How have you used these four music experiences in your practice?

[Meredith Pizzi]

How have you used these four music experiences in your practice? Have you made any changes in these areas since beginning this course? Post your remarks to the board.

[Alison Barrington]

Yes I have certainly used these four music experiences in my practice. Many years ago I was leading a group of pre-school children with learning disabilities and their carers with another music therapist and we started the session by listening. We then went on to sing a song about moving and asked each person to choose a way to move so that all the participants could join in. We sang familiar songs together and songs we had composed for the group. We also had a choice of instruments and we gave them a chance to accompany songs and also free improvisation which we accompanied on the piano and guitar. I have continued to use many of these ideas within other groups that I’ve participated in.

[Alison Barrington]

I should also say that I would now include more listening in my sessions since listening to Beth’s comments as I feel this the one area that I could develop in my practice.

[Kimberly Rodgers-Melnick]

My response is very similar to Alison’s. I incorporate all of these into all of my sessions and there are times that are more structured where everyone is modeling for the children and then there are times when everyone, parents included, is exploring with instruments and movement. I think that i could incorporate more silence into my sessions, leave more space for response from the children, and also incorporate more opportunities for listening, although, really the whole session is an opportunity to listen, whether or not the children are listening and to what extent, will depend on the stage that they are in, but there are certainly opportunities. I think the lullaby at the end of every session often encourages listening, the parent is generally singing to the child and the child is receiving the music or if there aren’t parents I usually end with a slower relaxation that encourages listening, and I also think Hello and goodbye encourage listening because kids are waiting to hear their names.

[Elana Dietz-Weinstein]

Like Kimberly and Alison, I also use all four music experiences in my sessions. I tend to use a lot of instrument play and movement since I work with primarily very active 3-5 year olds, and from experience know how important it is to engage them on a physical level. I also try to use listening and singing to help with cognitive concepts, impulse control, and receptive and expressive language. I find that since learning about the musical developmental levels I am more aware of assessing where the children are in their musical development and can use that information to plan future interventions for my groups.

[Carolyn Keenan]

I use all four of these music experiences in my practice, and I tend to do more with singing and movement than instruments. The children rely on and listen for the familiarity of a consistent greeting and closing song; these often become the first songs that they sing along with. During preschool groups, I often do one movement song with actions to imitate and one which is more free. I found Meredith’s comments about expectations for starting/stopping instrument play to very helpful, as I realized that I often expect some of the children to be able to follow that direction and they might not be there developmentally yet. I will be more aware of that moving forward.

[Jen Hinton]

I think in most sessions I try to include all four types of these experiences. In my work with older adults (especially those with dementia) I might have thought of the “listening” experience more as a cognitive or social experience, depending on the specific group goals. There are so many ways and it is difficult to isolate each as a separate experience because they are so connected…
Singing Experiences- I use a ritual song to open and close sessions. I use singing to make space for phrase completion. I teach new melodic material through chucking teaching. I use call and response songs. I help students to create lyrics and sing their creation for them. I use vocal play sometimes, asking them to model an instrument, like a slide whistle. I hope to be able to explore more vocally so that I am able to better emulate Elizabeth’s differences in timbre, tone, and expression…even though I’m comfortable as a singer I almost always have a guitar or piano accompaniment.
Playing Instruments- I use instruments with starts and stops a lot with the children I work with. I try to vary temp and often cross over into a bit of movement depending on the instrument. Using dynamics changes. Exploring different instruments.
Movement Experiences- body percussion, directed movements, rehearsed sequences. Use of props. I have yet to work with caregivers and children together(with the exception of teachers and students) and I think the directed movements together are something I would love to try.
Listening Experiences- Opportunities to listen to others, i.e. Instrument pass-listen to each student play. Others show how to move, play, or how loud to be, when to stop. I was trying to have a leader in a drum circle…mirroring back the rhythm got muddy. Next time I will try watch/listen to the conductor for dynamic, speed, and/or tempo. Directed listening- listen to this rain stick or listen to the way the music sounds like rain falling down. Directed listening with movement and directed images to classical music to help them hear themes that repeat. Listen to your music…sometimes my teachers record them so they can LISTEN to themselves singing!

[Laura Pruett]

At the beginning of the school year, the emphasis for the preschoolers was on movement. As they have grown and matured, my emphasis is now on listening. There are a lot of impulse control issues, besides being 4 or 5 years old. We obviously also do singing, playing instruments, and movement but a lot of my emphasis lately has been on listening. I have been playing catch up with this CMTE over the past few days, so I have not had a chance yet to implement any changes. However, with the last few weeks in school, I plan to spread the emphasis a little more evenly between each category.

[Mabel Ortiz]

It is difficult for me to answer some of these questions, as I don’t currently work with children. My work is with adults. However, I am making a point to emphasize the use of movement in my sessions, especially patients that are losing control of their movements or independence, as well as for sensory stimulation.

[Claudia Eliaza]

Yes, I use all four of these music experiences in my practice. A lot of is based on the needs of the group. I tend to have some sort of loose Lesson plan that I can break away from if necessary. I like having that sort of freedom as it helps me to focus one the current needs of the children. For the most part, I would say that we do a fair amount of singing and vocalizing. I almost always start my sessions with some form of singing or chanting. We also move often in my groups. My kids have a lot of energy. And particularly in the Winter months, they tend to get a little stir crazy. I will check in with the teachers when I arrive to the school to see how much physical activity they’ve received and plan my movement based on that. We play instruments pretty regularly in my classes as well. Sometimes we’ll use a big prop like the parachute or the giant scrunchy, but I try to have a couple of tunes using instruments. I would say that while we do tend to do some listening to recordings in my classes, we don’t much of it. It’s partially because I’m so engrained to making music myself. I want to explore more of this area.

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