I’m so excited to announce the MT #Techtips blog series here at GG!  Technology has been a HUGE part of my journey as a music therapist.  Each week I will share a video, resource, tutorial, app review or technology tip that I have found useful in keeping my music therapy practice and my business in tip-top technology shape! Stay in the technology loop by subscribing to GG here.

Happy Face KeyboardWhen I became a music therapist in 2005 (just yesterday, right!?), I made the conscious choice to “go Mac and never look back”.  I knew there would be a huge learning curve and I definitely had to save my pennies (and use my student discount!), but it was well worth the investment of time and hard earned cash given my chosen “occu-passion” as I like to think of it.  Looking back, I don’t know how I would have done without my Mac as a newbie MT-BC not to mention now as a business owner!  I’m certainly not an expert when it comes to all the bells and whistles of Mac, but I have learned a few shortcuts over the years that have saved me time and frustration from cutting/pasting content with ease, finding songs or music files on my computer in seconds and creating visuals and schedules for clients in just a few steps.

So in this week’s MT #techtips post I’m sharing my top 6 keyboard shortcuts for Mac that keep the time I spend on my Mac efficient and effective so I can focus my energy on my clinical and professional work with clients and the community.

Command – Shift – 3  –> Take a picture of your entire screen and save it to your desktop

Command – Shift – 4  –> Select a specific area on your screen and save it to your desktop

Command – space    –>  Opens Spotlight so you can search your Mac for a file, song or document

Command – + or –   –>  Zoom in/out of a webpage (Command – 0 –> sets it back to 100%)

Command – C   –> Copy a selected object or text

Command – V  –> Paste that selected object or text

Do you use keyboard shortcuts on your Mac or Windows computer?  What have you found to be most helpful in saving you time and frustration?  Tell us about in the comments so we can all take action today!

Are you looking for apps for music therapy AND want to receive CMTE credits for your time? Hop on over to Music Therapy Ed and watch the preview video for my new iPad CMTE course in which I review 100’s of apps appropriate for music therapy!  To learn how you can use the iPad to enhance your clients growth and potential in music therapy click here.