I Am Changed: Senior Music Therapy Reflection by Ashley Griggs

Pictured: Ashley Griggs at Ring Day 2019

Writing this reflection has been an interesting process. Reflecting on my time in the SMWC Music Therapy Program and Music and Theatre Department while currently being so far removed from the experience has proved a bit of a challenge. The process has been just as equally rewarding, which really sums up my time as a music therapy student: simultaneously challenging and rewarding. Challenges have been justified by rewarding outcomes, and the rewards have encouraged me to push through more challenges. I would like to start at the beginning of my journey to The Woods.

Pictured: Clinical Musicianship class 2019

I was a nontraditional music student in many senses of the words. After pursuing certificates in Music Business and Technology in community college, and a degree in Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies in Tennessee, I decided I wanted something more. I knew music therapy could be a fulfilling career that would allow me to use the power of music in ways that could truly make a difference in people’s lives beyond entertaining them as a performer. So, terrified this faculty full of strangers whom I was unable to meet in person would not accept a girl in her late 20s who had never sung classical music before, I sent off my audition video. Yet, I was accepted and all those “strangers” were lovely in person. Why perfectly capable music students allow auditions to give us such crippling anxiety, I will never know.

pictured w/ Ron Maurey

One of the first things a music therapy student is told when entering this program is that “you will be changed” and “you will grow in ways you could never imagine”. I expected I would grow as a guitarist and pianist, in my therapeutic skills, and abilities to use music clinically, but thought, “Will I leave this program changed as a person?”. No, I thought, that is just something people tell scared traditional music therapy freshmen to encourage them. I am sure of who I am and I like who I am! Why would I change? Spoiler, I am changed!

Pictured w/ Sharon R. Boyle and Emily Stattner

I am a better musician. I pushed beyond my perceived limits of my own ability as a piano and guitar player, and then somehow surpassed those limits thanks to the amazing guidance of my instructors. I have learned about vocal health techniques that I can apply in any musical situation. I will carry these techniques with me in my life as a music therapist and performer. I have learned to communicate with individuals of all ages and walks of life, thanks to working with older adult clients in assisted living and memory care facilities, young children in a school setting, and relationships I have formed with peers. On a related note: Gen Z is made up of really cool, strong, funny people you should probably get to know more if you are not one of them.

I have developed a philosophy on how to interact with individuals with disabilities, thanks to my practicum placements with adults with intellectual disabilities and a placement with an incredibly musical, nonverbal disabled client. I have also come into my identity as a blind person. I align with the Affirmation Model of Disability, which means my blindness is a positive attribute of my identity that helps me be the best music therapist I can be. I would not have said that until a year ago. My exploration of disability models for my Music Therapy Senior Project and experience as the currently only physically disabled residential student in the Music and Theatre Department, possibly the College, has allowed me to develop into a disability activist for both future clients and myself. Working with clients with disabilities and their families/caregivers to empower them as much as possible has drawn me into my purpose as a future music therapist.

I am a better, stronger, more confident, and more optimistic person because of the amazing experiences I have had in this program. I look forward to further developing my music therapy philosophy and increasing my confidence even more in my internship at the VA Illiana Health Care System in Danville, Illinois starting this summer 2020. I know the faculty and my peers of the Music and Theatre Department will be with me every step of the way. That is the way of the Music Therapy Program, the Music and Theatre Department, and SMWC. We, as students, come into this supportive environment and that support never leaves us as we move out into the professional world.

Pictured: Music students on Ring Day 2019

Rings in circle

Senior Reflection Blog Post Author: Ashley Griggs, a senior music therapy major and second degree student, will be starting her music therapy internship at the Veteran's Administration of the Illiana Health Care System in Danville, Illinois this summer.

Blog Post Editor: Sharon R. Boyle, Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Coordinator of SMWC Undergraduate Music Therapy Program.