Discuss Traditional and Cultural Music

One place I work at is a somewhat traditional community music school and the music everywhere there is predominately classical. I feel at home in that myself, having grown up always listening to and playing classical music, but what I have loved in this particular community-within-a-community, is that there are a lot of mixed cultures concentrated in the neighborhood area and families from other countries bring their own interpretation of classical music, their art songs, folk songs, etc., and some of the concerts there have been so incredibly and beautifully varied within an overarching umbrella of “classical”.

The music culture where I work mostly centers around children’s standards, Disney songs, and classic rock/pop favorites, like “Yellow Submarine” and “On the road again.” As far as cultural music, we are looking to incorporate more Spanish favorites, as a majority of families we work with are part of the Latinx community. We don’t use a lot of Classical music as it isn’t client preferred music for most the kiddos I work with.

The music culture I work in is predominantly American children’s standards, folk songs, Disney music, and classic rock. I also have the joy of working with families who are Mormon and have their own children’s music. Since I am in Arizona, I have also used traditional Mexican folk music with a few of my families. Some of my families also want to incorporate Christian children’s music into sessions to increase social interactions with the whole family. Many of the songs I use are focused on goals and preferences of my clients. I also had the honor of completing my internship with Laurie Farnan so many of my songs are instrument/sensory specific.

Manny of the songs that I use at my place of work are sensory and instrumental based. I write a lot of my own songs and use a lot of traditional folk songs in my work with the clients I serve. Many of the clients I serve enjoy children songs, 70’s/80’s songs, and pop songs. Besides sensory and instrument based music, I play a wide range of music every day based on their preferences and personal/family culture.