Ode on "My Town"

I had a valuable experience in a University of Sheffield Music Composition certificate course, creating a slow air to commissioned lyrics by (the tremendously talented) Matt Black, called "My Town."  While I composed this song, I thought a lot about creating something that would be very useful with my patients, as a certified therapeutic musician playing harp at the bedside. My purpose for revisiting composition through this course was to spend the semester focusing on every element of one therapeutic song. Instead of picking out something from my personal notebooks full of ideas collected over the years, I  wanted to progress through one entire course, with the central vision of creating one original song to use as an example of how to reshape a piece for various patient scenarios at the bedside. I wrote this tune in D major, with a riff improvisation using the related pentatonic scale, and a refrain that uses a few minor chords. I can use these elements as building blocks to arrange and rearrange to suit the needs of my patient.

After lots of positive feedback (Thank You all for the encouragement!) I've incorporated my song, now called "Home," into my book, The HOME Recordings: Strategies for Certified Therapeutic Musicians, available exclusively through Apple Books. It includes over an hour of studio recordings, including a 20+ minute lesson teaching the tune and its variations. The book includes ten imbedded tracks plus lead sheets, and covers many many topics of interest to Certified Therapeutic Musicians, including various modes and how to use them at the bedside for varied scenarios. (approx 190 pgs.)

"This is an amazing compilation that EVERY therapeutic musician should have, read, and refer to."

-Christina Tourin,  Founder of IHTP