Repeat Signs: 7 Great Posts from the Past!

Rachel Rambach over at Listen & Learn Music recently took up a challenge by ProBlogger to publish a list of 7 links to posts that you and others have written that respond to 7 specific categories. I took up Rachel's challenge to continue the effort first started by Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger. Here are the seven categories:

1. Your first post.

2. A post you enjoyed writing the most.

3. A post which had a great discussion.

4. A post on someone else's blog that you wish you had written.

5. Your most helpful post.

6. A post with a title that you are proud of.

7. A post that you wish more people had read.

1. My first post was Schoolhouse Strategy: Counting Using Music. I wrote this on October 30, 2007! I can't believe it was that long ago! This blog was inspired by my work with teachers in special education. While I was doing music therapy in the school system I would often get asked similar questions by different teachers. I wanted a place where I could write down my answers and ideas so that I could provide teachers with a reference after we talked. The blog has become so much more than that over the years, but I love my roots in special education!

2. I enjoy writing my blog so this was a hard call! I loved writing about the gathering drum because it was a "staple" in my bag of tricks as I merrily went from school to school doing music therapy. I wrote a post about ten great ways to use the gathering drum: Schoolhouse Rock: Ten Great Ways to Use the Gathering Drum. I really enjoy writing posts that provide ideas that teachers and other therapists can use.

3. I think parents and sometimes teachers feel that there is a little mystery surrounding music therapy assessments and recommendations. Often people do not understand why a child is or is not recommended for music therapy services as part of an Individual Education Plan. I wrote a brief outline of what happens in a music therapy assessment to try and provide some information about the logistics and process for a music therapy assessment: FAQ: What Happens in a Music Therapy Assessment? I received several comments on this post from a wide range of people and enjoyed writing back to them.

4. Rachel listed one of Kat Fulton's blogposts as one that she wished she would have written. I must do the same! Kat is a wonderful writer and blogs about a variety of subjects. She wrote a great post about the differences between Music Therapists and Drum Circle Facilitators. She has some great insight into the subtle differences between drum circles led by these different facilitators and there is also a great video about "Bongo" Barry Bernstein at the end of the post. Drum Circle Facilitation and Music Therapy.

5. My most helpful post would have to be the one I wrote about music and memory. This post gets almost as many hits as my post about using a parachute or my post about music in a spin class. This post has also been part of a class reading list assignment for an online university music class. Memory Booster! Using Music to Memorize Lists and Facts.

6. Post titles are sometimes difficult to get just right. You are supposed to include pertinent information that is easy for search engines to find, but you don't want all the titles to be the same boring format. I like my Schoolhouse Story series and especially this one: Schoolhouse Story: Scooby Doo Meets His Match! This post talks about a client who has autism and the title doesn't exactly spell that out for search traffic, but I like the title anyway.

7. I have many posts that I wish more people had read, but I think that is how every blogger feels! I would like to introduce more people to Carly, a blogger who has autism. I think that her story opens up all of us to the possibilities that may occur with our clients, friends, and family who have disabilities. So many people discount them for their disabilities, but sometimes it is just a matter of engaging with them or providing a certain facilitation device or strategy that unlocks their interaction with the world. Carly definitely helps us understand more about autism! Carly Fleischmann: Blogger Extraordinaire!

Thanks for offering up the challenge Rachel! This was a fun post to think about!