If there is one thing I love to do, it’s session plan.

I cozy up on my blue rocking chair, pull up the blinds so I have a good view of the palm trees outside, and get out a fresh sheet of blank paper. Then I get to work planning my upcoming sessions for the week.

If you haven’t already checked it out, I organized all the session ideas I’ve shared on the blog here. They’re neatly grouped by population and topic:

Although I love coming up with activities ideas, I don’t want to lose sight of two important things:

  1. These activities all must start with a non-musical goal in mind (like improving attention or increasing expressive language).
  2. The music and musical elements must be used therapeutically in order to bring about the change in behavior that we’re looking for.

It’s easy to get swept up in Pinterest boards and activity books, and get excited about all the activity ideas out there on the web. But it’s critical to keep in mind our non-musical goals and how the music is functioning therapeutically, or we’re not doing our jobs as music therapists.

Next week I’ll be starting a mini-series that looks at how we as music therapists use music and musical elements to cue our clients, prompt responses and guide movement. It’s one of my favorite things to think about. We have this powerful medium at our fingertips, and we’re well trained in how to use it to bring about positive changes in behavior.

Stick around! I’m excited to share some new ideas with you.