Music Therapy Maven » Suggested Resources

Maven Sponsor Shout-Out!

Kimberly — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:09:01 +0000

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I’m excited to share with you these wonderful Maven sponsors. They’re an impressive bunch and I’m honored that they’ve chosen to sponsor this blog. So please…if you haven’t had the chance to check them out, do!

Please join me in saying “hi!” to the latest Maven sponsor, A Perfect Lullaby. Developed by music therapist–and fellow Iowa alum–Matt Logan, the A Perfect Lullaby CD takes all the work from you and gives you the “best of the best” lullabies for you and your baby. As an added bonus, subscribe to their podcast for tips on when to use lullabies, strategies for building a better bond with your baby, and other CD recommendations.

Michelle Erfurt from the Music Therapy Tween continues to share useful information for music therapy students, interns, and professionals alike. Her beautiful, hand-made boomwhacker ® totes were selling like hotcakes at the recent AMTA conference and there’s time, yet, to purchase one as a holiday present for your music therapy friend. Additionally, Michelle has just published a great, must-read series on finding music therapy work.

Rachel Rambach runs the popular Listen and Learn blog. Rachel is a board-certified music therapist, a singer/songwriter, a blogger, a social media and technology enthusiast, and an educator–and you can find a little of all of that on her blog. Rachel is less than one-month away from her goal of posting 365 blog articles in 2011 and she continues to share valuable songs, ideas, and tips in her Sunday Singalong and Friday Fave series.

Rhythm Ring is a nifty little instrument that lets you literally have “percussion at your fingertips.” This finger shaker can easily be used with string and percussion instruments and–let’s face it–that what we music therapists use most of the time, isn’t it? Congratulations are in order because Rhythm Ring is now a proud sponsor of Buddy Cruise this year…and have already donated 150 Rhythm Rings for an event next month! (P.S. This little guy would make a GREAT stocking stuffer! =D)

The Musical Autist is the brain-child of music teacher and soon-to-be-music-therapist CJ Diachenko. It just celebrated it’s one-year anniversary (congratulations Ms. CJ!) and has many accomplishments to show for it (including a highly successful Sensory-Friendly Concert series). CJ celebrated her blogging anniversary by re-launching a brand-new site, which you can find at www.themusicaautist.org.

Would YOU like to become a Maven sponsor and be seen by thousands of readers every month? Learn how here!

Maven Sponsor Shout-outs!

Kimberly — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:16:03 +0000

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Michelle Erfurt from the Music Therapy Tween continues to share useful information for music therapy students, interns, and professionals alike. She has started selling these beautiful, hand-made boomwhacker ® totes and recently shared two videos to help organize blogs that you follow and blog posts so that you can read them later.

Margie of Music Therapy Tunes is excited to announce that you can now download songs straight from her site! You have your choice of purchasing individual songs or download an entire CD. Additionally, Margie just posted 2 new videos to her megtunes YouTube channel–check out the bottom bar on her website. Want to submit your intervention ideas to share with other music therapists? Simply email Margie at margie@musictherapytunes.com and she’ll help you out!

Rachel Rambach runs the popular Listen and Learn blog. Rachel is a board-certified music therapist, a singer/songwriter, a blogger, a social media and technology enthusiast, and an educator–and you can find a little of all of that on her blog. Rachel just launched a new feature called My Musical Space, which highlights the studios and offices of readers, the places where they create, teach, and facilitate music and/or music therapy (you can see the first one here). You are invited to submit your own photos and captions by emailing Rachel at rachel@listenlearnmusic.com.

The Musical Autist is the brain-child of music teacher and soon-to-be-music-therapist CJ Diachenko. Ms. CJ started her blog this past spring, which “is dedicated to all people on the autism spectrum, their families, and their allies” as well as for her music students. This Musical Autist blogger has some big news to share. Not only has she successfully completed her pilot Summer Concert Series of Sensory-Friendly Concerts BUT she has also received grant funding from the local non-profit Creating Communities to continue these concerts through the end of the year. Congratulations Musical Autist!

Would YOU like to become a Maven sponsor and be seen by thousands of readers every month? Learn how here!

Maven Sponsor Shout-Outs!

Kimberly — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:11:17 +0000

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Michelle Erfurt from the Music Therapy Tween continues to share useful information for music therapy students, interns, and professionals alike. She has started selling these beautiful, hand-made boomwhacker totes and recently shared information with her readers about her favorite autism resources, session props, and how to make lyric and chord sheets.

