The combination of palm trees, beautiful weather and a career I’m passionate about seemed like the absolute dream come true.

So to have that dream become a reality is something I am thankful for each day!

Another thing I love about being a music therapist in Miami is the vibrant bunch of music therapists who work in this city as well.

I’ve met these clinicians at conferences, at presentations and when I served as the Interim Professor of Music Therapy at University of Miami last school year.

These music therapists work in a wide variety of settings with a number of different clinical populations. We all have varied backgrounds and training. So there is a lot we can learn from one another.

In order to do so we’ve planned a number of Miami Music Therapist get togethers…

To swap songs and resources…to sing at Open Mic Night…to jam…and to start a book club.

Back in August we got together over delicious garlic rolls and pizza at The Big Cheese (see picture  above!)

We had a great time catching up, meeting some new music therapists who have moved to the area and brainstorming ways we can reach even more people in Miami who are interested in music therapy.

I’m already looking forward to planning our next get together!

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I love connecting with this group to network, share ideas, and just get to know each other better.

We’ve gotten together to swap songs and resources, discuss books we’re reading, and sing at Open Mic Night!

Last week, we got together for some delicious Thai food and to welcome the newest member of our Miami Music Therapists group…Kimberly Sena Moore!

We are thrilled to have her here in Miami and look forward to many more get-togethers.

I’ve found that even gatherings where our group just gets together for dinner provide valuable opportunities to build relationships with these other music therapists and share ideas and stories. These opportunities help us build a strong network of colleagues and friends that we can reach out to.

Our group has music therapists who work in all different parts of Miami and with a variety of clinical populations.

If we ever have a question or referral, we know who to reach out to.

I would even love to expand our group and have networking events that include speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and ABA therapists in the area!

If you haven’t done so already, consider reaching out to the music therapists or other therapists in your community for a get together.

Leave a comment below and let us know what you’ve done to network and build relationships with the other music therapists in your area. We’d love to hear some new ideas!

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Uniting with the other Miami music therapists is one of my favorite things to do, as I wrote about here AND here! The picture above is  UCP Internship Alums Mahleah Benson and Patricia Chaviano (now music therapist at Seasons Hospice) and I jamming together. In today’s post, I want to share with you two of the songs we worked on. I’m sharing them in hopes that they inspire you to harmonize, get your ukelele on, or just start humming and strumming!

I would love to get some more ideas, so please share…what are YOUR favorite songs to jam to?

Related posts: Miami Music Therapists Unite…for Open Mic Night AND Miami Music Therapists Unite…Over Pizza

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After a week full of singing songs like “Where is your belly button?” and playing music that mostly revolves around the key of D major, it’s nice to have a diversion – musically speaking – by jamming with my fellow music therapists!

Every few weeks we’ll get together with guitars, keyboards, ukeleles, tambourines, and any other instruments we have on hand and jam together.

I wholeheartedly believe that as music therapists it’s important for us to keep up our musical skills.

Jamming helps us learn new repertoire and practice harmonizing; it helps us practice arranging song material; it encouarges us to play our non-primary (or maybe non-preferred!) instrument; and it’s just plain fun!

After practicing, we play at Open Mic Night at Titanic Restaurant and Brewery. Here are a few pictures from our performances…

January 2010 ~ My former intern and friend Amber Ewers and I playing “Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty and “Mr. Jones” by Counting Crows –

July 2010 ~ Pre-show for our co-workers at UCP –

Singing with Amber Ewers and my two former interns Patricia Chaviano and Sevrina Tindal. We practiced together one night and sang the next! Our set? “Hallelujah” byJeff Buckley, “The Chain” by Ingrid Michaelson, and “Your Love” by the Outfield (80s Flashback!!) –

December 2010 ~ Amber and I singing “Wintersong” by Sara Bareillis and Ingrid Michaelson and a jazzed up version of “Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland” (Christmas classic)-

Do YOU ever get together with fellow MTs and jam?

I wrote about other ways I connect with the MTs in Miami here. What are some ways YOU connect with other MTs in your area?

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Last night, the Miami Music Therapists had another successful get-together and also shared some DELICIOUS pizza at Anthony’s Coal Fire Grill (yes, there are actually four pizzas on the table – we’re a hungry bunch!) The group of us (plus a few more not pictured) started getting together last year when I realized – there really are a good number of us down here! We’re all working with different populations and having different experiences in our clinical work, but there are a LOT of similarities that bring us together. So, we all met at Titanic for Open Mic Night and have been getting together ever since!

Let me introduce you to the amazing and talented music therapists in this picture: (L-R)

Patricia Chaviano, MT-BC ~ Patricia was both my practicum student and intern at UCP. She is an amazingly talented jazz vocalist and was just recently hired as a full-time MT for Seasons Hospice in Miami. Congrats Patricia!

Jenny Denk, MT-BC ~ I met Jenny when she was a practicum student of mine at UCP in 2007. She was just recently hired as a full-time music therapist for West Music in Iowa! Congrats Jenny! She’s leaving Miami this weekend, but she will always be a Miami MT at heart. :)

Amber Ewers, MT-BC ~ Amber was an intern of mine at UCP in 2008. She went on to be hired as a full-time music therapist for the Adult Program at UCP and has been working there for the past year and a half.

Me!

Sarah Galvan-Rothermel, MM, MT-BC ~ I met Sarah through one of the occupational therapists at UCP. She moved here from New York last year and now works as a full-time music therapist at Cadenza Music Therapy.

So there we are!

We’ve had quite a few successful get-togethers thus far – all involving food and music, of course. :) In my next post about the Miami MTs, I’m going to share some of the things we do when we get together (besides eat!)

What are YOUR experiences with connecting with other music therapists in your area?

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