, business owner, and all-out renegade.

I had no idea I would end up *here* a few years ago. If you’re interested in knowing more about music therapy, then this video is for you.

Click play to learn more.

Think of a friend who has a loved one living with Alzheimer’s disease, autism, cancer, or something listed below. Then download and print out the appropriate PDF, hand it to your friend, and let him/her know how music therapy can help. These PDF fact sheets are provided by the American Music Therapy Association.

You can find music therapists in your area by entering search terms here.
You can find board certified music therapists at the Certification Board for Music Therapy.

Let me know which ones you downloaded in a comment below!

Fact Sheets

Annotated Bibliographies
of Music Therapy Research
& Evidenced-Based Practice Support

Introduction: Advocacy –> Recognition –> Access

Since 2005, the American Music Therapy Association and the Certification Board for Music Therapists have collaborated on a State Recognition Operational Plan. The primary purpose of this Plan is to get music therapy and our MT-BC credential recognized by individual states so that citizens can more easily access our services. The AMTA Government Relations staff and CBMT Regulatory Affairs staff provide guidance and technical support to state task forces throughout the country as they work towards state recognition. To date, their work has resulted in 35 active state task forces, 2 licensure bills passed in 2011, and an estimated 10 bills being filed in 2012 that seek to create either a music therapy registry or license for music therapy. This month, our focus is on YOU and on getting you excited about advocacy.

The Plan involves increasing awareness of the music therapy profession and of what it means to be board-certified. The ultimate goal is that, in all situations, the MT-BC be a minimum requirement as a service provision in every work setting.

Are you on board with us? Take your quiz here.

…before counting down to 2012!

What a year. I have so many blessings to count and so many people to thank who have been here along my journey in 2011. Last year, I set the intention for ease and kindness in 2011, and boy did that manifest into some wonderfully rich experiences this year…

Personal Kindness

My Mom, Dad, and boyfriend have been uber supportive of all my endeavors. My mom keeps track of me on Facebook, giving me “likes” and comments. My dad and I call almost every Sunday. He gives me his valuable business perspective.

And my boyfriend – he is the most amazing, generous, kindest guy I’ve ever known. I’m biased, but there’s a reason I prefer his company over other guys, right? He is the best. AND his signature phrase he says in the slowest, calmest, deepest bass “Everyone needs to calm down around here.” That phrase is an automatic anxiety-reducer for me.

Thanks Mom and Dad and my man =)

Tribal Kindness

I’m throwing heaps of gratitude to the creative genius Emelie Rota. She designed the Online Zennn graphics, new RFG header, and there will be much more to come in 2012. She totally gets me, understands my mission (better than me even?!), and lays out the branding brilliance! Rhythm For Good version 2012 is going to be outstanding because of her art.

My girl Karen Christensen rocked out a photo shoot with me this year. Her photos will be a killer addon to 2012. You can see her site, writeup, and photo teaser of me here. Thank you Karen for helping me feel good about being myself and looking good! =)

I was so honored to have gotten a call a couple months ago from the mastermind behind Chocolate For Breakfast. Sue Ann Gleason is a woman of transparency, authenticity, and powerful intentions. Anything she touches turns to chocolate – no lie. Just read a bit of her journey at her blog or better yet, take her Seamless, Stress-Free & Savvy Teleconferences course. I did, and it was $47 well worth it! I would’ve paid $247 for her wisdom. Thank you, Sue Ann for opening your heart online: a beautiful scene that you’ve created.

Thank you so much to Kathleen Prophet, Self Creationist (and pianist!) who has opened the door for me to feel pain and suffering as thoroughly as I feel joy and bliss in my human experience. Sounds dark, and it is! In the most impassioned, catastrophic way. I’ve come to feel more meaningful connections with my clients as well as my Self by honing in on Kathleen’s work. Joy, sadness, and everything in between is all part of the human experience.

Thank you Beth Nicholls for running such a cool site about doing what you love and publishing my story.

Natalie Mullis has been so generous in helping me trouble-shoot, brainstorm, and vent throughout this entire year. She is a fellow music therapist who has also seen incredible success this year with her business. Thanks Nat for being my online buddy! =) She also writes for the No-Nonsense Professional aka No-No. Lots of personality over there! Check it.

Business Kindness

Much thanks go to Marie and Laura of B-school. Without this course I would have never launched Online Zennn, I would never have met the ladies above, I would never have known how to give a web-based Intro to Toning class, I would never have understood how to make an online business work, and I would have allowed Sound Health Music to stagnate. I signed up for their course, and then they dropped this video. (You have to know Lady Gaga to get it.) All of my boomwhacker dreams would come true if I could find a seamstress to dress my boomies like *that*! If you’re up for the challenge, let’s talk. For real.

In addition, from this course and the ladies who have inspired me, I have learned that business – online and offline – does not have to be stuffy and boring. Business can be fun. Business is all what you make of it, and as long as I continue to be authentic and transparent, my team and I will attract clients who are a perfect fit. Big lesson learned.