Margie of Music Therapy Tunes continues to upload new music therapy videos on her “megtunes” YouTube channel. These videos share “how and why” information for using certain songs, as well as the lyrics and chords. Additionally, you can now download songs straight from her site! You can pick your choice of 12 songs and have a personalized CD of those songs sent directly to you. As Margie puts it, “(t)his is great for specific populations like early intervention, or physically challenged where you can listen to the music and select a song for your goal areas.”

Rachel Rambach runs the popular Listen and Learn blog. Rachel is a board-certified music therapist, a singer/songwriter, a blogger, a social media and technology enthusiast, and an educator–and you can find a little of all of that on her blog. In addition, check out Rachel’s spinoff project, Listen and Learn Plus! It’s a premium membership site for people who want instant download access to Listen & Learn’s vast collection of over 200 songs, resources, and materials. Rachel recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her debut studio CD Time to Sing Hello (Congratulations, Rachel!) and continues on her quest to post 365 blog articles in 2011.

Cellist Emily Ann Peterson’s blog provides a place where she is “Putting the ‘Oh!’ in ‘Cello’.” On the Emily Ann Peterson blog, you’ll find tips for teaching and playing the cello, as well as information about the Suzuki method, music and the brain, and where to purchase string equipment and supplies. If for nothing else, head on over the Emily’s blog to check out all her cool pictures!

Would YOU like to become a Maven sponsor and be seen by thousands of readers every month? Learn how here!

My (Most Recent) Deep, Dark Secret

Kimberly — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:49:19 +0000

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I have a deep, dark secret I haven’t shared with many people. It’s taken me two years to fess up to it in public. But by sharing my secret with you, I hope that you’ll do things differently–and more smartly–than me.

What’s my deep, dark secret? I didn’t back up my computer for over two years.

Yes, it’s true. I, too, am guilty of extreme procrastination. For someone who spends 75% of her worklife on the computer…I was playing with fire by not backing up my computer.

I had created a temporary solution. I use–and love–Dropbox. So I simply uploaded my most important folders and files to Dropbox and used that as my backup. That way, if anything were to happen to my computer, those files and documents were saved in the cloud for me to access.

But this didn’t take care of all my documents, nor did it backup my photos and movies, many of which were of my kids and family (translation = priceless).

At the recommendation of friends and fellow Mac users Michelle Erfurt and Rachel Rambach, I recently purchased Western Digital My Passport Essential. It’s an external hard drive that plugs into your computer via a USB cord, is a little larger than a deck of cards, and is super-easy to use. Plus, it integrates with Time Machine, Apple’s automatic back-up software. My Passport offers loads of storage space (I purchased the 500 GB version, but there’s also a 1 TB version) and for $70-$110 dollars (depending on color and storage capacity), it’s well worth the money for easy-of-use and piece-of-mine.

And what if you’re a PC user? No problem! There’s a PC version of My Passport, too. I can’t speak to it specifically, but if it’s anything like the Mac version, you’ll have no problems!

Click these links to check out My Passport for Mac (the 500 GB version and the 1 TB USB version and this link to check out My Passport for PC (the 500 GB version and the 1 TB version).

I’m not exactly sure why I waited so long to do something so easy and important. I guess we all have our procrastination weak spots, don’t we?

No related posts.

Maven Sponsor Shout-Outs!

Kimberly — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:34:00 +0000

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I’m excited to share with you the wonderful Maven sponsors. They’re an impressive bunch and I’m honored that they’ve chosen to sponsor this blog. So please…if you haven’t had the chance to check them out, please do!

The newest Maven sponsor is Rhythm Ring, a nifty little instruments that lets you literally have “percussion at your fingertips.” This finger shaker can easily be used with string and percussion instruments and–let’s face it–that what we use most of the time, isn’t it? Order you Rhythm Ring online and have it by the end of the week. Welcome Rhythm Ring!

The Musical Autist is the brain-child of music teacher and soon-to-be-music-therapist CJ Diachenko. Ms. CJ started her blog just this past spring, which “is dedicated to all people on the autism spectrum, their families, and their allies” as well as for her music students. CJ will be a guest on Janice Harris’s Music Therapy Show podcast, which airs live on July 22nd, 12 noon ET. If you get a chance, tune in! CJ will be talking about her blog, as well as her recently-launched Sensory-Friendly Concerts, the Musical Autist Academy, and her advocacy work in the Neurodiversity Movement.

Michelle Erfurt from the Music Therapy Tween recently wrote her 200th post, a great milestone. Congratulations, Michelle! Other popular posts of late include: Are You A Distracted Driver?, Tips For Working With Those Who Are HOH, and Clients With Awesome Musical Skills. Michelle is chock-full of good and useful information, so head on over to her blog and see what she can help you learn today!

