Discuss with the board the traditional and cultural music in your home community.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[BJ Waelz]

I grew up in a bluegrass / country music home and happen to love some old bluegrass tunes because they feel like home to me. These are also tunes I use often in the Nursing homes I work in because of the area I live, many clients love this musical style. I have found that because my daughter has gone so often with me to serve in nursing homes and because those bluegrass tunes are familiar lullabyes to her she gravitates towards those songs as well. The music that parents are listening too on a regular basis at home will have an influence on their musical preferences.

[Ericha Rupp]

BJ I completely agree with what you said about kids usually gravitating to the music that is being played in the home environment. The other day I had a parent come up to me and admit that she listens to Lady Gaga with her 8 month old and loves dancing around the house. 🙂 With that being said I immediately went to KidzBop (kid friendly popular music) and searched for Lady Gaga songs to help support our music sessions. IT WORKED!! 🙂

[Laura Myers]

I never really thought about cultural music until I moved to Virginia. I realized that each area of the country has songs that are important to them. I quickly was introduced to bluegrass and gospel music. Currently I am living back in the midwest, in a different area that I grew up in, and have found other music that is culturally important to this area. St. Louis is a very Catholic city, and working in a Catholic nursing home with many Sister residents, I have begun to learn the music traditionally sung for mass. I am finding that much of my bluegrass music isn’t relevant here, but traditional folk songs are known by just about everyone.

[Ian Crawford]

I currently live in Minneapolis, where there is a culturally diverse population. However, I haven’t been in many situations where I felt the need to adjust my music to meet cultural expectations. If I worked in different settings, such as hospice or assisted living, I might find otherwise but in early childhood it’s not something I’ve been aware of. That said, I spent over a year in San Antonio, TX and when I got there I repeatedly got requests for two genres I was not well versed in: country and mariachi! It definitely helped me beef up my repertoire with George Jones, Jimmy Buffet, Alan Jackson, and Johnny Cash songs. But I never got around to learning any mariachi tunes, despite my goal of learning Spanish while I was down there (which also didn’t happen).

[Lysa Wright]

In my community, there isn’t a ton of cultural diversity. However, I do feel it is rather interesting that many of the day area I provide services to are very flexible with using religious music. I live in a predominantly Christian community, but I’m always cautious and ask teachers if they allow sacred music in the classroom if a child requests a sacred song of some sort (like Jesus Loves Me). I’m always trying to make myself aware of other non-Christian cultures there are or may be within the classrooms, but teachers typically allow any music, it seems! As far as other genres of music, I typically use just children’s music, but I’ve used different styles, usually in the form of singing books. I have a sing-to-read book of John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads, and the kids LOVE this one. Not sure if it’s the different sound of the song from their “normal” children’s music or the great illustrations and the discussions we have throughout the book, but they request the book for weeks.

[Ericha Rupp]

Currently I live in a heavily culturally diverse population. This includes Native American, Hispanic, Vietnamese, Mung, and Somali. The only adaptation I have done was upon request to not have certain traditional American holiday songs be played during the music session. Other than that I was told by a few translators that the traditional nursery rhymes that I do during my session are easily transferred to the nursery rhymes that a family has used in their homes (same melody, different words). Beyond this I tend to do a lot of children songs in a variety of genres (rap, hiphop, country, lullaby, folk, popular, classical, the list goes on).
While growing up I was exposed to a wide variety of music which I feel has helped support my appreciation for all types of music. Especially when an older child comes to my session and requests “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and the next one after him requests, “Boys ’round Here” by Blake Shelton. 🙂 On the other side of things I have a degree in vocal performance with an emphasis in opera which has helped me tremendously when an adapted lesson kiddo comes to me and request anything from the Baroque, Classical, or Romantic era.

[Shonda Malik]

I work in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton areas. With my adult clients I often have groups with a wide age range. Traditional folk songs like “She’ll be comin round the mountain” are big hits with all the ages. However, personal music preferences among the adults range from country, to popular, to classic rock and rhythm & blues. To assure that I provide the preferred music for all the tastes and ages I select different ‘song collections’, most of which I borrow from the library, so that there is a never ending variety of styles and eras represented. With my hospice clients hymns are a important aspect for many of them so I have to be sure to check the client’s religious preference.

[Adrienne Salmon]

I recently relocated about a year ago, and it is hard to call New Haven ‘home’ yet, although it is starting to feel that way. I also don’t work specifically in the city that I live in, so I can’t say that the ‘cultural’ influences of my ‘home’ community have begun to affect my practice yet. My home community growing up was very diverse, and that inspired me to continue to diversify my repertoire, so that has definitely helped my practice. However, the communities I serve and have served in my time here, I am finding, request a lot of Christian music and Country music, which I had not been very familiar with before my move. However, some of the clients also request John Denver and The Beatles, Johnny cash, some prefer Disney classics and children’s music, my caseload is pretty diverse, as is my original home community, so it all comes full circle. I also have clients who believe that “KISS 95.7 is the best radio station in Connecticut”, so I am enjoying learning new pop songs (which I personally rarely listen to) and have lots of requests for Taylor Swift.

[Kana Kamitsubo]

I am from Japan and grew up surrounded by many different types of music from all over the world. So,I have influenced by various types of music and Japanese music is one of them. A use of pentatonic is the main characteristic in Japanese music. Especially, minor pentatonic called Japanese Pentatonic – Root, Minor 2nd, Minor 3rd, Fifth, Minor 6th – is often used. In terms of lyrics, as Japanese people do NOT prefer direct expression such as “I love you”, using metaphors to covey core messages is considered as beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing about Japanese music Kana. This is quite interesting and you really highlight how we as therapists have to be sensitive to our clients and their cultural norms.

[Author]

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