center for early childhood music therapy, children's music therapy, music programs for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, music classes for young children, music therapists
Join Elizabeth Schwartz, MA, LCAT, MT-BC for the online event Together With The Beat: Expanding Your Early Childhood Music Toolbox. The event will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, August 30, 2023 from 8-9pm ET.
I was totally thrown off during a short trip to a local store during the height of the pandemic. As I approached the counter to pay, the woman at the register looked me directly in the eye and cried out ‘Miss Beth!’ Since I was fully masked, I couldn’t imagine how someone could recognize me, especially someone who was not at all familiar to me. She quickly came around the counter and again called out, ‘Miss Beth.’
My confusion must have been clear as she continued to explain that she remembered me from our time together when I led music groups for young children at the local library. As a music therapist, I had the privilege to facilitate integrated parent-child groups that focused on building community and a place for all within developmental music making. This woman and her son, a young one with many developmental challenges, were part of that program.
She burst into singing one of ‘our’ songs, and then emotionally shared that the music group was one of the things that kept her going through those early years of her child’s growth.
This story might not be so unusual except for the next thing this mom shared. Her son had gone on to thrive with this early support and was now attending a local community college.
The integrated, community-based music program was the foundation for Sprouting Melodies and for the Sprouting Melodies training. The training focuses not only on musical development, but on how developmental grownup/child music-making can create a community that supports children and grownups. It’s not just about the kids, but about those who care for them and the communities in which we all live.
If you are like me and want to use your music therapy education and training to make a long-lasting difference for all people, we invite you to join the next Sprouting Melodies training. The ten-week, completely on-line course is designed to give you the knowledge and experiences to make this kind of impact in your community. Our next training begins soon, and we welcome you to be a part.
Beth
Who’s More Stressed? The screaming toddler being strapped into their car seat? Or the parent trying to strap the toddler in?
I say, both. At this time of year which is supposed to be so magical, it sure seems as if there is a lot of stress out there.
What can I, a music therapist, do about it? A lot!
In my decades of running early childhood music groups, I was always amazed at the transformation from the beginning to the end – usually stress to smiles. In developmentally focused music making, we can help parents to better understand their child and give them both a safe and supportive space just to ‘be.’
This is one reason we started the Sprouting Melodies Training. The course makes use of your expertise as a music therapist, and gives you the knowledge, experiences, and music you need to serve the children and families of your community.
What’s unique about the Sprouting Melodies Training? We focus on both the child and the parent as people. Me and Me…Meaningful expectations. Music for engagement.
The Sprouting Melodies® program offers music therapists a chance to use your education, skills and experience to bring the best possible early childhood music experience to families in your community.
23 CMTEs available for you to complete in your own space, in your own time.
Registration is now open for January 2023!
What exactly do you get in the course?
Ready to register for the Sprouting Melodies Training?
We can wait to see you inside the Sprouting Melodies training!
~ Elizabeth & Meredith
When Meredith and I started Raising Harmony, we were determined to provide solid, effective information on music, young children, and families. After hearing from the 100s of music therapists who have taken the Sprouting Melodies Training, we’ve learned that the training provides so much more. Through taking the training, people have:
What more can you do? Come join us for the next Sprouting Melodies Training and find out.
Click the link below to register for our next course beginning March 30, 2022.
https://raisingharmony.com/training/sprouting-melodies-training-info/
Hope to see you!
Elizabeth
Not ready for this round of training? Visit www.RaisingHarmony.com to download 5 free songs composed specifically for music therapists to learn and use.
Wow! What a year this has been. I have been thinking that 2021 is a little bit like the two-year-old’s I know – tantrums, tears, testing limits; but also times of incredible tenderness and tremendous growth.
Understanding development of little children is so helpful in understanding people in general. Want to know more? We’ve got a great course that gives you comprehensive information on development as well as music development. How to get that two-year-old to tune in? Covered. Getting parents, staff, and administrators to tune in? Covered. All this covered in our 23 CMTE credit, totally virtual Sprouting Melodies training course. Here is the link to register for our January 2022 course.
https://raisingharmony.com/training/sprouting-melodies-training-info/
Bonus! As part of the course, Meredith Pizzi, Erika Svolos, and I will meet with you virtually to answer questions or to brainstorm ideas and solutions. This would be a great time to learn more about successful ways to run Virtual Early Childhood groups. Yes, it can be done. And yes, you can get a two-year-old (and their grownups) to tune in!
Hope you will join us. Register by January 1st and receive an early-bird discount. Contact me directly with any questions Elizabeth@RaisingHarmony.com.
Here’s to 2022!
Elizabeth Schwartz
Now more than ever, we need meaningful opportunities to be connected to others.
We search for ways to collaborate in creating innovative, creative programs.
And we seek flexible solutions to the challenges of staying current in a fast changing health-care environment.