Margie of Music Therapy Tunes continues to share new music therapy videos on her “megtunes” YouTube channel. Her videos share “how and why” information for using certain songs, as well as the lyrics and chords. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can even leave a comment for her right on her channel! Margie is in the process of revamping her website and you should be able to see some of those changes by the end of July. Finally, Music Therapy Tunes was recently found to be a top 10 music therapy blog, according to it’s Google ranking. Congratulations, Margie!

Rachel Rambach runs the popular Listen and Learn blog. Rachel is a board-certified music therapist, a singer/songwriter, a blogger, a social media and technology enthusiast, and an educator–and you can find a little of all of that on her blog. In additional, check out Rachel’s spinoff project, Listen and Learn Plus! It’s a premium membership site for people who want instant download access to Listen & Learn’s vast collection of over 200 songs, resources, and materials. Each week, members receive lead sheets, sheet music, videos, special posts on a number of topics, and mp3 downloads, not to mention complete 24/7 access to the L&L Plus! archives. Later this summer, the price of membership will be increasing. If you haven’t already joined, this is your chance to lock in the bargain price of $7/month. Once you lock in your membership rate, it will never go up. You can learn more here.

Would YOU like to become a Maven sponsor and be seen by thousands of readers every month? Learn how here!

Maven Sponsor Shout-Outs!

Kimberly — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:56:34 +0000

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The Music Therapy Tween has been sharing lots of helpful tips! Check out these recent posts: Get Organized!, Interview: Fundraising Tips From Liz Clarke, Children’s Bereavement Camps, Social Media Reality Check, Story About Closure, Tips/Links To Set Up Google Analytics, and Interview: Hospice Perspective From A Family Member.

Music Therapy Tunes is managed by the award-winning singer/songwriter and music therapist Margie La Bella. Her website is a fabulous resource for any music therapist, music teacher, and music student. In fact, Margie will soon have posted some awesome videos of music therapy activity songs and she’s looking into offering downloadable mp3 tracks and albums straight from her website. Check it and access Margie’s original songs, as well as lesson plans and songwriting tips.

Rachel Rambach runs the popular Listen and Learn blog. Rachel is a board-certified music therapist, a singer/songwriter, a blogger, a social media and technology enthusiast, and an educator–and you can find a little of all of that on her blog. Rachel recently resigned from her music therapy position at the Hope Institute for Children and Families so that she can focus on her private practice and online services. Best of luck, Rachel!

Cellist Emily Ann Peterson’s blog provides a place where she is “Putting the ‘Oh!’ in ‘Cello’.” She recently re-vamped her blog and it looks awesome! Check out Emily Ann Peterson for tips on teaching and playing the cello.

Would YOU like to become a Maven sponsor? Learn how to now!

Maven Sponsor Shout-Outs!

Kimberly — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:57:20 +0000

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The newest Maven sponsor is The Musical Autist, the brain-child of music teacher and soon-to-be-music-therapist CJ Diachenko. Ms. CJ started her blog just this past spring, which “is dedicated to all people on the autism spectrum, their families, and their allies” as well as for her music students. She’s a tireless advocate for those on the spectrum and I’m excited to see where her career takes her!

Music therapist Michelle Erfurt manages the Music Therapy Tween blog, where she shares “tips and thoughts from a traveling music therapist, business owner, and hobby addict.” She shares videos, information, pictures, and has an endless source of energy and ideas. Recent blog posts highlighted an online song resource, tips for saving money at the pump, and a shortcut when using white boards and markers.

Music Therapy Tunes is managed by the award-winning singer/songwriter and music therapist Margie La Bella. Her website is a fabulous resource for any music therapist, music teacher, and music student. Check it and access Margie’s original songs, as well as lesson plans and songwriting tips.

Rachel Rambach runs the popular Listen and Learn blog. Rachel is a board-certified music therapist, a singer/songwriter, a blogger, a social media and technology enthusiast, and an educator–and you can find a little of all of that on her blog. Rachel recently announced that she is resigning from her music therapy position at the Hope Institute for Children and Families so that she can focus on her private practice and online services. Best of luck, Rachel!

About 3 years ago, cellist Emily Ann Peterson had a severe battle with tendonitis and Repetitive Stress Injury, which affected all aspects of her life (even turning a door knob!). She’s now working to turn to proverbial lemons into lemonade by saving her blog readers form the same fate–Emily is giving away 3 copies of the Playing (Less) Hurt book! Click here for more details.

