34 Years of Music

34 Years of Music: My Musical Journey - Part 1

As I near my 35^th birthday, I’ve spent this past year reflecting on my journey with music. How has music impacted and influenced my life? I can think of so many ways, starting with when I was just a small child all the way through the present day. Of course, with being a music therapist I interact with music on a daily basis, but what about my personal story with music and my musical identity? Read on to learn about my journey with music over the years.

The Early Days: 1990-1996
As far back as I can remember, one of my parent’s rituals was to sing to me and my siblings at bedtime. Every night after we had all gotten in our beds, they would come upstairs and go through the routine, which consisted of a song or two, a prayer, and a goodnight kiss. The two main songs I remember singing together are “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Joy to the World.” No idea why we would sing Christmas songs year-round, but my mom says we requested those two songs especially at Christmas and then kept requesting them throughout the year. We didn’t care that they were Christmas songs.

It was these early years, I have general memories of lots of singing and dancing at home with my siblings, singing at church, and doing gymnastics. Our home was full of love and music. 

Grade School Days: 1997-2003
Ah, growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s was pretty special. I loved my Walkman and my no-skip CD player. (Who remembers?!) 

Along with my three siblings, I began taking piano lesson at the age of 8. My parents wanted us to have a solid foundation in music. The problem was, I absolutely disliked my piano teacher. I thought she was so mean! (I’m sorry Mrs. Brossard.) I begged my mom to switch teachers AND instruments altogether. I wanted to learn to play guitar!! Thankfully my mom found an amazing new teacher, Mrs. DeVries, who I absolutely adored. She made music FUN and taught my sister and me fantastic guitar basics. I also took Irish step dance lessons for about a year during this period. My musical foundation was being built.

Grandparents played a special role in my life, especially influencing me in the work I do today. I loved getting to know and spending time with my grandparents. I have many, many happy memories with my grandparents like singing in Dutch and my Oma playing harmonica. My aunt also played piano. She was a 2nd grade teacher, and I got to visit her classroom several times. I remember her playing piano and leading her class in the song “If All the Raindrops.” I thought she was the coolest for knowing such a fun song.

Teen Years: 2004-2006
Though I was awkward and not at all comfortable in my own skin during these years, they were rich with music. During these years: I began forming my musical identity as I discovered new or new-to-me music. I expanded and organized my CD collection. I also got my first iPod shuffle! I was a part of the worship team at my church, and I experienced playing as part of a group. My comfort level also increased as I shared my music with the world more and more. I learned about music therapy for the first time at 16, and knew immediately I wanted to become a music therapist.

Perhaps most influential to my passion for serving in dementia care was my grandmother, Cathy. She was my first exposure to dementia, as she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when I was a kid. As the disease began to take over more of her brain, she had trouble recalling who people were. When visiting her once, she turned to me and asked, “Now who are you?” That really stuck with me. 

I think of my grandmother often in providing music therapy to those living with dementia. Grandmom inspires my work. This photo is me at 14 years old playing at Grandmom’s care center. Grandmom passed away when I was 16, coincidentally, the same year I learned about music therapy.

Teen Years: 2006-2009
During these years, I finished high school and began college simultaneously with an early college program at the local community college called Running Start. It was during these years that I really began my formal music training, starting off by taking Music Theory 101 my first quarter. I loved my years at Skagit Valley College. They were so rich and full. After 9 quarters, I graduated with my high school diploma, a 2-year general associates degree, and a 2-year associates in music degree.

I had an awesome guitar teacher, Thom Gustafson, who really helped me take my guitar playing to the next level, moving beyond just beginner to intermediate and into advanced. I also ended up back with Mrs. Brossard for piano lessons to brush up on my piano skills. I joined choir, began teaching guitar and piano lessons to a few neighborhood kids, and tutored fellow students in music theory. At the end of my final quarter in community college, to my surprise I was awarded the 2009 Department of Music Award!

