Happy Music Therapy Week!

This week is devoted to celebrating and advocating for Music Therapy in Illinois!  Music therapists across the state are looking to get the word out about music therapy and its many benefits! If you haven’t checked it out yet, below is the AMTA definition of music therapy as well as a link to my page describing the many benefits of music therapy. What is music therapy? According to the American Music Therapy Association, “Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.” Who can benefit?  http://www.onagoodnote.net/who-can-benefit/ Looking for more information about music therapy in Illinois?  Be sure to visit the website for the Illinois Association for Music Therapy and check out some of the great advocacy videos and links at the bottom of the page. Curious how you can promote music therapy this week?  Share links for On A Good Note, AMTA, and IAMT as well as the the other resources below via email, facebook, and twitter.  Start a conversation about music Read More

5 Quick Tips for Avoiding Burnout

After a holiday, several days away from the office, and a relaxing weekend, I am ready to get back into the swing of things! Honestly, I’ve missed my clients, writing for the blog, and making music! I was unplugged from the world for a few days, living with no internet and very little cell service so I was unable to do anything work related. I spent time with my family and friends, sharing laughs, making memories, and simply unwinding. I cannot put into words how refreshed and happy I feel. As I start to take on the new challenges of the week I wanted to share with you a few ways to avoid burnout and maintain that refreshed, ready-to-go feeling. 1. Take time for yourself! This is hard one for me because I like to do things for my business and for others but I know that in order to serve others, taking time for myself is super important. Find five minutes a day to do something nice for yourself. For me, that translates to playing my favorite song on Read More

Free Teaching Resource – Practicing Checklist

Recently, I went to my client’s home for our regularly scheduled piano lesson. I was greeted at the door by my client’s father asking me to assign more material for them to work on during practice time. I was thrilled to hear that they had a practice schedule and that my client was moving quickly through her new material. What became evident as our lesson progressed was that she had the notes down pat, but was paying little to no attention to the other parts of the music. We then spent 10 minutes of our lesson relearning the piece with dynamics, phrasing, and a steady beat. At the end of our lessons, we discussed that practice time should be used to not only learn the notes, but to also work on the other aspects of the music as well. While it was a great conversation to have, I thought creating a concrete list of things to work on would be helpful for not only my student but for her parents as well. I created three pdf documents that I am Read More

My Favorite Apps – Singing Fingers

I love using my iPad to reinforce the goals and objectives I am working on with my clients. This next app is great for meting a variety of needs with clients of all skills and abilities. Singing Fingers!! When you first enter the app, it will look a little something like this Tap on the blank page icon in the top left corner to start a new drawing. To draw, create a sound, sing, or talk as you drag your finger across the screen. Different pitches create different colors on the screen. Nothing will appear on the screen unless you create a sound while drawing. To demonstrate how this works, I sang different pitches while drawing keyboard. I have used this app with clients with speech delays, encouraging clients to create specific sounds while drawing. I have used this app to help teach different sounds, words, letters, and number; creating the sound of the letter or number while drawing it. I have also used this app to work on pitch matching, tone, volume control, attention, fine motor skills and interaction. Read More