Before & After

One of the best decisions I ever made was moving my private practice from "the road" (traveling to my students' homes) into my own home-based studio.  This has allowed me to work with many more students on a daily basis, because no longer do I need to build commute time into my schedule.  I can honestly admit that I don't miss packing my car every morning with the necessary equipment, hauling it in and out of my trunk, and spending all of that extra money on gas.

I love that I have everything I need at my fingertips, especially when an idea strikes in the middle of a music therapy session. I also love that I can neatly organize my materials in advance of my students' arrival, as evidenced in these photos taken before a recent session:


But as anyone who spends time with children knows all too well, neatness isn't high on their list of priorities. I'm a self-admitted neat freak, but that flies out the window when I'm working with a child. Half the time, I'm creating most of the mess by bringing out different instruments, visual aides, and other items during our session. I was glad I captured the "before" shots on that particular day, because the "after" scene was just too funny not to document:


My favorite part is the opened drawers...I couldn't have staged it this well!  My student and I used every last one of those instruments and items, and ended up running out of time at the end of our session.  Otherwise we'd have put everything back in its place while singing this song :)  My next student was a few minutes late, which gave me just enough time to tidy up before his piano lesson.  Good thing, because I doubt he'd have appreciated this mess as much as I did!