Gil Meche Sets a Standard: So How Much Are YOU Worth?

Here is the headline from the New York Times:  Pitcher Spurns $12 Million to Keep Self-Respect

Forgive me for not being too impressed!  I mean, I think it's great and all that this baseball player felt like he was getting paid too much for sitting on the bench ($12 million dollars to be exact!), but the guy has already made $40 million and he is only 32 years old!  I realize that it is not his fault that baseball players get paid so much money.  It is, however, somewhat refreshing to hear a sports figure realize that something is a bit out of kilter with how much money professional athletes make.  But let's assume that his team was the best in the league and he was playing every game.  Are we to agree that now he deserves $12 million this year to throw a ball??

Yes, I know that baseball is our national pastime and team sports are a way for society to join together and so on and so forth!  Hooeey!  This really does get to the core of the problem.  Our society has put their money where their mouth is, along with their hearts and focus of attention.  Professional athletes can get paid that much because people attend the games, watch television and buy the merchandise.  Could this money be spent more wisely?  I think so!

I have worked in the field of music therapy for over ten years now and love what I do.  I have been lucky enough to work in a variety of settings including schools, hospitals and privately with clients in their homes.  I see teachers, nurses, and people with disabilities dedicating their lives to others with little fanfare and little physical reward.  I think that Mr. Meche's action can be a lesson to us as Americans about what we value in life.  Gil Meche may have realized that he can't be part of the current system anymore and retain his integrity.  Can our society reevaluate what is important and start following through?  Perhaps one less trip to a professional sporting event or one less hour in front of the TV watching a game could translate into time at your child's school or donating to its PTA.  Can we seize the moment individually in order to cause the societal shift that would make us a better country or will there just be another player that steps into the $12 million bench seat to take Mr. Meche's place?

A free enterprise economy often does not reflect what we say is important.  Or does it?  Haven't we collectively given power, money, fame and influence to movie stars, athletes, politicians, lawyers, and even the founders of Facebook and Apple?  The theory of supply and demand may dictate that the small numbers of people in these professions receive more money per person.  I think these are wonderful professions, but the field of music therapy is also very small in comparison to the overall population, and society has not chosen us to be rich and famous.

I hope that each of us can reevaluate our own commitment and worth to our profession and workplace.  Are you also earning your "paygrade" as a father, mother or spouse?  Are you sitting on the bench or are you in the game??!

The full NYT story is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/sports/baseball/27meche.html

I Have a Dream...You Fill in the Rest!

The psychiatric groups I sometimes get to work with were planning to have an event to celebrate Martin Luther King.  I was not going to be at the event, but all the activity therapists were doing projects during group time that went along with the theme or created a product that could be shared at the meeting.  I had already planned to use Natasha Bedingfield's song, Unwritten, for a group and this ended up being the perfect time.

The lyrics to her song work perfectly into the theme of, "I have a dream...."

I am unwritten
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined

I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines

We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way, no

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
To the years where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
To the years where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
To the years where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
To the years where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten


I passed out the lyrics to each participant and then played the song for my group of eight psychiatric consumers.  I had them use highlighters to mark words in the song that they liked or seemed important to them.  Each person then shared the words that he or she had highlighted and why they chose those words.  We had a good discussion about making your own future and how it can be better.  I related the song to MLK and asked the group about their dreams.  I prompted them to think of words that would describe their dreams for themselves for when they left the hospital.

In order to facilitate the experience I had brought stacks of magazines they could tear up, markers, oil pastels, stencils and word stamps.  I proposed to the consumers that we make word collages of the words they had developed to describe their dreams.  I hoped that they would be able to share their collages at the special MLK celebration meeting.  I really wish I was able to share examples of some of the word collages!  They were very creative.  Some of them used letter stencils to connect words up and down with common letters.  Other patients found inspiring words in magazines to tear out and paste onto their pictures.  Thank you Natasha for writing such an inspiring song!  Thanks to the human spirit that can rise up in the most difficult circumstances!  

Tell It Like It Is: Expression Through Drumming

This is one of the great classic songs of the early rock and roll period!  Originally sung by Percy Sledge, I used this song as an introduction to a very successful drumming activity.  I started by playing the song for a group of in-patient psychiatric consumers who all seemed to recognize the song and enjoy listening.