Here are some more incredible ladies I’ve met in person and online through the course: Susan Plucknett (women’s wellness), Christina Rasmussen (grief counseling), Denise Duffield-Thomas, just to name a few.

Thank you West Music for giving me a gong to give away for the holidays. I don’t know about you guys, but I had a blast giving that thing away! What a treat. What a gift. Thank you.

Music Therapy Kindness

Thank you to all the Zennn Masters for giving the first-ever, only-one-of-its-kind online CMTE course a shot. Online Zennn was a smashing success because of you Masters! You did amazing work. Watch out for the new January course. It’s coming atcha in a few weeks.

Thank you Intro to Toning participants for signing up already. Prepare for some wild vocal exploration. There’s still time to sign up!

Thank you, Wall Street Journal, for quoting me and writing about music therapy and dementia. Here’s my blog post about it.

Thank you Petra Kern for working so hard and doing such great work with Imagine, the online magazine dedicated to early childhood music therapy. Here’s a video I produced for the magazine on self-care. There are 8 music therapists featured. It’s very cool. Watch it!

Thank you Judith Pinkerton for interviewing me at Music 4 Life. You can download our 50-minute adventure mp3 or listen to the June 10, 2011 episode in iTunes. Thank you Janice Harris for interviewing me on the Music Therapy Show. Listen to our podcast here. Also, thanks to Kimberly Sena Moore for publishing my guest post about The Day My Business Died, and thank you Michelle Erfurt for publishing my guest post on What Does Marketing Feel Like To You?

Crazy, mad, big thanks to all of my amazing clients who my team and I serve day-in and day-out. We are the privileged witnesses to older adults, corporate employees, children affected by cancer, as their life journey unfolds. We are blessed to offer the experience of music as the vehicle for change. Thank you for being you and teaching us beyond our understanding, our dear clients.

Finally, thanks Elise for calling me “a beast” right here =) I’m honored to blog about in my beastly ways!

2012 Intention and Final Thanks

I mentioned last year that I don’t do goals or resolutions. I set intentions as I hang out at both the giving and receiving ends. My intention for 2012 is clarity. Not clarity in knowing everything (that’s no fun!), but clarity in doing the work, creating the art, playing the music, dropping new videos, creating the programs, and putting my unique talents out there into the world. Clarity in being involved in the process of creation in-the-moment. Creative clarity with little-to-no expectations.

Now I’d like to give a HUGE thanks to YOU for reading Rhythm For Good. Your comments, your participation, your enthusiasm for the rhythm is deeply appreciated here. I leave you and 2011 with this quote from Wayne Dyer:

When you don’t trust yourself, you are not trusting in the wisdom that created you. That’s an insult to your Creator.

What’s in store for you in 2012? Trust your gut. Throw it down in a comment below! Cheers =)

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.

"Music Therapy Ben Folds Fans"@CIMResearch @RachelSeeSmith @KatFulton @DevelopMelodies @KeyChangesMT

Participate in live, online chats with older adult care providers with this hashtag #ElderCareChat every other Wednesday. The list goes on.

I get all my news from Twitter. Twitter allows for you to CHOOSE what you follow and what you don’t. Say goodbye to the old days of fighting to get a spot on big networks, paying big bucks to get your ad on TV, and getting interrupted by obnoxious commercials.

I’ve also been tweeting with Mickey Hart, in anticipation of his San Diego concert.

Ok, I’m coming down from my Twitter soapbox. Join us =) Here’s my list of music therapists on Twitter. Come see what we’re all talking about over there. Once you spend a little time exploring and getting past the learning curve, I promise you can do Twitter in 5-15 per day with ease and efficiency. It enhances your life, relationships, AND business. Ok, now I’m off the soapbox.

2. The producers are getting ahead while the non-producers are left behind. This brings me to my last post about producing as much as you consume, online and offline. I noticed that everyone in our social media panel at the conference contributes VALUE to the world. Watch my video about it.

3. Music therapists have brilliant minds and ideas, far more than are realized. A student sitting in a 200+ audience presentation at the conference had an iPad out and open. I would assume this student was probably googling terms she didn’t understand, taking notes, tweeting about the presentation content, etc. Everyone else had pens and pads out, taking notes, so why not use the iPad and spare a few sheets of paper. An older music therapist came by to whisper “Are you getting anything at all out of this presentation?” and looked down at her iPad suspiciously.

Let’s get real, the scolding music therapist is part of the ivory towers that are crumbling to the ground. I think everyone should have iPads open in every presentation, taking notes, Googling unknown terms, marking events on the calendar, and interacting with other presentation attendees on Twitter – BRILLIANT!

In fact, if you come to any of my presentations, I invite you to please turn on the flame app and wave it around like you’re at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.

I guarantee you that the scolding music therapist is not on Twitter…

Seriously though, some people will never “approve of” or “understand” the technological explosion going on around them. The power of Twitter, blogging, webinars, sharing, taking notes on your iPad, etc. That’s ok. We’ll keep on keepin on, sharing our brilliant ideas online.

