This is a series about passion for music, for music therapy and for the profession of music therapy, (read the previous posts here) so I will take this opportunity to briefly describe my journey and my passion.

Me and my big sister

I come from a large family, the 4th child out of 6 kids and the first one born in Arizona. My childhood was pretty average, not perfect but definitely not horrible either. As a child, I was always singing, a fact which probably drove my parents crazy and gave my oldest brother lots of ammunition for teasing me. My mother recognized my musical abilities and enrolled me in extracurricular music classes through the local parks and recreation department until I was old enough for more structured music education. I tried taking piano lessons on several occasions, but for a variety of reasons, I was never very successful.

After a very short time in grade school band, where I attempted to get a good sound out of a clarinet, I joined the choir. And I stayed in choirs throughout my elementary and high school years. The voice is the most portable instrument and I could take it with me wherever I went.

During my junior year of high school I sang with 3 choirs and won a silver medal for vocal performance at the Arizona State Solo and Ensemble Festival. I auditioned and performed in theater productions and earned the nick name “meg” short for megaphone, because I really didn’t need a microphone. I set some very unrealistic goals for myself to become rich and famous, AND I decided that I would star in a movie about Barbra Streisand’s life!

During my senior year, I was looking at colleges and I wanted to major in music but my dad wanted me to do something “more substantial” with my life. I am sure that he would agree that my work is very substantial, but we didn’t have a clue about music therapy at that time.

Come back next week for part 5 when I talk about how I accidentally found out about music therapy.