A Smorgasbord of Thoughtful Treats

The Daily Muse

 Welcome to the Daily Muse feature of Music Makes Sense!  This daily update brings you up to the minute news about music and music therapy as it relates to our professions, events and individual lives.  You can follow the daily entries by subscribing to Music Makes Sense on Twitter or by "Liking" the Facebook page for Music Makes Sense.  Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

There are close to 500 posts on Music Makes Sense, so I thought it might be a good idea to point out a few of the highlights!


Music For Relaxation: A Flowchart for Decision-Making
This post contains a decision-tree to help you find the most appropriate music to use for relaxation.  This chart took me a long time to formalize and I think it could be very useful.  I welcome any and all feedback about this chart.


6 Ways to Empower Your Music-Assisted Relaxation
This post is another discussion about music for relaxation, but it delves deeper into the exact relationship music has with a relaxation protocol.  The ideas in this article come from years of clinical practice using music to facilitate relaxation.  I really feel that music can be helpful in relaxation, but we can really squeeze out much more effectiveness from its use if we pay attention to the details!


Memory Booster!  Using Music to Memorize Lists and Facts
This is one of the most widely read posts on Music Makes Sense.  It really gets back to the fundamentals of music therapy.  I often had to break down the way music works when trying to help teachers and parents understand music therapy.  


5 Tips for Drumming With Individuals in Psychiatric Treatment
Much of my recent work as a music therapist has occurred in the psychiatric setting.  Much of my advice in this post was learned through real-world experience!  Drum at your own risk without reading these important considerations! 


I hope you enjoy looking back through some of these posts with me.  It truly has been a rewarding time putting "pen" to "paper" over these years.  And now we are less than 50 posts away from the  500th post!