My name is Krystal. I am currently in the last half of my last year at Berklee College of Music in Boston as a Music Therapy major with a minor in Psychology.This blog will mark my adventures and my struggles through my last year in undergraduate studies. I hope that by documenting what I go through I will be able to better identify my weaknesses and solidify my strengths so that I can grow not only as a person, but as an effective therapist.
I currently volunteer with a non-profit organization called Genuine Voices. Founded by a Berklee alumna, the organization sends volunteers to sites around Boston to teach music to at-risk adolescents and youth in detention centers (click here for more information). Many of my posts will likely be about my experiences working within the program.
I currently only go to one site with Genuine Voices:
-- Pilgrim, an open facility comprised of a school building and a living building. All-male residents 12-18, most with minor offenses or in rehab.
Marceyology recently asked: “Could you tell me a little bit about what you do? Since it’s an under developed profession as of now, I haven’t been able to get much of an answer on what can be done with it profession wise. I’ve heard that it’s mostly used in group home and inpatient facilities.”
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What a beautiful explanation.
Jayne Standley’s invention is now available to Neonatal Units around the World!
FSU’s Jayne Standley is a leader in the field of Medical Music Therapy, and known around the world for her research with premature infants.
She created the Pacifier Activated Lullaby (PAL), an infant pacifier which uses musical lullabies to help infants quickly learn the muscle movements needed to suck, and ultimately feed, is being sold through a partnership with Powers Device Technologies Inc. Research studies have shown that PALcan reduce the length of a premature infant’s hospital stay by an average of five days.
As of this week, PAL is now available commercially to NICU’s in hospitals around the world.
Many people have a hard time understanding the difference between music therapy and music education. Many music therapists integrate adaptive music lessons into therapy, but the goals of a music therapist and a music educator are very, very different.
Music therapy and…
What he lacks in talent he more than makes up for in soul (although to be sure, he does have talent).
Ethan Walmark was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder four years ago, although his parents say it feels closer to an eternity.
Part of Ethan’s journey has been music therapy, and as it turns out, he has a phenomenal ear for music, and a knack for performing. He played The Beatles live front of a crowd of 15,000 when he was just 4-years-old. And now, at the ripe old age of 6, he’s tickling the ivories to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” on YouTube in a video that has been seen already by more than half a million people.
In my recent silence…
- I successfully finished my fifth and final practicum placement at Children’s Hospital Boston under a wonderful, super supportive supervisor.
- I survived the week before and the week of finals without getting sick! Yay!
- I turned 22, saw the Avengers twice, and fell further in love with Marvel characters.
- I interviewed at an internship in Long Island, NY. While I didn’t get the internship, it became pretty apparent to me that the internship would not have been a good fit for me.
- I submitted a resume and cover letter for another internship and am waiting to hear from them. I am also working on two other applications.
- I walked at the Berklee College of Music commencement ceremony and shook the hands of the Eagles, Alison Krauss, and Mulatu Astatke. I’m still reeling a bit from that.
- Genuine Voices partnered with Urbanity Dance to bring a dance workshop to the boys at Pilgrim. It went so, so well!
- I’ve decided I want to pursue a master’s degree in neuropsychology. Eventually.
- I’ve also decided I am going to pursue NMT credentials.
I’m sure there was so much more that happened, but these have been the highlights of my life so far. I’m finally finished with Berklee (sans one internship, but I’ll get there) and it feels great.
loveoverpower asked: I just really want to say, though I just found your blog not two minutes ago, but I think I love it. I'm at a community college in New York right now, next semester I'm going to be a "performance major" because they don't have Music Therapy (yet) and I'm really excited about it! I'm going to a four year school when I'm done here (a SUNY school). I'm also really interested in going to Berklee for graduate school. (I'm also probably going to minor in psychology). I'm gonna stalk your blog now. (:
Haha, wow thank you so much! Berklee doesn’t have a graduate program (yet), but there is one in the works for Music Therapy. I’m not sure how long it will take them to finalize it, but maybe by the time you’re finished your four year school they’ll have it good to go! Performance is a good way to acquire the musical skills for being a music therapist, and a program in music therapy can help you adapt those skills into more of a “playing with” rather than “playing for” skill set.
I wish you the best of luck and hope you find your calling!
Ismaee il Musika - Listen to the Music
Introduction
I work at a pediatric burn hospital in the United States. Using music therapy interventions for pain and anxiety management during dressing changes are the bulk of my work and my passion. The children come from all…
This is such a great article, and this woman does amazing work. Definitely recommend everyone reads it!
This sounds really interesting!
This article explores a new approach in the field of social work called Hip-Hop Therapy (HHT). HHT uses Hip-Hop music and culture to engage youth and address their issues in therapy by encouraging them to reflect on Hip-Hop lyrics as they relate to the youths’ own…
Pilgrim - April 2nd, 2012
This past Monday at Pilgrim was great. We posed a challenge to two of the boys: write a rap without cussing. They met the challenge by rapping about swearing and how prevalent it is in their lives. One of the staff members stepped in to help us make a backing track and it was awesome to see her interacting with the within music, which doesn’t happen outside of these Monday sessions.
Building these kinds of relationships centered around respect is huge for these boys. They often don’t get the chance to relate in this way with people who have power over them, and to see them collaborating with a staff member in a respectful manner was fantastic.
We should have the track finished Monday, and I can upload it to the Genuine Voices soundcloud for everyone to listen!
Brief Updates
Again, I apologize for my radio silence. It’s tough to keep up with all the work this semester is throwing at me, on top of internship applications (which are a completely different beast altogether) on top of an online X-Men community that’s supposed to be for relaxation but… anyway.
My practicum placement at Children’s Hospital Boston is going so well, though this week was a bit rough (but hey, not all sessions are glamorous). We’ve shifted from oncology to referrals, meaning we travel to other floors and work with other Child Life specialists. It’s a new, very welcome but challenging experience - more on this later.
And internships… well, let’s not go there right now.
I’ll be updating again soon with more specific details about Children’s and also Pilgrim, which is still happening once a week.
