College, Music, and Life

TGIF!!

2010-03-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

Today is Friday!! I am so glad because I had a very long week. My session went really well today. We worked on a lot in 1 hour and I believe the clients really enjoyed the musical stimulus. So I guess I have to come up something totally new and creative for next week! If there were music therapy majors or music therapists reading this blog I would really like some ideas! If not, oh well, I will just have to delve deep into my creative side.

Today I had a test in my Techniques class. This goes hand and hand with my field experience. It wasn't too bad because I really enjoy learning all the new techniques out there for music therapy. Just to name a few: RAS, PSE, TIMP, MUSTIM, RSC, MEFT, APT, and many others. I know these look like just a bunch of letters but they actually stand for many techniques used in all domains of functioning including cognitive, physical, and speech and language. These and more techniques are good for people that have dyspraxia, aphasia, dysarthria, apraxia, TBI, CVA, developmental disabilities, dementia, and a lot of other disorders.

My spring break is coming up right around the corner! In a couple weeks I will have 10 days of no school including weekends! It will be very nice to have break that is for sure! Also, my 21st birthday is over spring break! It is so weird to think that I am that old! I know it's not old but I have heard that once you pass this age, time goes by way too quick! Life has already passed me by so quickly. I am already almost finished with my 3rd year of college and it seems like I graduated high school yesterday. I guess you just have to make the most of every minute you are given because you never know when it may be your last.

Everybody have a wonderful weekend! If you get bored, you should watch some of these cool videos!!!

This is my sister Erica Lane in her music video:

This is her husband Kyle's wonderful pistachios commercial:

Here is my song "Over the Ranbow" from a looong time ago:

Ashley @ SHSU

My Music Therapy Session

2010-02-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. – Victor Hugo

Yesterday, I had my second music therapy session at the hospital. I have been working with inpatients with physical rehabilitation. I really enjoy this because I am actually helping people rather than just practicing. My first semester of practicum, I worked with the preschoolers every week and they were pretty high functioning so they didn't need that much extra help. These people however really do benefit from what we put into the sessions. They have a set of upper body and lower body exercises that they are required to do every week. It is mine and my partners job to incorporate all of those movements with musical stimulus. What we did yesterday was combine songs and instruments with the proper movements. We used paddle drums and a mallet for each client to hit while I sang the song "I've Been Working on the Railroad". Also, I played and sang the song "Hey Good Lookin" by Hank Williams Sr. while they did some arm movements holding jingle sticks. After we did the upper body, I did a cognitive exercise with them. I sang one song for each client and had them answer a question about the song. This challened their memory especially. An example would be singing the song "Yankee Doodle" and then asking the client what he stuck in his hat which of course is a feather. Next, we worked on the lower body. My partner led these exercises with some fun songs as well. First, he gave each client a jingle stick aand had them do toe and heel taps to the song "Deep in the Heart of Texas". Then, he worked on their knee kicks and marching by singing the song "Blue Suede Shoes". The clients really enjoyed this one. They were smiling and having fun doing the kicks at the different parts that required them. Then close to the end of the session, there was a relaxation period where my partner played some soothing music and instructed them with breathing exercises. Overall I think the sessino went great and the clients really got a lot out of it. I partly believe that music therapists make such an impact because they break up the monotony of doing the same motions over and over. And for other populations, music of any kind is always a treat to a person stuck in a hospital or other setting. That is all for now, stay tuned for more updates. ;)

Ashley @ SHSU

Music is well said to be the speech of angels. – Thomas Carlyle

How did I get here?

2010-02-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

Today I had a Psychology of Music Test. I am pretty nervous about the grade. I studied for a few hours yesterday but I still don't think it was enough. I guess I will find out. Also, I had a group project to present in my Introduction to Special Education class. Our topic was Emotional-Behavior Disorder and I think it went very well. Myself and another girl in that class are both music therapy majors so we made sure we were in the same group. We were in charge of the class activity during the presentation. We ended basically coming up with a music therapy intervention for emotional disorders. We had everyone get into a circle and pass a ball around. We had the guitar, tone chimes, egg shakers, and an ocean drum to represent different ways to pass the ball including: heavy, hot, silly, sad, and happy. The activity turned out great and I believe that the class really enjoyed it.