From 2007-2009, my siblings and I had a family band. My sister was writing her own music, and we began performing her songs in local coffee shops and various venues. My sister sang and played guitar, my older brother played piano and sang, my younger brother played drums, and I filled in with bass guitar, backup vocals, and even some accordion. It was a blast! My siblings and I also got really into swing dance during these years and had an informal swing dance club with a bunch of friends. We would drive down to Seattle and dance the night away!

Marylhurst University: 2009-2012
Marylhurst University (MU) is the school I landed on for my music therapy degree. They had a solid accredited music therapy program, and from the moment I first stepped onto campus, I felt at home. I knew it’s where I was supposed to be. It was a beautiful historic campus just outside of Portland, OR. I LOVED my time at Marylhurst where I received my training to become a music therapist. There are many amazing and wonderful instructors, practicum supervisors and mentors who helped shape me into a well-rounded music therapist.

You could say I was the poster-child for the MT program at Marylhurst. Just kidding! But funny enough, my first term there, they had photos taken of the classes and department activities, and they chose my face to be on the front of the program pamphlet!

Since students had to declare a primary instrument before entrance into the program, I chose classical guitar. I had already been studying classical guitar and loved it, so I decided to really focus on it during my years at MU. My guitar instructor was the wonderfully talented, Peter Zisa. I took private lessons from him and also joined the classical guitar ensemble for two years.

It was also during this time that I became a caregiver for the first time. My job all throughout school was as a personal support worker (caregiver) for a teenage guy with severe autism. He was nonverbal, and he was such a cool dude. It was great experience for me. I got to know the family and Mathew really well since I was with them for nearly four years. It was a blessing to have such a flexible job during my time in school. I’m grateful to Mathew’s family – they were so good to me!

Music Therapy Internship: 2013
I had finally finished all the required coursework for my music therapy degree in June 2012, and all that was left before I could take the board certification exam to become a music therapist was internship. This experience was just over 1,000 clinical training hours. (I had already acquired 180 hours from completing nine different practicums, so internship was 1,020 hours to complete the required total 1,200 training hours). I was nearing the home stretch!

The internship I accepted was unfortunately unpaid, so I had to take a six-month pause the second half of 2012 and work to save up for living expenses during my internship. During this gap, I was working about 60 hours a week between two jobs to save up enough, and then during my internship, I was still working part time. (This is all-to-common in the MT world, making it very difficult for students to complete this final step without either going into debt, working a second job during internship, or taking time off to power save).

In January 2013, I began my 7-month full-time internship with Earthtones Northwest (at the time, Earthtones Music Therapy Services). This was such an exciting time for me. I was finally getting to do what I wanted to full time: music therapy! The only thing I discovered along the way is it involved a lot of driving. Other than one client who I saw at the Earthtones office, I was having to drive around to all my clients. I was able to work with a broad range of ages--everything from kids to older adults--and populations included children, adults with developmental disabilities, adults in mental health, and older adults with various diagnoses/disabilities. I have my amazing clients, supervisors, and co-interns to be grateful for in this incredible learning experience.

I successfully finished my internship in August 2013 and took the board certification exam a few weeks later (and passed!). I was finally a music therapist with the credential MT-BC (music therapist-board certified)! It was a 7-year-long process start to finish from the time I had taken my first music theory class in community college. You can’t say I didn’t work my butt off for my music therapy training!

Fun fact: I got to have an original song and MT intervention published in Imagine Magazine, a publication focused on adaptive music making in early childhood settings. This was a song I had made up in my head one day when I was driving to one of my sites. I ended up using the song in the session just minutes before I had thought of it. That’s when I knew I had arrived, and things were coming more naturally as a music therapist.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my musical journey, coming early 2025! If you'd like to learn more about my work as a music therapist or my company, Bridgetown Music Therapy, and our programs and offerings, visit BridgetownMT.com.