Week 2: Music and Dance

Last week was our first group presentation.  The groups topic was music and dance, and they incorporated a little of both in their presentation.  There was a guest speaker about music therapy and we used several drums that she brought in.  I learned a lot from the guest speaker as far as how music can be used as therapy.  To me music is used to calm me but I never thought that you could actually facilitate activities that could be used in an institutional setting or part of a rehabilitation program.  The drummer was a musical therapist at a rehabilitation center for women with addictions and explained the prevalence that these drums have in their lives.  Drumming with each other we learned it's not about the leader or just you, it's about the people that surround you and how you need to pay attention to there actions to repeat them yourselves.  We also had a "jam-sesh" where we played music and drummed along with the beat.  The group also used different instruments and we did different activities that included rounds and we really needed to pay attention to everyone in our group.  Then came the dancing and they brought up a couple wheelchairs.  We played the popular Wii game "Just Dance" which was a blast! It was definitely harder in the wheelchair than I thought but never the less still fun!  All the activities that we did were very relaxing and we enjoyed ourselves.  I learned that I was very musically talented after using the drums, you don't need to be perfect or very good at anything you just need to put effort into it and have a good time.  During the class time I tried to put myself in different situations and try to see things from people's perspectives that might be fighting addictions, or physical and mental disabilities.  Learning all these adaptations to things in every day life will help me implement them in my future career!