Saturday Shout Out: Taking Body Blows

This Saturday Shout Out goes out to my dad, Ray Blevins.

It was around this time last year (one week before finals) that my dad wrote me a super encouraging Facebook post. He reminded me that while my stress was high and the semester was knocking me around a little bit that I would make it. To slip into a boxing analogy for a moment, he told me that all the best fighters had to take repeated body blows before they could wear down their opponents and claim victory. Next week includes 2 project presentations, 3 tests, a review packet or two, a recital class performance, and who knows what all else. Next week may feel like black eyes and broken ribs, but those are just body blows. It's not a knockout. I just need to go two more rounds (weeks) in the ring with this semester and then, the KO is mine. So, thank you, Dad, for your insight and wisdom.

Now I want to know, whether you are a student, a practicing therapist, or a supervisor/educator, what body blows have you been taking lately? Who or what helps you stay in the ring until the final bell?

What I Would Love to Share with Music Educators

At Drury, we are blessed to learn and work very closely beside our friends and colleagues who are majoring in music education.

I spend a lot of time thinking about music education and music educators, because every single current or future music therapist is able to do what they do because they had positive experiences in music education at some point. Our first formal musical learning experiences came from music educators.

That fact alone means that music therapists should have a vested interest in the continuing well-being of music educators and the vitality of their curriculum.

And on that thought, here some of the things music therapists know that I would love to share with music educators.

Advocacy

Music therapists know that our profession depends on advocacy. This is no less true for music educators. People go into education and therapy both because they had positive experiences in music education. It's a self-perpetuating profession. Advocacy is essential, but it seems like many educators learn how to advocate effectively after they are already teaching. And when you find out that your band program may be in danger is no time to learn advocacy strategies. I really wish that music education curricula would include more specific instruction on the most effective strategies for advocacy.

Transference and Counter-transference

 As I wrote in a previous post, clients can bring a lot of rough stuff to sessions with them. We are prepared for this - that's why our clients are seeing us - the rough stuff! Even though someone is a music educator that doesn't mean students won't bring tough subjects with them to class. Music educators are not insulated from the harsh realities of students' lives that have nothing to do with music. So, I really wish that more attention could be given to the issues of transference and counter-transference in music classrooms.I would love to see educators receive more preparation for their own emotional reactions to students' personal difficulties.

Self-Care and Burnout 

 The music educators I know spend a lot of their time stressed out and emotionally drained. That's not to say that music therapists don't spend a lot of their time that way, too! It seems that music therapists hear a lot more about self-care than educators do, however. I would love for more educators and therapists both to take self-care to heart and to really be vigilant against the dangers of burnout. It is true that if the educator or the therapist is not at his or her very best, students and clients aren't going to get the very best treatment or education possible. 

Resource Sharing

Finally, I would love to see educators and therapists put our heads together a little bit more than we already do. Students with disabilities are frequently mainstreamed in music classrooms because music is so very accessible. But music education curricula do not include a large amount of information on students with exceptional needs, as a general rule. Are we making music educators aware that they can collaborate with music therapists in their music classrooms? Are we teaching educators how to make music therapy part of the IEP for a student? Additionally, what educational strategies do music educators have that music therapists aren't aware of and could benefit greatly from? Where can we get our heads together more?

For the all the music educators out there, what would you share with music therapists? How would you most like to see us collaborate with one another? What are educators doing well that therapists could do better? Please feel free to share your thoughts!