Reevaluation

When I started this blog, I set aside several goals I wanted the blog to address (as any good music therapist should). Now, at the conclusion of my internship, I think it'd be appropriate to reevaluate these goals and see how I did addressing these goals (again, as any good music therapist should).

A quick review:

1) To serve as a resource for other music therapy interns providing information on all topics concerning this population. I plan on covering everything from activity ideas to finding housing to cheap and easy dinner recipes.
2) To serve as a personal collection of my experiences during my internship. Daily experiences, thoughts, and lessons learned.
3) To serve as a resource for professional therapists. I am most definitely a "newbie" in the field, but hey, sometimes the perspective of a newcomer can be enlightening. At least that's my hope.
4) To provide information and insight about music therapy for those unfamiliar with the field.
5) To hopefully be entertaining. Something fun to read.

So how did I do?

1) I believe my blog served other interns well, but perhaps in a different capacity than I anticipated. I didn't end up writing about finding housing or easy recipes, but I did offer several activity ideas, songs I wrote, and a narration of how my internship was going (which I hope provided a first-hand glimpse of what being an intern is like.)

2) I feel I addressed this goal best out of all the goals I had in mind. My only regret is that I didn't update more frequently, but just about every blogger out there wishes that I think.

3) That's a goal that's difficult for me to evaluate, simply because (until very recently) I wasn't a professional. I did get a lot of great positive feedback from professionals, so hopefully I accomplished this goal.

4) While I didn't quite get into definitions of music therapy, I think I offered an easy to understand view of music therapy, and I know some of my friends who may not know a great deal about music therapy followed the blog, so I'll count this goal as accomplished as well.

5) Again, I think I lost points on this one just by not updating frequently enough. But I hope y'all were entertained.

As mentioned previously, the future of this blog is still under consideration. I've enjoyed writing it too much to stop, I'll just have to have a change of direction.

Conclusions

Last week, my internship came to a close. After 7 months and 10,000 miles of driving, it's time to begin the next chapter of my life. But before moving on to that, I'd like to take a few moments to reflect on the last 7 months:

7 months ago, I moved to Atlanta to begin what I knew would be one of the biggest challenges I've faced thus far in my academic career. I knew a handful of people in the area (including my roommate), but for the most part, I was leaving most of my friends and family behind me. This was also going to be my first time working in music therapy full time, all day every day. This fact alone elicited a lot of anxiety for me. What if I only enjoyed learning about music therapy (after all, it is fascinating) and not actually practicing music therapy?

7 months ago, I was writing on this very blog about what it might be like to leave behind the "college student lifestyle" (that is, staying up late, sleeping late, etc.) and take up the "grown-up lifestyle (in bed by 11, up before the sun, and taking on THE WORST COMMUTE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA). How would I adapt?

What if I didn't like my supervisors? What if I didn't get along with my fellow interns? What if my car breaks? Or my computer? Basically a slew of questions and "What if's?" were flying through my head so fast, it's a wonder I didn't blow a fuse.

But now, 7 months later, I can happily reflect and answer those questions. I love what I do. Even during my most challenging days, I wouldn't trade it for a desk job of any kind. I loved my fellow interns. They were all kind, funny, interesting people. Each one of them will be a helluva music therapist. My car broke, and my roommate loaned me his. My computer mercifully is still chugging along. Waking up early and commuting did stink, but I made it work (and I was only late 3 times! Trust me, out of 150+ morning commutes in Atlanta, that's pretty solid). And I loved my supervisors. They challenged me, encouraged me, inspired me, and helped me through the tough times.

And there were some tough times. My wonderful girlfriend of 5+ years lives in Orlando. It's tough being that far away from someone you love for this long of a time. My dog had to be put to sleep in March. That's never fun. I had some challenging kids to work with, and there were many days when I went home thinking "what am I doing wrong here?" Plus, living on a $0 income for 7 months is no picnic either.

But I made it through all that, and that alone is something I'm very proud of. You know, there aren't many other jobs out there that go through the gauntlet that music therapists go through. I've noticed it's something we wear like a badge of honor though. When you talk to other music therapists, they know exactly what you're going through, because every last one of us has been there. No wonder we're such a tight knit bunch. It really is like a fraternal organization.

So I'm proud to be in this battled-tested group of professionals; this fire-hardened team of rock star therapists, this steel-willed band of heroes. I made it through the 7 month boot camp that is the music therapy internship. I've been hit, kicked, spat on, and yelled at, and I've kept on pickin' and grinnin' through it all.

I've also seen some amazing sights as well. I've seen "non-verbal" kids sing, "non-ambulatory" kids dance, and "angry" kids have fun. I finally got my "a-hah!" moments I hear music therapists talk about all the time. That moment your client does something for the first time. That break-through moment that makes this job better than any other job out there. That phenomenological reward of doing what we do, and man, is it awesome.

So forgive me for waxing poetic. Past interns, thanks for your wisdom. Current interns, keep on keepin' on. Future interns, get ready for the ride of your life.

One of the most memorable and influential people in my academic life, Dr. Clifford Madsen told us that change is always the most challenging aspect of life. Jimbo Fisher says that "change is inevitable, growth is optional." Bobby Bowden said "You're either getting better or getting worse, but you never stay the same." Going from being a student to an intern is certainly a change, and it's a challenging one too. But the change you see in yourself at the end of it all makes it so worth it.

SER-AMTA 11

In the last week, a number of significant events worthy of a blog post have happened and as these events pile up, the less time I have to actually blog about them. I've finished my internship, signed up to take the CBMT (in a few short weeks), started my first music therapy job, attended regional conference, and I am in the process of moving out of the place I lived during my internship. In the next few weeks, I'll also need to decide on the future direction (and name!) of this blog. So needless to say, blogging has taken a backseat.

However, I'm going to start on that mountain of topics tonight. We'll start with conference, as that is the most time sensitive topic.

This weekend, I attended the SER-AMTA (that's "South Eastern Region - American Music Therapy Association") conference in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Conference this year was great as always, but for different reasons this time around. I must say being away from my beloved school for a year made arriving at conference much more exciting. Everywhere I turned was a classmate I hadn't seen since I left. I had to ask them all about their jobs or internship plans and explain my current/future plans. It was a blast. I got to meet countless students from other schools, which was awesome as well.

This year was also the first time I got to meet many of the music therapists I know through Twitter. Last year, I was a newbie on the Twitter Train, so I didn't really get to meet anyone. This time around, I got to meet all sorts of people who I basically feel I already knew. It was fun putting faces with online persona's. Many of these people are professionals who I have a great amount of respect for, and it was really uplifting to hear their comments on my new job and completing my internship.

Finally, this was my first conference as a pseudo-professional. While I won't be taking the CBMT until the end of the month, I am now finished with my internship and, for all intents and purposes, a college graduate. As noted before, I'm also now employed (more about that later, but I'm LOVING it)! Getting to network and interact with other professional music therapists as a colleague rather than a student had a totally different feel, one that made me feel very proud and accomplished. I started my college career as a music therapy major and never changed it. That was 5 years ago. It's been a long time coming.

More posts on the way, but these are some very exciting times for me. It's a really great feeling having a strong sense of direction in your career, and I feel especially blessed to have that this early on in mine.