by Josh Osborne Osborne.Josh@MacPhail.org

Now, I love my job. I enjoy that each day is different, the variety of clientele and students I see, the traveling, the successes, and the fact my job revolves around music—one of my greatest passions. Although, if you spend enough time around me, I will tell you there is something I'm very dispassionate about in my job. That "thing" would be carrying and hauling instruments to partnerships. 

There are numerous other activities that I would rather be doing, (changing my oil, taking out the garbage, cleaning, meetings, changing strings) than carrying loads of song books, hand percussion, guitars, banjos, etc. into a building. Since starting my career, I've been determined to find a simpler and more carefree solution to being a traveling teaching artist and music therapist. Not only is this to ensure my sanity, but also to save my back. While I'm a spry 25 year old, I know that I won't be for long.

Thus, I would like to share how I have consolidated my traveling studio to a lightweight luggage case, a guitar, an autoharp, and an iPad. This solution has not failed me yet and I have never run into an issue where I wasn't able to lead an activity because I didn't have that "one thing." Below is a picture of my traveling studio. The contents include:                                           

• 3 maracas
• 3 tambourines
• 10 egg shakers
• 2 finger drums
• 2 paddle drums
• 2 lollipop drums
• 10 black mallets
• 10 lollipop mallets

Additionally, I also carry the following items with me:

• Guitar
• Autoharp
• Brief case w/tech tools

On my iPad, the apps I rely on for traveling are few, but they have saved my back and the headache of forgetting to print out a piece or leaving a songbook at home.

ForScore: I have loads of PDF's of my repertoire in fake book format available on this app. All at my fingertips.

Google Drive: I have all of my session plans written down in a Word-like document that synced to my Google Drive account. This documents are available on my phone, iPad, and computer due to the cloud sync capability.

Evernote: My entire Music For Life Curriculum is uploaded on Evernote. Additionally, all of my group attendance, documentation, progress notes, etc. are available at a moments notice.

For tech equipment, I have an Anker portable charger that can charge my phone and iPad. I also have an HMDX Jam Box, a little Bluetooth speaker for my iPad with a huge sound!