Would YOU like to become a Maven sponsor? Learn how to now!

6 Quick Tips for Organizing Your Excel Spreadsheet

Kimberly — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:15:26 +0000

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I love Excel spreadsheets. I don’t know if it’s because it satisfies my nerdy desire to be organized or because there’s so much you can do with it. Probably a little of both, honestly.

Spreadsheets are incredibly powerful, functional, versatile tools you can use to organize almost any sort of information. For example:

Passwords
Project lists and notes
Client information
Email lists
Session data
And more! (sorry…the nerd in me is exciting ;D)

There are a couple tricks you can use that will make your spreadsheet experience more functional and easy-to-use. Here are 6 that help me all the time:

Columns should be used for topic areas (e.g. first name, age, project due date). Rows should be used for single subjects, entries, or people. This will make filtering, sorting, and charting your information MUCH easier.
If inputting names, have a separate column for first name and last name. It makes sorting your information (see #4) SO much easier.
If naming a column (called using a “header”), you can “freeze” your header so that it’s always visible no matter how far you scroll down. Highlight the row BELOW the header (typically row 2 or 3), then click Window –> Freeze Panes.
You can organize your information (called “sorting”) any way you want. Want to organize your list by last name? Done. Organize by admit date? Easy. Simply click on Data –> Sort. A screen will appear that asks you to pick how you sort the data and whether to display it “Ascending” (e.g. A –> Z) or “Descending” (e.g. Z –> A). If using a header, be sure to click “Header Row” at the bottom of the screen.
Use multiple sheets for different topic areas (e.g. one sheet each for group therapy clients, individual therapy clients, and music lesson clients). You access the sheets by clicking the tabs at the bottom of page (a new Excel spreadsheet comes with 3 tabs: Sheet 1, Sheet 2, and Sheet 3). Rename a sheet by double-clicking (highlighting) the current name, then type a new one. Delete a sheet by clicking Edit –> Delete Sheet. Add a new sheet by clicking Insert –> Worksheet.
If you’ll be analyzing any of the information on your spreading (e.g. for charting or reports), use numbers as much as possible. If the data is not numerical, assign a number to represent the data. For example, if recording whether a client is male or female, use “1″ for males and “2″ for females. Again, this helps with analysis, sorting, and organizing your information.

Implement these tips right away to make your Excel experience more functional, powerful, and–yes–even more enjoyable.

Tips, Tricks, and Ideas for Creating Your Website

3 Online Resources for Therapists in Private Practice

Kimberly — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:47:20 +0000

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Being in private practice can be lonely work. There’s no water cooler office chat, no people around to bounce ideas off of, and no one to help you process through an experience.

And to make matters worse, for many therapists (music therapists and otherwise), we’re also trying to navigate the ins and outs of running a business…which wasn’t taught to us in school!

You’ve stumbled on a resource here with this blog. One of my goals and visions for the Music Therapy Maven is to provide you with information and helpful tips about starting, running, and marketing your own private practice.

But I’m also not the only one out there! There are several others (some music therapists, some other therapists) who are also in the business of helping you achieve success in your private practice.

In today’s post, I wanted to share with you 3 other websites that provide information and support for therapists in private practice.

NOTE: This is the first time I’ve shared resources without trying them myself. But these are sites and resources recommended to me by people I trust. However, these are not personal recommendations and endorsements, but simply sharing information you may or may not find useful. Consider yourself warned:D

Business Success for Therapists. Laura Dessauer’s mission is to “provide support, resources, and systems to help therapists create a business they love, while attracting more clients, more money, and more time.” She does this through teleconferences, coaching, and home study services.
Smart Business Ideas for Helping Professionals. Susan’s blog (found at www.bizsavvytherapist.com) provides useful information, tips, and ideas about small business development, online healthcare, and social media marketing. Plus, for a fee, you can have a personal coaching session with her.
Build a Private Practice. Music therapist Kathy Lindberg wrote a “how-to” ebook on building your own creative arts therapy practice. She’s done it, lived it, and is sharing her information and knowledge with you.

I personally plan to explore all three of these sites and products in the near future. If you have any additional resources to share that you’ve found helpful, please leave a comment below!

Tips, Tricks, and Ideas for Creating Your Website

Kimberly — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:00:48 +0000

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There have already been two people this week who have contacted me about my websites. They are ready to launch their own and are doing some background research, getting ideas and “here’s how I did it” stories from others who have been there.

When it comes to websites, there are a lot of options these days. And it can be overwhelming, especially if you are just starting out.