So today I want to talk about why I chose to become a music therapy major. Ever since I was little, I have always loved music. My parents surrounded my sister and I with it and then my sister exposed it to me as well. When I was 9 I started doing pageants. Besides a couple times at church, these were my first experiences with performing in front of people. I really enjoyed singing and kept doing it. When I was about to be in junior high, my mom got a job offer. The school I would be attending had a choir so that was a big plus because I had never been in a choir before. So I started attending school and became a big part of the music department. When I got into high school, I was able to start competing in choir competitions which eventually led me to receive a chair all four years in the TMEA All-State choir. During high school I was torn between teaching music and music therapy. I had gone with my sister a couple times to nursing homes to sing for the elderly men and women. I really enjoyed the way their faces lighted up when we sang to them. But I received a 5 year scholarship from TMEA for music teaching and that quickly made up my mind about what I was going to do. So I headed to my junior college to begin the journey of music education. For some reason, I just was not looking forward to becoming a choir director or music teacher one day. I tried talking to my mom about switching my major but she explained it would not be a possibility because I would lose the scholarship. So I was stuck with the notion that I would just have to come back to school later and get my music therapy degree. So when I finished my second year at the junior college, I applied to Texas State. I made it into the school of course but I had to make it into the school of music as well. I went there and sang a solo and took some theory and musicianship tests. It turns out that I was not accepted. This was really hard for me to take because I have a lot of experience and made All-State choir four years. It was a big punch to my pride. But it turns out that because they did not accept me, my mom was more open to me doing music therapy now. She really thought that it was God that was in the middle of all of this. If I would have made it into Texas State music school, I would be a music teacher. Thank goodness that I didn't because now I am going to get to do what I love. So I believe that God works in very mysterious ways sometimes. When we want to go our own way and won't listen to what He is trying to tell us, He will make us listen, even if we have to get over our pride.

Here are a few pictures of music therapists in action.

Have a great Day!!!!

Ashley @ SHSU

Snow and Music Therapy Weekend

2010-02-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

Today it has been snowing! It is so great when it does this in Texas because we never get to experience it that much. I have to say, I am okay with not having it all the time. Texas has the weirdest weather of any state. This weekend, I didn't have to wear a jacket on Friday. Today it was snowing. Can anybody explain this? I'm ready for the spring weather to come back because it is getting close to my birthday! I am really lucky because my birthday is over my spring break. The funny thing is that my mom told me I am having a surprise party....haha. It will be such a huge surprise.

So this past weekend we had music therapy weekend at the university. It was a VERY long weekend. First on Friday, I had to go to a session at the hospital. I worked with clients for about an hour and then came home for about 30 minutes to scarf down a frozen dinner. I went back to school and helped decorate a room for the coffehouse that night. Then, it was time for the first session.

The first lady was a music therapist that worked with special education children at a school district. She explained that there are a lot of steps that go into referring a child and working with them. There is so much documentation involved in the music therapy career. The reason is that it is such a new profession that it has to continue to be proven. Documentation kind of serves as research for the field. Hopefully one day people will accept music therapy as a working method for intervention. It does so much that physical therapy, occupational therapy, phsychotherapy, and many other therapies cannot do alone. It aids and facilatates an interactive and sometimes fun way to approach those problems or issues people are having.

Next, we heard another music therapist talk about psych with teens. She explained that you can't just go in and make them listen to a song and analyze it. A better technique to use would be song writing or fill-in-the-blank songs. With these types of interventions, you can take a familiar song or even compose your own and have patients fill in different words that would fit their situation better. Here is an example:

I feel like I need to ___
I want to change ___
Today is the day
Today is the day

That was an example of a song that you can compose and then fill it in and put a melody to it.

So after that, we all had to go back to the room to decorate and put up the lights. It turns out that right before we started, the breaker blew! The whole room (the size of a large band hall) was lighted by a single lamp! During my teachers performance the lights came back on, thank goodness. More performances went on that were absolutely amazing. People playing piano and singing, singing their own songs that they had written, and TREMENDOUS guitar skills. I was the last student performer to sing and I was sooooo nervous! I am not that great on guitar so following all the great skills was really freaking me out. So I got up on the stage shaking a little bit and sang "Hallelujah". I think it went better than I expected. I tried to slip in some high notes in there as much as a I could :). So here it is in the link below if you would like to listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC_hxCCDXmQ

So I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a blessed night. Thanks so much for reading! Continue to check back for more blogs, I am going to try to write one every 2-3 days at the least.

Ashley @ SHSU

My First Blog

2010-02-22T12:36:00.000-08:00

Well hello everyone.

This is my very first blog on blogger so I will start by telling you a little bit about myself.

My name is Ashley and I am junior at Sam Houston State University. I transferred here last semester and I love it. I am a music therapy major which is the most awesome thing in the world! I get to practically have fun everyday I go to school. Basically, in some of my classes, I get to play the guitar, sing, or play piano. This is for practice when I get out there and become a board-certified Music Therapist. I need to have skills. Also, I get to role play with different interventions. Now these aren't the typical interventions you might be thinking. We create plans that will benefit clients we may be working with and use music as the tool to improve their lives. Some of you may be thinking..What is music therapy anyway? Well I will tell you my definition.

Music Therapy is the process where the therapist interacts with the client to bring about goals in critical NONMUSICAL domains areas such as motor, cognitive, social, emotional, and communication. They use music as the tool to improve the quality of life for a client with a particular need in one or more domains.

Okay so that is basically what it is. Hopefully you are still awake. :) So continuing with myself. I take 17 hours of school five days a week, take a night class at 5 on Mondays, go to the Music Therapy organization after that from 6-7p.m., meet with my supervisor one day a week, work with rehabilitation patients once a week, work on documentation and planning for everything else, do homework, sing at a steakhouse one weekend a month, and still find time to spend with my boyfriend of 5 years. I am pretty busy. But I feel lucky because I am not having to work and my mom can support me enough that I can keep up good grades at college. So that is me in a nut shell. I hope you come back for more!

Ashley @ SHSU