Some day soon, we will have Twitter streams displayed on the big screen at our music therapy conferences. The ivory towers will be very afraid, but we will demand it, and it will happen.

And some day soon, the keynote speaker will invite the crowd to tweet #AMTA12 for #CHICAGO so we can make the conference TREND on Twitter! Ah yes. That’s a fun dream. Let’s make it happen next year.

4. Music therapists who come from different therapeutic approaches can get along. We can offer an eclectic approach in our practice. Thank you, Ken Bruscia.

5. Membership in AMTA rocks, and I invite you to be a member every year. You know all that press music therapy has gotten recently? The best-selling authors’ books, the award-winning films, the ABC, CNN, and CBS coverage? How about the legislature that has passed in N Dakota and Nevada, ensuring access to our services? AMTA has been involved in all of these projects, making sure our field is represented accurately the whole way through. They need us as much as we need them. Make sure to renew your AMTA dues here, then we’ll bug them about the live Twitter feeds for next year’s conference!

And finally, a note from the Ben Folds catalyst, Rachel See Smith:

Thanks for checking out this post, and stay tuned for some older adults + drumming posts soon!

By the way, are you on Twitter? Did I include you in my list?

I get tickled when people say “I’m switching hats for this project” or “I’m putting on my business hat for this one!” Right away I envision a hat rack in motion, turning on a lazy Susan, displaying a derby, beret, turban, top hat, baseball cap, and fez. Each hat would be assigned to a role that we fulfill in life.

The hat analogy works, and here’s my second favorite analogy: Language.

During the course of a day, at any point, I may jump around these different communication modes:

Therapist-speak– This sounds like understanding or moving in the direction of understanding. It’s  gentle, grounded, stable, and calm. It’s expression is that of connection, problem-solving, and serving.

Rhythm-speak– Sometimes this sounds like organized patterns in a defined space. Sometimes syncopated, sometimes straight. And other times, totally ambient with absolutely no structure. My rhythm-speak brings up old memories or introduces something totally new.

Significant-Other-speak– This sounds like helping and being helped, supporting and being supported. It’s an even exchange and full of caring. It’s witnessing and being witnessed. It can be fun and playful or deep and serious.

Friend-speak– This language is fun, exciting, playful, and happy. Oftentimes, this language is filled with deep discussion of the big picture of life. Also, it’s supportive and comforting.

Family-speak– This sounds like deep caring and deep connection, even when the words sound frivolous. The depth is always there. Lots of colorful emotions involved in this language.

All these languages have some commonalities, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most is IMAGINATION. I spend a lot of time pretending, visualizing, and imagining my most ideal relationships. It takes energy, time, and creative power, and I’m very specific about the details of the pretend relational interactions. As I spend mental energy in the creative, imaginary space… the relationships I imagine start coming true in real life.

It’s crazy. But it’s real.

And I feel freer to express my desires about the relationship when I’m visualizing as well. We’ve got nothing to lose. Life is short.

What kind of languages do you speak day-to-day?

I have such exciting news! More on that later, but for now, do you ever feel fully supported by your friends, family, and colleagues? I have been just that lucky recently!

Right now I’m feeling like there is an answer to every question, and a solution to every problem. I am so thankful to have these solution-providers in my life!

Problem #1: It is awkward to carry boomwhackers.
Solution #1: Boom Totes from Michelle Erfurt at the Music Therapy Tween.

Michelle sent me two bags, one for the shorter boomies, and one for the longer boomies. AND she put my Rhythm For Good logo on the big one! The really cool thing is that the mesh top gives me a sneak peek at what’s inside instead of leaving me hanging.

Before Michelle’s bags, I used opaque bags. They have a very cute design, but you cannot tell what’s inside! I love the mesh top. It saves me a bunch of time digging through to see what’s inside.

You can check out Michelle’s other goodies for sale at her Etsy shop.

Problem #2: I’m always losing contests.

Solution #2: I WON! I WON! I WON!

JoAnn from Jordan Enterprises held a contest to win a book, and I was the lucky winner!

The book is called Launch: How to quickly propel your business beyong the competition by Michael Stelzner. I’ve only read the first couple of pages so far, but the author definitely knows about keeping up with technology in business.

Thank you JoAnn! If you haven’t subscribed to her Sparks newsletter for music and older adults, you’ve got to. It’s so valuable.

Problem #3: I wasn’t sure how to leverage my talents to improve my business.
Solution #3: Online business school with Marie Forleo and Laura Roeder.

They sent me this mug in the mail after the course. This course was the most comprehensive business course I’ve ever taken. I was blown away by the content.

And now, for the special announcement…

Through B-School I have been able to design something very exciting that will help YOU. Full CMTE details will be available on August 15. Sound Health Music is now a CBMT Approved Provider!

Get a sneak peek this Friday, July 29 LIVE on the Janice Harris Music Therapy Show at 9AM Pacific.

As always, thanks for reading and Be Well, Feel Good, and Make MUSIC!