Hello everyone and welcome back,
Lately, the music therapists have been discussing often about the attention music therapy is having in the media. This is always something important for all the people in the healing arts. Believe me when I say that many people confuse MUSIC THERAPY with THERAPEUTIC MUSIC (which I am going to discuss later on). Often people have said to me: "Music therapy! oh yes, you put relaxation music to people." Music therapist do much more than that! We evaluate each case and develop an individual plan of treatment made specifically for the person to be treated.
As there is a need to inform the public of what music therapy really is and how is unlikely that you will find it in a "SPA", it is very helpful to have someone like Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who does medical news and reports for a well known television network, expressing himself in favor of music therapy and how it is helping, in this case someone with a brain injury such as Rep. Giffords.
Please take a look to his article:
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/18/19059/
This is a nice article. Dr Gupta immersed himself in the therapy process that a person with brain injury would to recover.
Enjoy the article and tell me what you think! What is music therapy for you??
Much love,
Cindy~
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Dancing the Music of Life
The other night I went dancing with a couple friends. We were excited about going to a place where they had Latin music such as salsa, merengue, bachata, etc. I must say that I felt like the tin man from Wizard of Oz. My joints needed oil urgently! Hahaha. I was dancing and happy to be there. But as always...I made a pause to look at my surroundings. I saw the different people dancing, their behavior, the lights, the music played in the background. Everything started to move slowly in my mind until something captured my attention.
There I saw two men. Let's call them John and Josh (Not their real names!). If they were in "Dancing with the stars" they would have been sent home during the first round ;-). They did not seem to have a dancing technique or deep knowledge on the dance types. But thank God we were not in Dancing with the Stars and it was a place where everyone could participate. ;-) The difference between these two men was that John was dancing to the FEEL of the music and Josh was too concern about dancing TO the music. John came to me to dance with a smile in his face said he wanted to learn and forgot about counting 1-2-3 etc. Josh was in a corner too concern that he could not make the steps right.
Does it ever happen to you that the more you concentrate in dancing "salsa" you just see it too complicated? You feel afraid of being embarrassed by not being able to do a mega-spectacular turn? Have you ever felt afraid to make a move in your life for fear of not doing something right? Just as with dancing salsa, if you don't try to jump in the dance floor and FEEL the music, instead you stay standing or sitting looking at other people dance, you are missing the fun of it. Just like that in our lives sometimes we want to dance the rhythm of life's concerns instead of living to the feel of life's music, life's beauty. Appreciating the little things, the smile of ourselves in the mirror.
I want to share with you that me too I did not always knew how to dance Salsa. I had to learn! (contrary to the popular believe not all Latinos are born knowing the steps, lol) I also was dancing to the rhythm of what I thought was important and not to the feel of life's music. To help me identify what type of dance I am performing I ask myself: Am I in the dance floor of life or am I in the corner afraid to make a bad step?
To end, I want to share an excerpt from the song "I Hope You Dance". Read carefully:
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)
God Bless You! And May He be the guide of your steps 1-2-3 while you dance the SALSA OF LIFE!
~Cindy
There I saw two men. Let's call them John and Josh (Not their real names!). If they were in "Dancing with the stars" they would have been sent home during the first round ;-). They did not seem to have a dancing technique or deep knowledge on the dance types. But thank God we were not in Dancing with the Stars and it was a place where everyone could participate. ;-) The difference between these two men was that John was dancing to the FEEL of the music and Josh was too concern about dancing TO the music. John came to me to dance with a smile in his face said he wanted to learn and forgot about counting 1-2-3 etc. Josh was in a corner too concern that he could not make the steps right.
Does it ever happen to you that the more you concentrate in dancing "salsa" you just see it too complicated? You feel afraid of being embarrassed by not being able to do a mega-spectacular turn? Have you ever felt afraid to make a move in your life for fear of not doing something right? Just as with dancing salsa, if you don't try to jump in the dance floor and FEEL the music, instead you stay standing or sitting looking at other people dance, you are missing the fun of it. Just like that in our lives sometimes we want to dance the rhythm of life's concerns instead of living to the feel of life's music, life's beauty. Appreciating the little things, the smile of ourselves in the mirror.
I want to share with you that me too I did not always knew how to dance Salsa. I had to learn! (contrary to the popular believe not all Latinos are born knowing the steps, lol) I also was dancing to the rhythm of what I thought was important and not to the feel of life's music. To help me identify what type of dance I am performing I ask myself: Am I in the dance floor of life or am I in the corner afraid to make a bad step?
To end, I want to share an excerpt from the song "I Hope You Dance". Read carefully:
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)
God Bless You! And May He be the guide of your steps 1-2-3 while you dance the SALSA OF LIFE!
