I am going to touch very briefly on a topic one of my fellow MT interns did, which is Music Therapy is not for everyone. While I have not met anyone who fits this subject yet, I have met some who.... usual MT techniques don't necessarily work for. This kid is going to require us to be very creative.
Every patient we see is different, and they all have different needs. Sometimes a pt. is very active and wants to get up and run around, sometimes the pt. is sleepy, or confined to his or her bed. And sometimes.... they just want to sing! I've said it before and I will say it again, the key to this internship and Music Therapy in general is being flexible! If you want to intern in a hospital and you lack this trait, brush up on it fast, cause MT is not the profession for you if you don't have it, and an internship will drive you crazy!! Anyways... back to my original story, my very first week of my internship I saw a pt. and last week I saw her again. We did some instrument stuff, like with the Q-chord (love that thing), but mostly she just wanted to sing along with me, so we did some of that. Okay, we did a lot of that! I have never before learned a song on the spot with a pt, but I did in that session, because she really wanted to sing it. It was Rihanna's "Take a Bow", and I got her playing a drum along with the beat. And then we sang Justin Bieber's "Baby", and by that I mean the chorus and Ludacris's part, because that's all I could remember at the moment. It was epic. Point is, I had planned some other stuff to do, but singing was what she really needed, and I have never seen her so interactive and smiling so much! I was still able to focus on my goals for her, just with a different approach.
Speaking of being flexible... this week I am starting my second rotation, where I will be in the inpatient rehab unit and providing procedural support in the Botox clinic. So far the rehab pts. we will be seeing this week are all male, and 15,16,16,&17 years old. That's, um, VERY different from the babies-and-oldest-patient-being-12 thing I had going on in my last rotation. It's time to flex those working with teens muscles again!
Actually, Leila, more than just being flexible with your client who wanted to sing, you were listening to her and working with her where she is in that moment rather than expecting her to meet you. That is an even more important trait for a music therapist to develop than flexibility, and you are clearly all over it! Way to go!
ReplyDeleteThanks Roia! I try!
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