One thing I hear frequently in discussions amongst our music therapy community is about the need for free continuing education opportunities.
Yes, we love going to conference and taking online courses, but we’re also looking for some inexpensive – okay, free – ways we can grow, learn, and work towards recertification.
I have got a great way you can earn free CMTE credits AND flex your creativity muscles:
Write original songs.
I am a huge proponent of writing original songs when working with our music therapy clients (more on that next week!) So why not submit and earn continuing ed credits for doing so?
You can earn 5 credits per composition, with a maximum of 20 credits per cycle. Not bad, huh?
Here’s how it works:
For each original song you’ll need to submit a musical score and an audio recording. Go to Page 29-30 of the CBMT 2015 Recertification Manual for a complete description of the requirements.
For notating my musical scores I use a program called MuseScore (again, FREE!) For audio recording I use GarageBand on my Mac. Both tools are fairly easy to use with a little Google guidance.
Now go check out the Recertification Manual (it’s available for download on cbmt.org under the Recertification tab) and start composing!
Next week I’ll be sharing the WHY behind writing original songs for our music therapy sessions. (There are plenty more reasons beyond just receiving CMTE credits!)
The following week I’ll be sharing the HOW. Stay tuned!
Image courtesy of ponsulak at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Thank you Amy for the reminder!! I completely forgot about this option and I have a bunch of children’s songs I have written. That’s a great chunk of credits to be able to take care of.
Awesome! Isn’t it great to know you already have those songs written, now you just need to submit! I’m glad to be able to help :)
Fantastic. Now I have to email the CAMT to see if Canada has an equivalent!
That would be great!!