Ball Matney, M.A., MT-BC

Today’s post is brought to you by the wonderful music therapist, university educator, percussionist and music therapy researcher: Bill Matney. Bill has an extensive practical knowledge when you’re dealing with drumming and children. He also has a really insightful point of view when it comes to music, people and therapy. I really enjoyed listening to him at a Music Therapy Advocacy panel during the 2011 American Music Therapy conference.  He writes a great blog over at BillMatney.com that you have to check out.

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   In a recent post, Michelle offered a simple and quick fix to a Remo frame drum; where the ribbon had fallen off, Michelle pressed ribbon material, giving it back a clean and colorful look.

   One reader asked a great question.

“I came across your page looking for a way to fix my hand drum. I have one very similar to yours, but instead of ribbon, there is sticky tape that goes around the drum. The tape is starting to peel off (top to bottom). Do you have any suggestions on how to fix it?”

Amy Pignatore

Vocal Music Teacher

Omaha, NE

   While I haven’t had to go through the process yet, I am going to offer what I ::would:: do in this situation.

   My guess is that the reader owns one of the older Remo frame drums, maybe another brand that has a similar set up.   Here are a couple of pictures below showing the tape that covers where the head and shell meet.   One of the pictures shows the tape beginning to peel.

   The good news is that, on these drums, the heads are affixed to the shell with many, many small staples.  Losing the tape will not affect the head itself.  If your tape is peeling off, it will be time to get ready to re-tape.  As Michelle pointed out, we will want something that is somewhat thin.  The tape currently on this Remo drum is plasticized to some degree, so I would go with something that has either a plastic or rubber base.

   Let’s see what options we have.

• http://www.tapebrothers.com/CDT-36-Duct-Tape-1-x-10-Yards-s/310.htm
• http://www.tapecase.com/p.2476.629/colored-upvc-tape.aspx
• http://www.tapecase.com/p.2479.629/colored-electrical-tape.aspx

   Of the three choices above, my inclination would be to go with the thin duct tape, mostly because I know what it is capable of, and its adhesive quality.

   I would recommend that, before beginning re-taping a drum, that you do your best to remove all tape remnants first.  The cleaner this is, the less likely it will affect new tape.  I wouldn’t worry about any leftover adhesion, though.  Because duct tape is so adhesive, it will most likely not be affected or counteracted by the extra “sticky” already on the drum, if there is any.

   Once you are prepped, just guide the tape around the drum shell to cover the staples.  Where the tape meets back to itself, I would add just a little overlap, since these types of tape stick to themselves very well.

   If any of you try this out, I would love to hear how it goes for you.

 

Sincerely,

Bill Matney, M.A., MT-BC

 

musictherapydrumming.com

billmatney.com

Hello! I’ve been absent from the blog for the last couple of weeks. All I can say is… SORRY!

The truth is that I usually write blog posts over the weekend and my last couple of weekends were full. So, no blog posts. I hope to be back in the swing of things again this week.

In related news, my birthday was last week. So to celebrate my husband and I spent a weekend in one of my favorite places: St. Augustine, FL. This is the oldest city in the United States and was settled by the Spanish. Everything is beautiful and we had a really great time walking around and soaking in the architecture and food.

The hubs and me at St. Augustine

My Etsy shop has some new Boom Totes! All beautiful, all functional and all made by me!!!

Here are 2 new looks:

Solid Crimson:

A more masculine look. I got a lot of feedback from the AMTA national conference that some people want a more masculine fabric. Here is my first attempt. I’m sorry, I just can’t do plain old black! Boomwhackers® are just so much fun… so doesn’t it makes sense that their case should be fun too? Therefore, Solid Crimson. I hope you like it! (I’m looking at you, Daniel Tague!)

LARGE Boom Tote:

I’m calling this the mother of all Boom Totes. This gal can hold 4 sets of standard sized Boomwhackers®. That’s 32 Boomwhackers®! All the same features of the regular Boom Tote: mesh upper, draw string closure, shoulder strap… AND can also accommodate a larger number of tubes. If you are a traveling facilitator, this is for you.

But that’s not all! There are other Boom Totes in my Etsy shop…

1. Gray w/ Light Pink Flowers 2. Black w/ Deep Pink Flowers

1. Puzzle Piece Rainbow 2. Yellow/Black/Gray Wavy Dots

Order now before your Boom Tote disappears!

Is the fabric or size not quite what you want? I love custom orders! Just send me an email or start a conversation at my shop. I’d be happy to make whatever you can imagine. After all, that’s how the Boom Tote started in the first place! Just something that I dreamed up

One fact about working in the field of music therapy: you have to explain what music therapy is a lot. I work in a hospital which drastically increases the amount of explaining compared to all other workplace options. Hospitals have a revolving door of patients, family members, visitors and staff. Not only that, but music therapy is usually in every unit of the hospital so music therapy techniques may differ…. and the music therapist will need to be adept at knowing the difference and communicating the pertinent information.