~Cindy
Friday, February 4, 2011
Angelman's Syndrome
Angelman Syndrome (AS) is a neuro-genetic disorder that occurs in 1 in 15,000 live births. AS is often misdiagnosed as cerebral palsy or autism. Characteristics of AS include; developmental delay, lack of speech, seizures, and walking and balance disorders. Individuals with Angelman Syndrome will require life-long care. (Angelman's Syndrome Foundation, 2011).
I happen to be working with a 5 year old with Angelman's with a general development level of a much younger child. No speech. No walking. This is sort of a rare condition so even within the "clinical work" field I had people ask me if that is a real condition. Well, it is. When I started with my client he was not able to drink, eat solids, and had many episodes where he couldn't breath. Something like "dry" drowning. I was sent to help him with his lack of self expression.
I started working with drumming on Tom Tom Drum and singing while playing with a ball (to help him with his grasping issues). As you can guess, the time passed before I could see any improvement. Finally, one day I went to see him and immediately after I sent the drum in the floor, he came and started drumming! He was actually able to remember what we did. I was surprise. I must say that the mother was even more excited: "He is playing more with his toys since you've been here!" she said smiling. For her, that was victory.
As you can imagine, the progress, if any, was slow. Not even steady. But there i remained for some time. I decided to start working on the client's inability to clap. As you know, clapping requires some work from our brain. He wasn't able to clap. I recommended the family to keep helping him to put his hands together to stimulate that side of the brain when I wasn't there. After a week I was going to see him, thinking that maybe he needed to be discharged because there was nothing else I could do. Well, I was wrong. The welcoming at his home was ridiculous! (in the good sense!) They couldn't wait to tell me that my little sweet boy was clapping! Even clapping TO THE MUSIC!
I felt weird. I was just thinking in dropping the ball. And there he was with his big smile...clapping.
I am still working with this child. He is actually able to move his arms in parallel movement and today he was able to shake a shaker with little help! He is playing with his toys and let me hold him for a longer time.
CONCLUSION:
We must NEVER underestimate the value of our efforts. Sometimes we think we can't do it when we are actually making it happen. We need to believe in ourselves and believe in what we do. It does not matter how little is our kindness, it is big in someone's eyes. Now, I look forward to see this little guy who always smile, trusting that whatever I give...doesn't come back empty!
Much love!
http://www.angelman.org/
I happen to be working with a 5 year old with Angelman's with a general development level of a much younger child. No speech. No walking. This is sort of a rare condition so even within the "clinical work" field I had people ask me if that is a real condition. Well, it is. When I started with my client he was not able to drink, eat solids, and had many episodes where he couldn't breath. Something like "dry" drowning. I was sent to help him with his lack of self expression.
I started working with drumming on Tom Tom Drum and singing while playing with a ball (to help him with his grasping issues). As you can guess, the time passed before I could see any improvement. Finally, one day I went to see him and immediately after I sent the drum in the floor, he came and started drumming! He was actually able to remember what we did. I was surprise. I must say that the mother was even more excited: "He is playing more with his toys since you've been here!" she said smiling. For her, that was victory.
As you can imagine, the progress, if any, was slow. Not even steady. But there i remained for some time. I decided to start working on the client's inability to clap. As you know, clapping requires some work from our brain. He wasn't able to clap. I recommended the family to keep helping him to put his hands together to stimulate that side of the brain when I wasn't there. After a week I was going to see him, thinking that maybe he needed to be discharged because there was nothing else I could do. Well, I was wrong. The welcoming at his home was ridiculous! (in the good sense!) They couldn't wait to tell me that my little sweet boy was clapping! Even clapping TO THE MUSIC!
I felt weird. I was just thinking in dropping the ball. And there he was with his big smile...clapping.
I am still working with this child. He is actually able to move his arms in parallel movement and today he was able to shake a shaker with little help! He is playing with his toys and let me hold him for a longer time.
CONCLUSION:
We must NEVER underestimate the value of our efforts. Sometimes we think we can't do it when we are actually making it happen. We need to believe in ourselves and believe in what we do. It does not matter how little is our kindness, it is big in someone's eyes. Now, I look forward to see this little guy who always smile, trusting that whatever I give...doesn't come back empty!
Much love!
http://www.angelman.org/
My first Post!
Hello everyone!
This is the first time in my life doing a blog of anytime, so please abide with me! I am excited for the opportunity to be able to share the wonderful things in my journey. On this blog I want to share one of my biggest passions: music. But it is not just music, it is the power of such to change our world. Here I will speak about music therapy, therapeutic music, and give you many ideas to perform at home, in your car, home, etc. The purpose? Create a space for healing and purposeful living. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment, join and follow. Have a blessed day!
This is the first time in my life doing a blog of anytime, so please abide with me! I am excited for the opportunity to be able to share the wonderful things in my journey. On this blog I want to share one of my biggest passions: music. But it is not just music, it is the power of such to change our world. Here I will speak about music therapy, therapeutic music, and give you many ideas to perform at home, in your car, home, etc. The purpose? Create a space for healing and purposeful living. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment, join and follow. Have a blessed day!
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