You’re not really working right now. You’re experiencing a downtime in your career. What do you do? Do you enjoy the break? Or do you do something with this time? AND how are you feeling about having a downtime in the first place?

I have experienced professional downtimes off and on throughout my career and they were all for different reasons. (Read them here.) When I look back at the list of reasons for my downtimes it’s clear to me that they all revolve around major moments in my life and can be organized in two categories… downtimes that I CHOSE to take and downtimes that I DID NOT CHOOSE to take. When I think back to the times when I made the decision to not work I was generally in control of my life and feeling overall happy because things were good. When I didn’t have that option to choose to not work I was experiencing some kind of life situation where adult decisions had to be made. As a result, when I think back to the professional downtime itself I feel either positive or negative emotions about it.

What I’m trying to say is: Having a professional downtime affected me emotionally.

I think that’s important to keep in mind. Why? Well, because then you are in the thick of a Debbie Downer not-in-your-control downtime situation you might make some unwise decisions.

Here’s what happened to me: I made a big move with my husband from one state to another and didn’t have a job. And didn’t know how to make a job for myself. And was really down on myself because a lot of my personal identity at the time centered around working. I was miserable. So I went to a local college to check out becoming an OTA. I was thinking “This is just too hard so I’m going to go into another field where people always seem to be working and just live with it”. I ended up not following through because I woke up. I realized that the field of music therapy needs me in it and I need to be in the field of music therapy.

The WHOLE reason why I even went down this road in the first place was because I was in a professional downtime, experiencing emotions and wasn’t even aware of them. Since I wasn’t aware of them I couldn’t deal with them. And since I wasn’t dealing with them I was miserable. And that’s just stupid because I’m too cool to be miserable.

Promise me that if you are in a professional downtime you will take some time to process that fact. Record yourself improvising your downtime experience, journal it out, find a peer to speak to… something! Even if it’s a downtime for an in control reason. (Like, maybe you have less clients in the summertime.) It matters.

There are TONS of ways to stay in the loop during your downtime. Ways to do it that don’t have to take a lot of your time either. I’ll share a big resource list with you next week.

In the meantime…

How has a professional downtime affected you? Please share by leaving a comment here or on my facebook page.

Have you ever experienced downtime in your career? Times where you aren’t exactly immersed in a music therapy environment?

I have more than once. They always seem to occur during major moments in my life.

Here are some examples:

• When I was a student – Every summer I was away from college and no longer immersed in the music therapy learning environment. There was also that 3 month stint I had in between my coursework and my internship.
• After a big move from one state to another – I made this move without a job and didn’t know anyone in the area. (That scenario has happened twice for me!)
• When I experienced large amounts of responsibility because I was in private practice – There is an ebb and flow that comes with running a service business.
• When I had a baby – Maternity leave happily takes you away from work. And, I guess you could say that I’m taking an ‘extended’ maternity leave as I haven’t gone back!

So, what do you do when you are away from the music therapy landscape? When you’re not exactly swimming in the Kool Aid anymore. Does being away affect you and your work? Is it even important to look at this topic?

My answer to all of those questions is: YES!

So, this month I’m going to explore how professional downtime has affected me, why it’s important to handle it, and share resources to help you stay in the loop.

I’m interested in knowing about your downtime experiences!

Have you had them? How did it change you? What did you do during these downtimes? Please share by leaving a comment here or on my facebook page.

That’s a true story. I promise I’ll get him a new one when he’s old enough to enjoy it… I just couldn’t live with that whacked out one in the house.

The other day when I was chatting with my podcast buddies Rachel and Kimberly, I said the following about this blog:

“I feel like the Tween is like the show Seinfeld for music therapists. It’s a blog about nothing, but people seem to read it anyway.”

Don’t get me wrong… I’m totally fine with that. There is something liberating about having a space to share my thoughts for the masses… whether it’s a list of helpful hints or something along the lines of it’s-my-blog-and-I’ll-write-what-I-want-to. It turns out that something that’s about nothing does have a lot of something to share.

I’m in an interesting position now that I’m not devoted to clinical work all the time. I feel like I’m at a baseball game. I can see the players (music therapists) and I can yell out to them. Then, I can get on my computer and blog about it. And, the fact that I’m not playing the game can be helpful to the athletes because I can give perspective.

So, my questions are:

What do you want to hear about?

What is important to you?

What do you want to know more of?

What topics have you had enough of?