Some common questions/comments I get from patients are:

• What is music therapy?
• Do you know (insert song title here)?
• I’m having pain right now, I don’t think you could help me.
• What instruments do you play?
• What? You want ME to play an instrument?
• Where else do you volunteer?

Common questions/comments I get from co-workers are:

• So what do you do?
• Room # would really appreciate some music right now.
• Are you here to play me a song?
• I want your job because you make people happy all day.
• You get paid to do this?

I’ve been a music therapist since 2003 and have experienced the ebb and flow of work burnout. I believe that my level of advocacy fatigue contributes to my level of burn out. High level of advocacy fatigue = unhappy music therapist. The truth is it doesn’t really bother me when people ask about music therapy because it’s better that someone ask rather than not ask. But, when I’ve had a tough day it DOES bother me to hear those questions. Mostly because they’re always the same questions and redundancy is sometimes annoying.

So, here are some facts to help offset Advocacy Fatigue:

Reality check: When someone asks a question it’s because they are interested and want to know more. You couldn’t ask for a more attentive audience. In my daily work life I’m asked ‘What is music therapy?’ by about 80% of the patients I meet. It’s way better to be asked 80% of the time than 20% of the time… right?!?!

Understand that when working with colleagues it’s not EDUCATING; it’s COMMUNICATING. When I have an ‘educator’ type of hat on with colleagues it creates a teacher-student relationship in my head. That’s the wrong kind of relationship… I’m not going to test their knowledge or expect colleagues to recite music therapy facts. We work together for the betterment of the patient… so we need to have a relationship that honors an even flow of communication. Sure we may not agree, but that isn’t always because the other person doesn’t ‘get’ music therapy, it could be because their expertise/schooling is telling them something… it could be that the music therapist doesn’t ‘get’ what they are saying. Whatever the situation we need to be talking to each other and working together.

Maybe it’s you: If people are asking me questions that bother me, then something may be wrong with me. Maybe it’s a short-term thing like just having a bad day. Maybe it’s a bigger problem like having some other issues at home/work/etc that are affecting me at work. No matter the reason, how can I ethically enter into a session with a patient when I’m in that place? My baggage can’t enter the session. It’s not fair or right. There is always 5 minutes in the day to chill out AND there is always time during professional supervision to talk about this… after all, that’s what professional supervision is all about.

What are your thoughts about Advocacy Fatigue?

How do you cope with Advocacy Fatigue?

*****

From CBMT / AMTA:

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.

This month is Music Therapy’s ‘Social Media Advocacy Month’. Different MT bloggers have been sharing their thoughts about the topic and, well, now it’s my turn.

As I see it, there are three groups of people that you can advocate music therapy to:

1. The general public: Patients, non-patients, out-of-department co-workers, your friends, your neighbors, the kids karate teacher, the dog, the dog walker, etc.
2. The legislative public: Senators, Representatives, Congressmen, Mayors, Commissioners, etc.
3. Other music therapists: As in, other music therapists.

It’s the third group I want to focus on today… the forgotten advocacy group.

Music therapy is SO DIVERSE. Just look at the different theoretical orientations out there… We’ve got humanitarian, behavioral, psychodynamic, educational, medical, Nordoff-Robbins, transcultural, Bonny, neurologic, Priestly, on and on. As inquisitive music therapists continue to be inquisitive (and we will, because we happen to be like that) more theoretical orientations will be added to the list.

I find that as I grow through my music therapy tween years these orientations become more and more important to me. My focus is on learning about the music therapy orientation that matches my music therapy heart.

I find it a challenge to keep up with it all. I need to be advocated to just as much as the general and legislative public. It’s almost as if AMTA needs to make theoretical orientation fact sheets to go along with their ‘Music Therapy & Insert-Population-here’ fact sheets.

It’s funny, I remember in music therapy 101 we spent weeks on this very EXACT TOPIC and I diligently memorized every definition for various orientations (not all of them, of course, some of them hadn’t been invented yet). Now that I have music therapy clinical experience, I’m seeing all of this in a new light.

My question is:

Am I the only one who cares about this?

How does someone keep up with all of this?

*****

From CBMT / AMTA:

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 Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University is hosting the

The Fifth Arts and Quality of Life Research Center Conference

titled

Four Models of Music Therapy at Temple University

February 24, 2012

This Free all-day conference highlights the four models of music therapy practice exemplified by the faculty, graduates and students of Temple University. Find the preliminary program and registration here.

I wish I could make it… I’d love to hear what Carol Shultis has to say in her presentation: Coping in Intensive Care: A Music Therapy Approach.

