Blog – Page 18 – Music Therapy Source

Advocacy in 2014 with Dena Register

The following is a guest post from Dena Register, PhD, MT-BC, the Regulatory Affairs Advisor for the Certification Board for Music Therapists. This post is part of an annual advocacy drive for music therapy. See what she has to say about declaring our independence! .................... Welcome to 2014: Declaring Our Independence Dena Register, PhD, MT-BC Regulatory Affairs Advisor, Certification Board for Music Therapists "In 2014, it is imperative that we declare “I am a music therapist” and understand how to articulate our unique qualifications and distinctions from our other therapeutic…

Matt Logan In Ideas, Podcasts

Imagine Early Childhood Magazine 2013

If you haven't yet heard, the Imagine Online Magazine for Early Childhood Music Therapy was released at the beginning of this month. It is chalk full of excellent articles, podcasts, and teaching episodes. If you're working in early childhood, checking out this magazine is a must! I contributed another podcast this year, entitled "Ten Essential Skills for Working in Early Childhood Settings". Kudos to Petra Kern, Marcia Humpal, and the rest of the team for another great edition! Enjoy!

Matt Logan In Inspiration

Music and Emotion Through Time

This is a great TED talk from Michael Tilson Thomas, a conductor and community music educator. If you have 20 spare minutes and want to remember some of the reasons you love music so much, watch this. There are certainly many tie-ins to music therapy. A few quotes from the video: “The big difference between human happiness and sadness? Thirty-seven freakin' vibrations.” “If you're curious, if you have a capacity for wonder, if you're alive, you know all that you need to know .” “Even the most ambitious masterpiece can…

Matt Logan In Guest Work, Success

Michelle Erfurt’s Secrets to Juggling It All

This guest post comes from my friend and music therapist extraordinaire, Michelle Erfurt. As you will see, Michelle is involved in a TON of different music therapy-related projects. Not to mention, she just recently had a baby. Check out what she has to say, and what is working for her right now. A big thank you to Michelle for writing this up! -Matt Sometimes my music therapy colleagues give me the BIGGEST compliment - they ask me, "How do you do it all?" How flattering is that?!?! But I guess…

Matt Logan In Ideas

An Exercise in Convictions

In a quaint Thai restaurant, over a meal of tofu and stir-fried vegetables, I had a philosophical conversation with John Rapson, my good friend and former jazz instructor. John brought up the topic of convictions, and what it means to have them and to live accordingly. It really got me thinking, especially as I am preparing to make some big life changes. Sure, moving to California represents a geographical change for me. But I suspect (or hope, at least) that it will also come with intellectual, maybe even spiritual, growth.…

Matt Logan In Clinical Insights

Flexibility in Music Therapy

If you are a music therapist, you undoubtedly know the importance of flexibility. This can manifest in a number of different ways. In this post, I talk about a few types of flexibility I think are important to our jobs. However, I rarely have all my bases covered, so please tell me what I've missed! How do YOU demonstrate flexibility in your job? Flexibility of Time I've worked as a music therapist in a variety of settings, and nearly all of them have required some amount of flexibility in timing.…

Matt Logan In Guitar

How to Use 6th Chords

This is a continuation of my Chord Extensions 101 series that I started a few months ago. In this video, I talk about 6th chords: what they are, how to build them, and how to use 6th chords. I'm trying out this new format, so please let me know what you think of the white board video. Just to reiterate some of the things in the video (or if you can't access it), here are some basic rules: A 6th chord is a major triad with an added 6. So,…

Matt Logan In Guitar

Can’t Help Falling…

I'm working on an arrangement of "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" with one of my guitar students, and I thought I would share it with you all on this Sunday evening. Here are some other versions of that song, if you care to listen! Can't Help Falling In Love - The Essential Elvis Presley (Remastered) And this one by Ingrid Michaelson Have a great week!

Matt Logan In Guitar

Become More Comfortable on the Guitar

Greetings! In this video, I'll show you a couple simple exercises you can practice to become more comfortable on the guitar. If you've been playing for a while, you may have seen this before, and you may not need it. I believe that developing greater finger strength, dexterity, and fretboard awareness will lead to better playing all around. With that in mind, I recorded this video to give you some basic exercises and practice strategies to start working toward that. Feeling awkward on the guitar is not conducive to musical…

Matt Logan In Success

Music Therapy Interview Questions

Music Therapy Interview Questions Job interviews are rough. I've experienced a few, some recent and some not so recent. You are judged on your character and abilities, and importantly, your ability to impress strangers to the point of hiring you with relatively little face time. The purpose of this post is to share some of my experiences, in hopes that they may help you prepare for future interviews. Music therapy students: pay attention! My first recommendation is to try, whenever possible, to interview in person. Phone and Skype interviews are…