On November 9-11, I attended the final training module for my training as a music practitioner. This class was three days instead of the usual two -- primarily because the final day was all about our Practicum -- each student's individual maiden voyage of playing at the bedside.
Our instructor this time was Carol Joy Loeb. Carol is an RN from Baltimore who has left allopathic (traditional) medicine to work as a Certified Music Practitioner. Lovely lady. Probably one of the most consistently present people I've ever met.
It was so good to see my classmates again as we gathered at the UMKC School of Nursing. They have become dear friends. Much of that day was spent dealing with the topics of death and dying. We watched an incredible video called Living Your Dying. The video follows the last months of three individuals who are facing terminal illnesses. It is intense, moving, real, light-hearted, and gut-wrenching. Our teacher was very careful to leave plenty of debrief and discussion time after we watched this excellent presentation. Two of my favorite lines from the video are "... he lived happily enough, but not ever after," and "Let God enter your life and enlarge it."
On Saturday we studied the major diseases we will encounter in our work as CMPs. Lots of medical terminology, diagrams, anatomy, etc. We also discussed possible patient scenarios and what specific music styles we would use in those settings.
Then came Sunday. The day I've been looking forward to for almost a year now ... playing at the bedside of patients.
We all felt very kicked out of the nest, so to speak. And the experience was amazing. I'll write about it in my next post ...
Our instructor this time was Carol Joy Loeb. Carol is an RN from Baltimore who has left allopathic (traditional) medicine to work as a Certified Music Practitioner. Lovely lady. Probably one of the most consistently present people I've ever met.
It was so good to see my classmates again as we gathered at the UMKC School of Nursing. They have become dear friends. Much of that day was spent dealing with the topics of death and dying. We watched an incredible video called Living Your Dying. The video follows the last months of three individuals who are facing terminal illnesses. It is intense, moving, real, light-hearted, and gut-wrenching. Our teacher was very careful to leave plenty of debrief and discussion time after we watched this excellent presentation. Two of my favorite lines from the video are "... he lived happily enough, but not ever after," and "Let God enter your life and enlarge it."
On Saturday we studied the major diseases we will encounter in our work as CMPs. Lots of medical terminology, diagrams, anatomy, etc. We also discussed possible patient scenarios and what specific music styles we would use in those settings.
Then came Sunday. The day I've been looking forward to for almost a year now ... playing at the bedside of patients.
We all felt very kicked out of the nest, so to speak. And the experience was amazing. I'll write about it in my next post ...
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