I’ve been hearing a lot of really great responses from my Pinterest for the Music Therapist. So glad that people have found it to be informative!

Here are a couple more points that I forgot to make the first time around….

• You can also pin videos. So, you could very easily make yourself a ‘Songs To Learn’ board and pin YouTube videos there. I know I have a running list like this in my head… I’m not the only one… right?!?!
• You can encourage your blog readers to pin your posts. (If you have a blog…) Pinterest gives you the html code for your blog that will make a ‘pin it’ box. Find it here. That way your readers can be reminded to keep your information.
• There is a Pinterest app. This way you can access your account on your phone. It’s free.
• You can post your pins to your FB and Twitter accounts. Every time you pin something you will have the option to share it on FB and Twitter. I don’t do this a lot (mostly because I pin a lot and I know my friends just won’t care about EVERYTHING)… but I DO use this when I’m pinning something that I know everyone will want to know…. like a big music therapy type resource list. I’m not sure if you can connect this with your business FB page, but if you could, this would be an additional and easy way to share information with your clients/readers. Think of it as another way to ‘retweet’ only it’s coming from Pinterest, and going to FB or Twitter (or both) and all you had to do was click one extra button.
• You can connect your Pinterest account with your FB and Twitter accounts. This is a really fast way to find/follow/invite friends who are already on Pinterest.
  

My ‘How To Make Song Sheets‘ video series is up over at Music Therapy Pro.

Members of Music Therapy Pro can get access to this two video series and download handouts.

Get immediate access to this, plus additional videos, podcasts and community forum for only $17.00 per month. Learn more about becoming a member here.

The new year is my favorite… er, holiday? event?… whatever it is, it’s my favorite! Partly because it’s a time of reflection and learning.

Let’s reflect back to the most popular posts on the Music Therapy Tween for the year of 2011 (in no particular order):

• Pinterest for the Music Therapist
• (Somebody Bring Me A Flower) I’m A Robot
• Tips for AMTA National Conferences
• Social Media Reality Check
• Hanging Out With My Peeps
• Reader Mail: Autism Resources
• What Should Your Email Address Be?
• My preferred music list? (which is interesting because this was posted in 2010, but read a lot in 2011)
• Gift suggestions for the new music therapy intern
• Shortcut with white board and markers
• How I make my own lyric/chord sheets
• Special offer: the green book of songs by subject
• An invitation to declutter
• Tips for taking your own headshots
• Framed motivators

Is your favorite on there?

Back in my private practice days there were a lot of un-music therapy type things I had to do… one of them was getting photos for marketing. I ended taking them myself and did a lot of learning from my mistakes… but you don’t have to!

My wonderful high school friend Jeremy Jeziorski is a fantastic photographer and is offering online photography classes called: Make Better Photos. His work is absolutely stunning… just check out his online portfolios (his ‘portraits’ and ‘personal projects’ are my favorite). I’d love to be a fourth of the photographer he is… and I’m going to try because I’ve already signed up for his LEVEL II class.

I’ll let Jeremy explain the details:

Jeremy Jeziorski; Photographer

Howdy!

On January 15th, I’m launching a new experiment in online photography education. You’ll be able to study the material and try out the exercises at your own pace, wherever you like (even in your pajamas – WIN!).

Make Better Photos – Level I

• Terminology, what it all means, where it came from, and why you need to know it.
• The differences between various types of digital camera, and what to consider when making a purchase. (and how to ignore the marketing hype)
• Copying, storing, printing your images – formats, techniques and philosophies of digital archiving.
• Basics of exposure, shooting modes, and an intro to retouching.

Cost: $35.00 until January 6th at 10:00pm EST, after which the price raises to $75.00. Course will be presented as 2 emails per week for one month, with an exercise / assignment each week with a private review/critique. Sign up here.

Make Better Photos – Level II

Includes a subscription to all information in Level I, plus (but not limited to):

• In-depth exploration of exposure, and how to nail it every time by refining how you see light, and by using histograms.
• When to use, and why semi-auto shooting modes can be better than using manual settings.
• Lenses – when to use what, and considerations for purchasing.
• Composition – the rules you need to learn, and then break, to make captivating images every time.
• Retouching – some basic techniques in various pieces of software, for both cleaning up images and for adding impact.
• Experimental / Advanced techniques – HDR processing, long exposure, trick photography, off-camera lighting. Sign up here.

Cost: $75.00 until January 6th at 10:00pm EST, after which the price doubles to $150.00. Course will be presented as at least 2 emails per week for one month (in addition to the Level I emails above) with assignments / exercises and review. Preferably, you have access to a DSLR or micro 4/3rds camera with interchangeable lenses (even if you only own one lens) and full manual control options. Otherwise, you won’t be able to put much of the information into action, which is key to learning.