Please leave a comment and let me know! OR shoot me an email if you just want to keep it between us

*** Don’t forget! The Music Therapy Tween is on facebook now! (Yes, I finally made a page for the blog.) LIKE it now! click here

I finally broke down and created a facebook page for the Music Therapy Tween. Now that Eddie is here, I’d like to make myself a ‘music therapy’ space and a ‘michelle erfurt’ space. So, I will no longer be posting about music therapy or my blog on my personal facebook profile.

Like the Music Therapy Tween FB page now so that you don’t miss out!

Find it here.

In my last Music Therapy Tween guest post I posed a professional question.  This time, I wanted to share how answering questions about my intergenerational groups has encouraged me to grow something to support others.

Chance are most of us have been part of a one-time, special event where a bus load of children sing at a nursing home or a fraternity volunteers to lead bingo. They are really fun, joy-filled events. People have a good time. The giving tends to be by the group coming to present.  These are nice events that do need to continue.

In my years of experience as a music therapist and as an activity professional working in senior living communities, I have witnessed much more than joy in intergenerational groups. I have seen relationships develop, young people learning from elders, elders learning from youngsters.  I have seen people of all ages and abilities contribute to someone else’s life. I have had teachers share how a problem student transforms into a model for others during these intergenerational groups. For that to happen requires repeated contact and interaction – more than a one-time, one person doing for another event.

I am so passionate about intergenerational groups I have written fifty-five blog posts sharing everything from why I think they are important to things you can do in an intergenerational group.  My big passion is adding music to these groups. (No surprise!) These posts have led to my being asked a variety of questions: How do set these groups up? How do you get people to participate? Where do you find time for gathering the group materials?

These questions encouraged me to move outside my comfort zone.  My desire to see more people facilitating these longer-term relationships meant creating a way for others to duplicate what I have done.

There are some wonderful examples of repeated intergenerational music happening through college music therapy programs and through programs such as Music Together’s ® Intergenerational Outreach.  But, we all aren’t near academic programs or desiring training through a specialized program.

With the encouragement of a lot of wonderful music therapists, I stepped in front of the camera and recorded my thoughts on what it takes to create a fired-up intergenerational program (whether or not you are a music therapist, a preschool educator, an activity director, or a community member).  It is available FREE to those who are interested.

In addition, I wanted to encourage my biggest intergenerational love – preschoolers with older adults. So my resources from 20+ years of doing this are now a book – “Sparking Lives with Themes and Music: Intergenerational Edition”. Knowing the quickest way to assemble a session plan is cut and paste; and knowing budgets are tight; it is available as a PDF download for a very low cost.

Keep asking questions of yourself and of others. I can’t think of a better way for you or our profession to grow.

*Note from Michelle: Music Therapy Pro members receive a discount on this book for the month of May. Find the discount code in the Perks tab. Not a member? Learn more here.

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JoAnn Jordan is a board certified music therapist with a passion for intergenerational groups. She has over 25 years of working in senior living communities in Kansas, Florida, and Missouri. JoAnn is the owner of Music Sparks – a music therapy service provider in northwest Kansas for old, young and both together. Her website provides free resources to caregivers of these populations.

I know that YOU know that it’s National Autism Awareness Month. I mean, you’re obviously a savvy music therapist because you are reading this blog… of COURSE you know ‘what month it is’.

Let me share some Autism resources with you that you may NOT know about… or kind of forgot about (hey, it happens to all of us!)

• Kathy Knoll’s Autism Toolkit – I would say that I ‘dabbled’ in working with folks diagnosed with Autism during my private practice days. But, an autism expert… I am not! Kathy Knoll’s Autism Toolkit book was really helpful for me because it reminded me things that I may have forgotten since my college days and gave really practical, knowledgeable advice.
• CJ Shiloh from the Musical Autist – Don’t forget… people are resources too! CJ is a wealth of knowledge about autism, neurodiversity and cutting edge opportunities… like Sensory Friendly Concerts™. She shared her thoughts on the Music Therapy Round Table Podcast AND in her blog.
• On Pinterest – When you search “autism and music therapy” you get a bunch of pins that appear to be fact sheets and activities. Maybe something will work for you?
• Autism and Related Disorders from Yale University – This is a free online class through Yale University that talks about diagnosis, assessment, etiology and treatment of folks diagnosed with Autism. If you’re someone who like to listen while you commute or work out, these lectures may fit right in. I haven’t listened to these personally but the reviews look good. Worth a try!

