Inadvertent Music Therapist

Years ago, after having received my bachelor's degree, or maybe even before, I briefly considered becoming a music therapist. The idea of using musical elements to help people heal, or survive with physical or mental disabilities of various sorts - that held, and still holds a huge attraction for me. I've seen it at work countless times with cancer victims, long-term hospital patients, mentally challenged teens, infants and young children, and on and on.

During the years when I was a preschool music "teacher", I attended workshop after workshop discussing all of the new research that was coming from being able to scan the brain and see it in action, and there was always a special correlation mentioned having to do with music and the way the brain trained itself to sort it all out. Why? Because, music appeals to so many senses and so many of the learning styles that have been identified.

So, where am I going with all of this?

Years ago, I made a professionally recorded tape of some favorite songs that I had written over
several years' time. The point was to give copies to family and special friends as Christmas gifts.
Though the master was gorgeous, the copies had been "compressed" and had some annoyances, but succeeded in pleasing lots of people who received them. However, we are now in the digital age and tape recorders are soon to totally go the way of dinosaurs and whatever else, so I went about getting the tape converted to a digital file. The intent originally was to offer one of the songs as a fund raiser of sorts for Hurricane Ike relief, but that did not materialize. So, at Christmas time, 2009, guess what once again was under the tree for the family? The digital version, of course.

Where else am I going with this? (Sorry, I tell stories in the way-too-long version...)

That CD has been played in my mother's room at Clarewood House many, many, many times.
Some of her friends heard it and wanted copies. Some of the nurses heard it and wanted copies.
The activity director heard it and wanted a copy. She has been playing it in the Alzheimer's unit,
other's are playing it in their cars on the way to and from work, other's are using one song in particular as daily inspiration for taking things one step at a time, and it just occurred to me on the way in to work this morning that, in my own little way, I'm achieving the music therapist part of my life by having shared this little something from long ago. I've become "viral" in spite of myself.

Funny how life works. Funny how it turns things around on us. Anyone want a CD?