New Year's Eve reminiscing with older adults...

The past few weeks have been great at the nursing homes.  I have been providing a program based on New Year's and have been reminiscing with folks about traditions, partying past midnight, dancing with their sweethearts, resolutions and favorite memories of the past year.  We have done some swing dancing to Bennie Goodman's orchestra, sang Auld Lang Syne (of course..), heard some wild tales from a sailor's visit to NYC while he was serving in the Navy on New Year's Eve, lulled to "Three O'Clock in the Morning" and "Show Me the Way to Go Home".  What are your favorite New Year's Eve memories?

Freebie!

During the months of November and December, Up-Beat Music Therapy is offering a free one-hour music therapy session to Western Massachusetts nursing facilities, extended living communities or hospice agencies who wish to offer music therapy for the first time.  Take advantage of this great opportunity!

Direction

As I look back over the past twelve years and the most memorable and profound therapeutic encounters I have had, I am blown away by how wonderful my "job" is.  I have the privilege of being with people during some of the most transformative moments in their lives and to bring music to these moments.

Obviously the processes of birth and death come to mind, but also to hear the new sounds a child with a developmental disability utters when singing, to witness a person have a profound realization about their own life through analyzing lyrics to another's song- it is a gift to do this work and be a part of this.

So.. I guess I'm not further down the road of choosing a direction in which to do my initial marketing.  But, at least I'm committed to staying in the field of music therapy and committed to taking stock every now and then- realizing how lucky I am to love my work.

Okay...We're getting there.

Now I have actual pictures and text related to music therapy.  Wow!  Things are definitely moving in the right direction.

Business is picking up again this week and I'm feeling very optimistic for the future of this lil' sole proprietor.  Again, I am feeling thankful for the wonderful colleagues I have had the pleasure to work with over the past twelve years.  They have been coming out in droves to refer and recommend my services.

Updating Up-Beat Music Therapy Through the WWW!

The day has come to embark on a new technological journey.  As the owner of this small private practice in music therapy, I cannot ignore the beauty of reaching society "en masse" any longer.

After being employed by the Northampton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, in Northampton, MA for two years (and therefore being out of the private practice world), I have come back to my roots.  Due to financial difficulty, the nursing center was forced to shut down and my colleagues and I find ourselves either unemployed or underemployed.  I am fortunate enough to have retained some of my previous clients and contacts which has been immensely helpful.  As I revive Up-Beat Music Therapy into the thriving private practice I had before I left for full time employment, I am simply embracing all things which have challenged me in the past (namely technology).

With my IPhone, laptop and website primed, I anxiously leap into the "new" frontier!