I’m back! My maternity leave is over… well… sort of…

I’ve decided not to go back to work at my hospital gig. The truth is that I was never confident in my initial decision to go back to work in the first place. Then, after experiencing the first month of mommyhood with Eddie, I realized that I don’t want to go to work anymore! It’s a little bit of everything really… commuting, figuring out day care, PAYING for daycare, being exhausted, juggling even MORE responsibility… I just don’t want to do it. So, I didn’t go back to work.

Thus begins the next chapter in my life I guess. I’m still going to be doing this blog, the Music Therapy Round Table, Music Therapy Pro AND my poor, poor neglected Boom Totes. Actually, there are some other music therapy projects that I’ve been pondering that I just didn’t have time to do anything about. I don’t know if I’ll still have time to do them now but… maybe?

* Coincidentally, my supervisor tells me that they are interested in hiring another Music Therapist at the hospital now that I’m gone. This job has not been listed on the website and I DO NOT know any details but, if you shoot me an email I’ll connect you with the right person. Board-certified (or pending) music therapists only, please. *

Also, I know I did a dirty thing with the “Ch Ch Changes” blog title. Hopefully this will help your ear worm:

It is an honor to be writing a guest article for Michelle for the second time. Last time, I gave some advice for choosing and buying an acoustic guitar. This time, I’m going to provide 5 awesome tips for continuing to grow as a guitarist.

Now, you might not consider yourself to be a guitarist. But as we know, guitar is perhaps the most commonly used accompaniment instrument in music therapy, due to its portability and mobility.

A number of sources claim that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice (or about 10 years) to really master something. This seems to hold true for many different disciplines, whether it is tennis, tuba, cabinet making, or…guitar. Now, this seems like a really long time, but stop for a second and think about it this way: most of us will have music therapy careers that last longer than ten years. Some will last 20, 30, 40+ years. So imagine if you started practicing pretty seriously as a sophomore in college…

So, fellow guitarists, here are 5 tips to keep improving.

1. Get your guitar ears on. By this, I mean start paying close attention to guitar parts you hear on the radio or on your favorite recordings. Listen for tone and style you admire, and imagine how you might achieve a similar sound. Become obsessed with a famous guitarist and learn how to play his or her songs. When I was a young guitarist, I was obsessed with Carlos Santana, and I learned how to play a ton of his songs. This helped me develop an important set of skills, as well as my own personal style.
2. Noodle around. Explore the instrument in new ways. Try to find different sounds, cool chords, interesting little melodies…play freely and without judgment. By letting yourself go a little bit, you will actually gain a greater familiarity with the fretboard. And, importantly, you will learn to not just play, but play, with fun being a key component.
3. Get a guitar coach. There are plenty of guitar teachers out there, but you want to be choosy. For music therapists, I highly recommend finding a teacher who is not only a very good guitarist, but also a music therapist. That way, he or she can teach you skills within the context of therapeutic applications. That is how I teach, and I know a lot of my students appreciate that. If that is not an option, find someone who is structured, but patient. Be sure to clearly articulate your goals, and maybe even share a bit about what it is you do so that they may have a clear idea of what you’re after.
4. Record yourself. One of the hardest things to do is listen to a recording of one’s self. Personally, I hate it. But I hear things that I can do better, or that I can clean up. Listening to recordings might help you hear new possibilities within songs you’ve been playing for a long time. Imagine that it is someone else playing – how would you tell him or her to improve in terms of musicality? What could be stronger? What sounded great? How did the key suit your voice?
5. Gig. I know this is an anxiety-provoking proposition for many, but nothing sharpens your skills like regular or even semi-regular gigging. This might mean playing a few songs at the open mic at the coffee shop down the street, or it could mean creating a blue grass duo. Or maybe you want to become the rhythm guitarist in an AC/DC cover band. Regardless, gigging will motivate you to practice and improve. I also find that it provides a nice contrast to the service-oriented nature of music therapy. Performing is an entirely different animal, and it can be a really fun way to musically engage with others in a non-clinical setting.

Now, you don’t have to do ALL these things in order to improve. Just focusing on a few of them should yield some desirable results. I think the most important thing is to find a way to make playing guitar fun, so that continuing to learn is enjoyable. I would love to know what you would add to this list, as surely there are other things you can do to keep improving! Thanks!

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Matt is a music therapist and is involved in many music-related projects. He is the founder and manager of Music Therapy Source, a website that provides music therapy information and insights. He also started A Perfect Lullaby, a website focused on teaching mothers how to use lullabies effectively with their newborns to help regulate stress behaviors and foster infant-caregiver attachment.