Today, we speak with JD Hogue, a statistician and music therapist, to discuss the relevance of effective data collection as a clinician.  JD shares how effective data collection and communication is crucial for advocacy and improving your practice.

Happy fall ya’ll! The change of seasons is an opportunity for seasonally themed interventions so we’re honing in on Halloween and Harvest season. We always need to exercise our best clinical judgment on when it’s appropriate to use themed sessions. Some reasons why you might want to include themes are for reminiscence, orientation, increased engagement with novelty experiences, bringing changes to your session planning, and opportunities for introducing new and familiar music that you can’t use all year round.

In this fun clinical segment, Elizabeth discusses the benefits of and uses for boomwhackers in a music therapy session. If you’re looking for some new ideas on how to use these versatile instruments, you’re in the right place!

“Home is where the heart is” - Ellisa sits down with music therapist Music Therapist, Brian Schreck, Behavioral Oncology, MA, MT-BC as he discusses his work with heartbeat music therapy and establishing a new music therapy modality, Amplified Cardiopulmonary Recordings (ACPR). His work with pediatric and adult end of life music therapy is not only deeply impactful, it is propelling the field of music therapy forward.

“Meaningful music experiences"- Join us for a conversation with Rachelle Morgan, MA, MT-BC about music therapy and eldercare, business, and clinical inspiration for working with older adults.

Ellisa and Maggie talk about their top tips and tricks for using guitar in their music therapy sessions. They share ideas on adapting the instrument for both themselves and their clients to create success and music when accomplishing both musical and non-music goals.

"People have intrinsic value" - Ellisa sits down with Zoe Levine, LPMT, MT-BC to talk about her music therapy work in various school settings. Zoe uses foundational principles of Community Music Therapy and Critical Humanist approaches to inform their work and shares how to write goals that support the personhood of the student, first.

As music therapists, we love a good themed session, don't’ we? The inspiration we find, the visual aids and props we get to use,  the playlists we start building in our head..It can be a lot of fun for us. But is it what our clients need? We’re going to share some clinical inspiration love and share not only ideas for Valentines theme interventions, but also ideas for covertly themed sessions and how to work around holidays.

Our work stresses, thoughts and worries need a container to live in so that when it's time, we can pick them up. Make a small routine of "setting it aside" as you transition home each and every day. It is as important as checking your email but a small and even non-time consuming ritual can create healthy boundaries for your work in your life that will prove deeply rewarding in time.

The truth is when we are in the thick of designing our sessions we often forget some of the basics. Unless you have consistent supervision we are often not aware we are overlooking these vital concepts. So, today I’ve pulled my top 5 concepts reminder, which are more like mental notes that I’ve observed can be stumbling blocks when designing music experiences.

It's November and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Ellisa and Kristin sit down to talk about how a practice of gratitude impacts your body and how to introduce a practice into your sessions, your work, and your life.

Today, the Giving Song team gathers around the table to share drumming interventions in honor of National Hug a Drummer Day! Pull up a chair, a drum and join us for some clinical inspiration.

We are thrilled to welcome Haley Shinn MM, MT-BC to the podcast….and to Giving Song! Haley joined our team of music therapy clinicians officially in August and we can’t wait for you to meet her! Listen and learn as Haley shares advice on staying inspired, self-care, working in schools, and more.

Today we’re going to be talking about music therapy scope of practice. What is it, how is it defined and how do I remain ethically within the bounds of my own scope of practice? This is a gray area in some situations and having clearly defined boundaries is important for our profession and as individuals for ethical, best practice and advocacy.

It’s officially May which means we’re counting down until the end of the school year. This is the final leg of the race for teachers and I've seen so many encouragement type posts that start with “to all my teacher friends...”. That got me thinking, school based music therapists need some encouragement too! We’ve compiled a short (but power packed) list of some things to help get you through the final push. You've got this!

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Music Therapy and Beyond. My name is Maggie and I am so excited for today’s episode. If you have been listening to previous episodes, like “Authenticity in Music pt. 3” and “What Does Wellness Look Like?”, you may have noticed that I came from a different college than Ellisa and Kristin. We have some differences in our theoretical orientations and today I want to dive into why that is. I have done some deep diving and found my course load for each semester during my undergraduate MT program and I have asked Ellisa and Kristin to do the same. I have asked them to join me in this episode as we discover what differences and similarities we have in our undergraduate MT programs and why we developed different theoretical orientations.

I do believe that some people respond better to this approach than others, but when it is all that you have, I’ve seen teachers, paraprofessionals, students and even myself, make the most of it!

I like sets of 3 so the formula we will use for this second half is 1) Awareness 2) Learning and 3) Intention. The first step in implementing effective trauma-informed care is awareness. This part is what we’ve already addressed. Awareness of the prevalence of trauma and awareness of those three main factors of predictability, connection and learning social and emotional skills. Now comes learning! This is where you look at effective strategies that can help in combating the effects of trauma for your clients, students and children.

Having a starting point for authenticity is important as we discuss what it means to replicate music. A large portion of the day-to-day study that we do at work is building a repertoire of music. Now, oftentimes your working repertoire is greatly determined by your clients, the setting you’re working in, the approach etc. But often, we need to be equipped with a basic variety of music to appeal to a range of tastes and preferences.