Two weeks ago I flew from the palm tree-lined streets of Miami to frigid, snowy Minneapolis for the National Music Therapy Conference.

Although the temperature change was a bit of a shock, even for me who grew up in Pennsylvania (and has lived in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey), I am so glad I went.

There are three main reasons why I think it’s critical to attend the National Conference as often as possible (I’ve attended seven in total!):

1.We get to connect with “our people.” We can jump right into a conversation about rhythmic auditory stimulation or proprioceptive input without missing a beat. We can “talk shop” about best practices for our business or how to improve our banjolele skills (yes, that’s a thing!)

2. It keeps us on the forefront of the latest research and newest, innovative tools for our clinical practice and business. I learned how to use visual aids on an interactive wipe board for school-age students who are non-verbal. I watched demos of a variety of DJ apps for teens with severe and profound intellectual disability. The technology available to us now is incredible and offers a variety of ways to engage our clients regardless of their level.

3.It reminds us to keep learning for the benefit of our clients. So often I hear from MTs that we kind of get in the rut of doing the same thing in our sessions over and over. Going to conference reminds us that there is a world of creative possibilities out there! New apps, new techniques, new strategies for engagement. I am here for it all.

In the next post, I’ll talk about how to absorb all this wonderful information that we learn at conference.

It can kind of feel like we’re drinking from a fire hose, am I right? But, there are several ways to ensure we absorb the information and put it into practice for the benefit of our clients.

Although I enjoyed the cold weather in Minnesota for a short while, I’m happy to be back in sunny South Florida, where our average winter temperature is around 75 degrees.

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If you’re anything like me, you get SUPER EXCITED about conference.

There’s the preparation and planning out of your session schedule.

There’s travel to a new destination (even if it is only to see the inside of the hotel!)

And there’s the reconnecting with music therapy friends and colleagues that you haven’t seen in years.

The National Conference last year in Dallas was pretty amazing.

But I now realize, three months down the road, that I’ve forgotten to apply all the incredible things I learned in the presentations. What good is attending a conference if you’re not going to apply what you’ve learned in your clinical practice?

I did organize all my presentation notes right after I got home, so that was a win. Now, I plan to go back to all those notes and pull out five things I’m going to apply in my sessions in the upcoming month. Would it be helpful for you to do the same? Even if you didn’t attend conference last year, you can pull out your notes from a previous year or a past presentation. Then, pull out five ideas that you can apply directly to your clinical practice next month.

Conference is a great time, but we certainly don’t want all that effort to attend to go to waste!

Join me in dusting off those conference notes and applying what you’ve learned in your sessions next month.

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National Conference was Ahhhh-mazing!!

I must admit I’m still on a bit of a conference high.

I attended presentations on everything from how to  start a music therapy program at a hospital to music therapy for trauma-influenced children to the Orff approach to music therapy. At each session I learned something new or was able to look through a new lens at a topic I was already familiar with.

The most significant thing I took away from the conference was a reminder of the importance of the therapeutic relationship. At times, we can be overly focused on interventions or our musical skills. But without a therapeutic rapport, the rest is meaningless.

I’m glad I came away from AMTA12 with fresh ideas and a new perspective on the populations I work with, but I’m glad I got the little reminder that it is the therapeutic relationship that is the foundation for our work.

SO now what to do with all those presentation notes? Did anyone else take 40 pages of notes throughout the weekend? Holy cow. How to organize them for later use?

Last year, I revamped how I organize all my music therapy “stuff.” I have binders from school, notes from presentations, idea sheets from my favorite blogs, etc. I needed a way to organize these items for quick reference at a later time.

So I created a folder for each population that we serve with music therapy: children, adolescents, adults, older adults, and patients who are hospitalized. I also have folders for NMT (Neurologic Music Therapy) notes and music and relaxation. In these folders I file EVERYTHING that has to do with this population or topic: sheet music, practicum session plans, internship notes, presentation notes, class notes, etc.

If I get a call to work with a certain client population, all I have to do is pull out that folder and inside are all the goodies I need to create appropriate and creative sessions for these clients.

Seem obvious? Then why was I keeping every music therapy paper I had together in a large plastic bin in my closet for the past 10 years?? I’m glad I finally got my music therapy “stuff” organized and the past year has been awesome because of it.

Now it’s Action Time! Leave a comment below and let me know – how do you organize your music therapy information? I would love to hear some other suggestions!

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