The song served well as a transition to a discussion about sharing feelings, but when I proposed that we try and share feelings through drumming, they were very skeptical!  I told them that I would pass around a drum (a 12" tubano) and each person would express an assigned emotion through playing on the drum. (I love Remo drums and especially tubanos!)



















Before we started the drumming I gave them all a quick drum lesson about how to hold the drum and play several different sounds.  A tubano drum has a low and a high sound depending on where you hit it on the drumhead.  I also demonstrated how to "bounce" off the drum like it is a "hot" surface or play the drum with a flat hand that remains on the surface without bouncing off.  (You can achieve the classic drumbeat for the song "We Will Rock You!" by using these  concepts.)  It was important for the individuals to understand that you can make all kinds of different sounds and play with different styles so that they could be successful during the activity.

I gave each participant cards printed with different emotions.  My list included things like sad, happy, mad, upset, shy, scared, tired, excited and even sorry (this one was pretty hard to guess!).  Each person was instructed to try and play the emotion while the rest of the group tried to guess the emotion word.  Sometimes the group was able to guess immediately!  This really helped them to feel more confident in their drumming and participation.  We were also able to have a good discussion about all the nonverbal cues provided by the drummer that helped convey the emotion.  I think the consumers left the group with a sense of how powerful nonverbal communication can be when expressing emotions or any other information.  This was a fun group!  

Improv Lyric Analysis: A Twist on the Old Standard!

Several weeks ago I worked with a group of inpatient clients with psychiatric disorders.  They were male patients with a range of issues related to depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia and other mood disorders. My group was under the category of "music expression" with the goal of facilitating improved communication, social and cognitive skills.  I have tried many different activities with this group and this activity just seemed to go really well.  I think the idea has many opportunities to be used in other settings, so I wanted to share.

Lyric analysis is the process of listening to a song and then having guided dialogging about the lyrics.  Songs have an amazing ability to break down barriers in group discussions and often lead to much better client insight than topical discussions without using music.  Under normal conditions, the therapist chooses a song that has meaningful lyrics and provides a recording or live rendition of the song for the group.  Usually the therapist also provides lyric sheets for all the participants to facilitate the discussion.  My idea for a lyric analysis group was to allow the clients to choose the song to analyze right on the spot!  This may sound a little risky but I did create some structure for the activity!

1.  Choose a set of recordings that include a wide variety of genres.
2.  Each participant will  need his/her own music playing device.
3.  The therapist will need a boombox or other free-field music player.
4.  Print out the Improv Lyric Analysis question sheet for each participant.*

The clients begin by listening to any songs of their choice.  You should give them at least ten minutes to browse through the song collections and find a song that they want to use.  Provide them with brief instructions to find a song that has words that they like.  After they find a song, give each person a few more minutes to listen closely to that song's lyrics and answer the questions on the Improv Lyric Analysis sheet to the best of their ability.

Present each participant's chosen song to the group by listening to the song and having the participant talk about the answers to the questions.  In my experiences there was much material for discussion and the ideas were easily transferred to clinical goals for each patient.  All of the people in my group seemed to enjoy the activity.  The ability for them to make choices and the chance to examine song lyrics they may have not noticed before were some of the preferred actions that the patients told me that they liked.

I think that this same activity would be great for junior high school and high school classes, either a functional academics level of special education or a behavioral intervention setting.  Giving clients choices, especially when it has to do with preferred music is usually a very effective component of a successful therapeutic group.

Here are the questions I handed out:

1. Why did you pick this song?
2. What words or lyrics did you like in this song?
3. How do you feel when you listen to this song?
4. What other songs do you like by this artist/band?
5. Who would you recommend listen to this song?
6. Now draw how you feel when you listen to this song...**

**Extension:  I added an art experience to my group by having them draw a picture that represented how they felt when listening to their chosen song.

Please let me know if you try this in a school setting!  I would like to hear how it goes.  You don't have to be a music therapist to do it.  I think teachers could find ways to use the activity to address writing and language skills.  Speech therapists might use the activity to improve communication skills specific to social and group settings.  Adapt and enjoy!