Song, Song, Everywhere a Song

Sometimes, lyrics of a song are just the thing to express what is on your mind.
One of my friends sings these lyrics to her girls when their whining gets on her nerves.

"You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes well you might find

You get what you need."

She has sung it so often, that they know the lyrics off by heart.

When my children were young and were driving me crazy, I would sing

"Children are a Blessing from the Lord" - sometimes at the top of my lungs. This generally occured when the little blessings were whining about something. It was a little bit of a reminder to myself to count them as blesssings and a little bit of a complaint about the way they were acting.

Every major event of life has a song attached to it. Every good music therapist knows this and taps into it for the therapeutic aspect of it. One of the most surprising things is how songs help to express emotion that cannot be expressed otherwise. Or how a song will bring back a memory long since buried.

When my #2 son was being born, the song "Sweet Dreams are Made of This" was going over and over in my head and when I hear it played somewhere, I always think about that memory of holding that sweet little baby for the first time.

Another song that has meaning for me is the "courting song". I made a tape for my husband (then my boyfriend) when I had to leave him in Australia and I didn't know when I would see him again. One of the songs was "Close to You" by the Carpenters.

I don't know if he sees the same significance in it because one day it came on the radio and I made the comment that if I was at the cottage, I would have my headphones on and this song would be blasting and I would be thinking of him. His response? "Yeah, you and your family sure have a thing about headphones ! Your dad has headphones, your mom has headphones..."

Which leads to the next important item on the list. A music therapist has to be aware of the relevance of a song to someone...not just assume!