It’s true what they say…”it’s all about the U.”

At least that’s been the case for me the past two weeks or so.

August 15 was my official first day at University of Miami (yay!) but I feel like this week was my first real week as Professor Kalas. (By the way, it is so weird to hear that after years of being called Amy …or Mimi by some of the little ones at UCP).

On Monday I taught Music & Development, a course I took ten years ago at UM. I even have my binder from when I took the course…complete with all my class notes, assignments, and handouts. (Boy am I glad I saved all that!)

Today I supervised students starting their clinical practica at various sites around Miami. We have students at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Miami Children’s Hospital, United Cerebral Palsy, Miami Jewish Homes & Health System, Community Habilitation Center, and Season’s Hospice.

I also organized presentations for our Music Therapy Forum. We’ll be having guest speakers come talk about songwriting, networking, and job security. We have a music therapist coming to talk to students about a day in the life of a music therapist at Miami Children’s Hospital. We even have students presenting on their summer music therapy experiences!

I feel like I am learning so much already and am excited about the semester to come.

Stay tuned for more songs, intervention ideas, and VIDEOS in the weeks to come! I am keeping my private practice up and running, so I’ll be continuing to come up with fresh, new ideas and sharing them right here on the blog.