A Day in the Life of an Intern

Many music therapy students ask, “What does a day in the life of an intern music therapist look like?” In fact, I remember asking this question when I interviewed for this internship. Interning in private practice is a unique and ever-changing experience. My short answer is that my life looks absolutely different every day. While my schedule has some consistency week to week, each day of the week is completely different.

Instead of sharing my schedule for each day of the week, I will share a Frankenstein version of a typical day, combining a few days into one.

On a typical day, my morning might start out in the community. I would lead a group music therapy session in an assisted living or group home. My supervisor and I will debrief and drive to the office. At the office, I will co-treat with another music therapist for an in-person client with autism. Next, I will take an hour lunch break. After lunch, I will co-lead a virtual session for a group of 30+ adults with developmental disabilities. Next, I will teach an adapted piano lesson for a young adult with autism. Then, I will have some administrative time to catch up on tracking data, session planning, writing my case study, and creating my special project. Next, I will co-lead a rehearsal session for a band of teens with autism. The end of my day is reserved for some clean-up and administrative time.

While this is what a typical day may look like, I have learned to be very flexible and adaptable. An intern’s schedule may change throughout the day! Clients cancel, no-show, and reschedule often. New clients are added and subtracted from my caseload at times. Adaptability is key to managing an ever-changing schedule!

Some individuals may find this type of scheduling overwhelming; not having a rigid routine to entrain to. However, I have found that this type of schedule is my ideal internship experience. I love having opportunities to lead sessions with populations and settings that are new to me. I am consistently challenged and never bored! In my short internship, I am thankful to be gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience with such a diverse client base.

-Emma

Session Themes: Friendship

Sometimes when I’ve been working with a group or client for awhile, I can feel stuck in a routine of using the same songs each week. A great way to add variety to sessions is to select a theme! One of my favorite themes I’ve used with groups is friendship.

There are so many great popular songs about friendship! Here are some of the songs I use:

• You’ve Got a Friend in Me – Randy Newman
• Count on Me – Bruno Mars
• With a Little Help From My Friends – the Beatles
• Friends Will Be Friends – Queen
• Lean On Me – Bill Withers
• We’re Going to be Friends – the White Stripes
• True Friend – Hannah Montana
• Umbrella – Rihanna

The theme of friendship can be utilized to work on social goals in a group setting. After singing a song about friendship, the music therapist can lead a discussion on what it means to be a good friend. This is an excellent opportunity for clients to practice communication skills and leadership in a group and generalize learnings to their own lives.

Friendship is an excellent subject for songwriting interventions. Many of the songs listed above work well for Mad Lib songwriting. The music therapist can prompt their client to share qualities they value in friends to fill in the lyrics. For non-speaking clients, music therapists can provide choices to fill in the blanks. Many clients benefit from using visuals or communication devices in songwriting.

Selecting themes is an excellent way to imbed structure into sessions and make learnings more memorable for clients.

-Emma