Although I am by no means an expert in the field, I do have some “real world” experience that may help. Some tips and ideas based on my successes…and my failures. Hopefully these will help you.

There’s lots of jargon and lingo when you start venturing into the online world. Social media, Web 1.0, Web 2.0, web hosting, just to name a few. I will try to clarify some of these terms while offering you concrete ideas and suggestions to help get you started.

There are a couple of basic things you will need to get your website up and running:

Web Hosting. This is like an online lease. There are companies that “own” internet space (also called “server” space). You can generally get web hosting from a minimal monthly fee, usually $5-10 a month. There are many web hosting services and options available: Go Daddy, Yahoo, PowWeb…too many to list.
Content Management System (CMS). Technically, websites are created, updated, and changed by altering the internal code, called HTML (“Hyper Text Markup Language,” if you’re interested). Learning HTML code is like learning a whole new language. In the early days of the internet, you would have to learn this language if you were doing anything online. These days, lucky for us, you can have a CMS. A CMS is software that allows you to make changes to your website…without learning HTML code. It facilitates content creation (e.g. the material you put on your website), editing functions, and your basic website maintenance. Although there are probably many CMS software platforms out there, my web designer set me up on Joomla! for my Neurosong website.
Domain Name. A domain name is what you type into your address bar that send you to your website. The most common ones end in “.com”, “.net”, or “.org” (educational domain names end in “.edu” and government domain names end in “.gov.”). Usually domain names spell out the company name (e.g. www.neurosong.com or www.musictherapymaven.com). There is a minimal annual fee to purchase, or own the rights, to a domain name, usually $10-15 a year. Several companies sell domain names, including Go Daddy, 1and1, and many others. You should also know that you have the option to purchase multiple domain names (e.g. neurosong.com, neurosong.net, neurosong.org, etc.). The experts out there debate on whether or not it’s smart business practice to purchase multiple names. Me? I think it depends on how common the name you want is. Yes, it’s probably smart to get multiple ones, but not necessary. (That said, I would highly recommend, if you do choose to get multiple names, make it easy on yourself and get them all from one company. I buy and manage all my domain names through Go Daddy).

There are other terms you will run into and learn as you go on this journey, but these will help get you started.

Now for the “big picture” stuff. This may be simplistic, but in my head I like to differentiate between having a “static” site and having a “dynamic” site.

Static Website. These are what web gurus call “Web 1.0.” These are sites that simply post information. It’s one-way communication. An example would be my company site, www.NeuroSong.com. This is a place where I have posted information about music therapy, about the company, and about our services. That’s it. The information is just there for you to read. There is no exchange, no dialogue between myself and the readers. And the information, or content, does not change that frequently.
Dynamic Website. Those “in the know” call this “Web 2.0,” the newest development in your web presence. These sites are ones whose content is frequently updated. These sites are ones that work to facilitate dialogue between the site creator and the readers. An example would be this blog. The content of this blog is updated and changed 2-3 times a week. You, the reader, can easily leave comments. There are more ways for you to contact me. And since the content is continually changing, there’s more reason (hopefully!) for you, the reader, to keep coming back for more.

And although simplistic, that’s how I distinguish between these two sites. Technically, they work like this:

Neurosong Site. I hired a graphic designer to set up my company site, including web hosting and email. I asked for a Content Management System (CMS). The graphic designer got everything set up on Joomla!, then trained me on how to update the site. Now, I or my assistant (who I trained) go in occasionally to update the content. My domain name is from Go Daddy.
Blog. There are many free blog platforms available: Blogger and WordPress (the .com one) are common. They are easy to set up and easy to use. You can also use WordPress (the .org one) on a self-hosted site, which is how the Music Therapy Maven works. Since I already have web hosting services, I attached the self-hosted WordPress platform to my Neurosong site. In fact, look at the address bar above. You’ll see that the domain name “MusicTherapyMaven.com” sends you to “www.Neurosong.com/KimberlysBlog”. That tells you that Neurosong is hosting this blog.

As an aside, what I really liked about finding a graphic designer who got me set up online is that we worked to create a whole image for my business. And I use that image on all my marketing materials (business cards, brochures, marketing folders), which adds a level of professionalism and consistency to my business.

And another point to make is that, yes, it is possible these days to set up everything on your own. But it will take you longer if you are having to learn as you go. It may be worth the money to hire someone else to get your site up and running, then train you on how to maintain your site. That’s what I did. And for me it was worth to cost to have an expert set everything up. Know that you have that choice.

If you have any others tips or suggestions, please share them below! There are so many options, you may know something that will greatly help someone else. You never know.