Meredith, Erica, and I would like to welcome you to just such an environment through the Sprouting Melodies Training. Our newly updated and refreshed course begins Wednesday, April 1, 2020. The course provides you with:
It was five years ago today that Hurricane Sandy upended the lives of so many people in my community. October 29, 2012. Looking back, the way we helped young children through those early days stills rings true today. To all the children and families affected by Maria, Irma and Harvey – our hearts are with you.
Dark. Noisy. Confusing. Mom and Dad upset. No TV. Cold. The hurricane that roared through our area was really scary for so many little children. And scary for grownups, many of whom felt powerless both literally and figuratively. My friend Christine, shared these thoughts in an e-mail after returning to work at her pre-school – “So many staff members and family have lost everything at my site! People were crying in the halls in each other’s arms. A 4 year old girl told me there were fish and crabs swimming though her house.”
How can we help our children feel safe in a situation like this? How can we help our children feel safe if we don’t feel safe ourselves? This is a question for all grownups, including music therapists, who care for the young. I have been thinking about how music could be one answer in this situation and in other crises that children face. My music therapy colleague continued in the e-mail – “I spent a few hours considering how to structure my sessions. I decided not to start things I had planned on starting and focused on providing a sense of the familiar by doing the same gathering songs and music from two weeks ago. In some sessions we talked about the lights being out and being in a different house and how I’m still me. “Routine, reassurance and resilience.
Here at Raising Harmony we believe that making music is a natural part of development and that making music can help children develop. This includes a trait as important but as elusive as resilience. Resilience means that we support the little child in feeling, expressing, understanding, coping and creating solutions. In early childhood music therapy practice around the world, clinicians speak about the importance of prevention and early intervening in helping the child gain strength and health. We can give the child and family the opportunity to prevent long term difficulties from the emotional upheaval of a crisis through music and music making.
What does developing resilience sound like in music? Christine gave us some good ideas. Here are a few more thoughts.
Rhythm unifies and brings people together. The day I returned to work after the storm, I invited all the children and staff into one room. Sitting on the floor, I began to pat knees in a very matter-of –fact way. The children joined in first, followed by the staff. Slowly we began to sing a very familiar gathering song. The tempo was just as matter of fact, neither slow nor fast, but just right. The melody was fairly narrow in range. We kept the structure very predictable, just like we had always done. You could feel the children begin to relax and give into the compelling patterns. The message sent through the music was of trust and confidence. For just that musical moment, everything was going to be okay.
One little guy I work with struggles with any change in routine and reacts to any loud or sudden sounds with terror. Can you imagine what this storm meant to him? His family shared with me that it had been a terrible week after the storm. How could this child begin to express and begin to understand when I knew he couldn’t find the words to talk about fear? Well, we began at the piano with a favorite song- consonant harmony and triadic melody. Since we know each other well musically, I then took the musical risk of introducing a flatted sixth chord into the harmonic progression. We both jumped back from the piano and I sang “Scary”. The flatted six chord resolved to the flatted third, and finally the V7 and back to the tonic chord. The stage was set musically to feel the panic, then give a word and sound to describe the feeling, and then a resolution back to an area of comfort. He and I played this game again and again and again until he showed he was anticipating the unusual chord. This musical experience recognized and respected that something really traumatic had happened. But the pattern also allowed for the ‘scary’ to be resolved into something that this child could control.
To develop resilience for both this young boy and the group the music had one more job- to give voice to how to cope with problems and create solutions. That’s where songs came into play. Songs can be created that are specific to the child’s needs. Songs can be remembered and re-created by the child at times of stress. For this terrible storm, we adapted an old folk song:
“Shoo fly, don’t bother me. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. I want you to go away.” “Go away, cold, dark house. Go away, trees falling down. Go away noisy wind. Go away Hurricane Sandy.”
The melody is strong and the rhythm is crisp. The structure is clear and decisive. And like the music after the storm, so are the kids.
Have you worked through crisis with young children? Share some of your ideas and thoughts, because we all need to be ready for what life brings. Thanks, Christine for getting the conversation started!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Beth
I always looked forward to the change of seasons. Fall to winter. Winter to spring. Especially spring to summer when school let out and everything seemed more relaxed and care-free. But as a music therapist, I have learned that the children and families that I work with do not get a break from the challenges that they face. The preschool program in which I work runs year round so that the children will have the consistent support that they require.
Even though I know that this is often best for the children, I get sad when the children or families tell me that they don’t have the time or energy for normal fun. Fun, like going to the beach to swim. So if the children can’t get to the beach, how about bringing the beach to them? We don’t need actual sand and water, we just need music that gives the feeling of the waves and surf.
Here is a new song you can use this summer. It relies on mixing the meters of 2 and 3 to give the sense of momentum and flow that we feel in the cool water. Give it a try with instruments or lovely flowing scarves. I use one that I picked up on a vacation a long time ago.
Enjoy!
Beth
