There are a number of topics I want to write about related to Sonic Sandbox. Some of what I want to write about is about how Sonic Sandbox works. Some pieces will be about the theory behind the exercises/games I use. Some will cover my long terms plans. Some will lament (maybe even whinge) about my struggles in building Sonic Sandbox. Some will describe and reflect on my personal experiences. I’m using this post to provide an outline for topics I want to write about in the future within each of these subject headings. I will return to this post from time to time to update it as I think of new ideas or as I write some of the pieces, so I can add links.

How Sonic Sandbox works

• The exercises
  • Meditation
  • Making sounds together without judging (toning)
  • Sustained sound with change through copying
  • Laughter “meditation”
  • Moving with our music
  • Sound mirroring
  • Sound infection
  • Name game
  • Drum circle
  • Call and response
  • Sound conversation
  • Life opera
• Theoretical issues
  • What happens in our brains: the different ways we think
  • Characteristics of the sensate and conscious minds (feeling self and thinking self)
  • How sound creates connection
  • Consequences of connection
  • Authenticity or “speaking” from one’s feeling self
  • Eyes closed or open
  • The role of movement
  • Interaction types: group, dyad, solo
  • Rhythm, harmony, melody
  • How to teach listening
  • How to teach people to support each other
  • How to create safety
  • How the experience can be used in psychological recovery
  • How the experience can be used as a model for relationships in other areas of life
  • Supporting people to be safely transparent in as many aspects of life as possible — eliminating self-destructive shame/reducing the need for secrets/increasing tolerance for variation in human behavior
  • The survival value of cooperation, the need to appear to be someone others can cooperate with, and the consequences of diverging too far from your true self in order to appear to be someone others can cooperate with (homo-cooperability vs hetero-cooperability)
  • How Sonic Sandbox widens the range of hetero-cooperability through example and experience and how to create a wider range of hetero-cooperability in other aspects of life
• Plans
  • Building a sustainable workshop
  • Expanding workshops to other areas
    • Using the workshop for team building in formal organizations
    • Teaching youngsters alternative ways to relate to each other
    • Giving music therapists additional tools
    • Rituals for community building
    • Aiding community problem solving
    • Personal growth
    • A mechanism useful for changing habits of thought and creating psychological wellness
  • The Sonic Sandbox Institute
  • Integration into life in many kinds of institutions and across cultures
• Struggles
  • Marketing, oh marketing
  • I HATE Facebook (and don’t get me started about Twitter)
  • Doubting my business skills and my energy and focus
  • Finding allies and helpers
• My musical experiences
  • Peak moments
  • Reflections on the last workshop (what it was like; what I learned)
  • Sonic Sandbox at conferences
  • The original testing ground Sonic Sandbox “Band” experiences
  • Me and my trumpet
  • Improvisation in the wild (typewriter story)
  • Music, mental dysfunction, and recovery