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.

[Kerry Cornelius]

Though I always try to utilize all of these elements (singing, playing, moving, listening) in each session I lead, this course has helped me begin to frame my sessions in a more effective and developmentally appropriate way. Since last week, I’ve been paying close attention to each of my clients and their current state of musical development. Once I assess where they are in the musical developmental sequence, I have found that it is much easier to tailor activities directly to their needs. I’ve been incorporating concepts like the rule of 3,000, paying close attention to my vocal timbre and how it impacts my clients, as well as using repetition and bringing back familiar songs more frequently. I’ve also been able to provide improved support for parents and caregivers who stay for our sessions. I have been encouraging them even more to be active music-makers with their children (especially for those children who tend to do more observing then music-making) as well as reinforcing the fact that the children need to be able to explore the space and the instruments in their own way–even if that means playing when the music stops or putting a maraca in their mouths!

[Kasey Sollenberger]

All of these experiences are utilized in each of my sessions. Singing is used during greetings and goodbyes, to facilitate calming and relaxation, and as a vehicle for generating vocalizations/approximations. Instrument play is often a time to practice social skills: taking turns and sharing. We play instruments to address fine and gross motor skills such as grasp and range of motion. Movement songs are often incorporated. Imitating movements, following direction, and gross motor skills are addressed here. I like to use a variety of props for movement such as ribbons, scarfs, and parachute. Playing stop and go songs, and imitating each other on instruments and vocally are common listening strategies used in my sessions.

[Katherine Sestrick]

I try to use each of these four music experiences in my practice during each session. I must admit however, that the one area I could focus more on is listening. I am inherently providing opportunities to listen to and experience music, but I could be doing much more to point out the child’s listening responses to the parents. I think that I focus more on the more concrete, directly observable actions of moving, playing instruments, and singing when pointing things out to parents because parents tend to relate better to these things and get excited when they can “see” their child preforming a desired action. It is my job to be more aware of the listening experiences the children are displaying and point these out to the parents, so that parents can understand that these skills are just as important as the other, more observable skills.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

SINGING: With the clients I work with (adults in psychiatric facilities), singing seems to be the most important activity they engage in, mainly because it is the activity with which I can get the most positive responses, and because they want so much to sing. I use singing to distract them from anxiety, anger, and depression, to encourage supportive breathing, and to engage them in a communal activity. Depending on the song, we may do a brief lyric analysis. . I always engage clients in improvisation asking them to whistle with me and make up our own melodies. Another thing I might do in the middle of a song is say, “OK, everybody, opera voices!” and sing in an exaggerated falsetto which more times than not results in a lot of laughter and seems to encourage the more reticent clients to participate once they realize they don’t have to be really “serious” about singing.
INSTRUMENT PLAY: Unfortunately, I am not able to do much with instrument play in my work because of the potential liability should a client begin to act out and use an instrument to strike another client or me. I do however, incorporate hand clapping, patching (Orff-ese for knee patting), and finger snapping for percussion. Again, I encourage improvisation as a way for each client to strive for and (hopefully) achieve a sense of control and accomplishment.
MOVING: Many of my clients typically engage in moving/swaying in time to music, and tapping their feet at a minimum. If I play something really funky and rhythmic such as “I Feel Good” or “Boogie Oogie Oogie,” then some will get up and dance.
LISTENING: When I’m working with the Detox group which is typically 2 – 4 clients, I will use prerecorded music for relaxation, or distraction. I may play different pre-recorded versions of the same song and ask clients to listen for the differences and similarities, and why they prefer one version over the other in order to get them to think “outside” of themselves.

Have I made any changes since beginning this course? I can’t really say that I have only because I don’t work with very young children. I am however, delighted to be learning all of this and have become more aware of how my adult clients experience music. Many of them have developmental delay (in addition to their mental disorders) and I can discern how some of them process music at the cognitive level at which they are functioning.

[Jonni Fogerty]

We use all four of these music experiences in most sessions with our clients of all ages, as multimodal experiences not only help to engage clients, but also allow us to target multiple domain areas within one session. The course material has given me a clear perspective on how to structure activities and interventions using these four different experiences in a developmentally appropriate sequence, which will be helpful with training music therapists and educating parents as we further establish our early childhood program.

[Katie Bagley]

I try to use all four types of music experiences in my client sessions. Though after this week’s lesson, I realize how much of a higher value I have placed on instrument play and singing in the past. It was valuable to see and learn about the connection between music and movement, especially for younger children. Last year I participated in a group rhythm experience geared toward adults called TaKeTiNa, which helps develop awareness of mind/body connection with rhythm. It was a wonderful experience, which I was reminded of with this week’s material. I intend to be mindful of this music and movement connection in my further sessions, encouraging and pointing out musical development through movement to my clients and families.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

I think it is easier for parents and caregivers to see the ‘musical’ value in singing and instrument play. Part of what I need to do is to educate them on the musicality of movement, and encourage them to move more freely. Sometimes this happens more naturally when they are holding their little ones.
It is great to see that people are thinking more about listening as an experience in early childhood. Often when I introduce a new song in a different mode or meter, I try and form an atmosphere of expectation and wonder, a time for listening. How do I know the children are listening? I watch the stillness of their bodies and the poised nature of their posture.

[Christina Wensveen]

I use all four types of music experiences in my sessions. I have found that movement to music awakens the whole body and prepares a child to then go into the other types of music experiences. Especially with my students who have autism, kinaesthetic music activities seem to engage them like no other. I often try to incorporate listening and movement together, as this keeps elementary kids engaged and on task. I have also created artwork with clients using the melodic contour of a piece while listening. I use instruments with most groups and have found that children love choosing which one to play on a particular day. I am looking forward to learning about how to set up a session space for each age group with instruments.

[Shonda Malik]

I am going to base my response on the work I do with children with special needs including autism, down syndrome and sensory processing disorder. I use singing to develop language. I begin with vocalizing to keyboard improvisations, work towards forming words, then sequencing of words, and then practice answering questions. I use playing instruments to develop motor skills, increase time spent attending to a task, develop impulse control, and work on following of directions. I use moving to provide needed vestibular and proprioceptive input which often helps the child expend energy while developing their sense of self in space and refocus their attention for the rest of the session. I use listening to work on impulse control with stop and start songs and with singable storybooks to work on comprehension skills.

[Nicole Sanabria]

I utilize all four music experiences in my work with young children with various developmental delays. I like to think that each music experience be it, singing, instrument playing, movement, or listening provides an opportunity to celebrate a child’s new found sense of self, and/or strengthen a child’s area of need. Each music experience will influence a child in a different way; but all in all will provide a vehicle to explore, experience, and bring understanding to the world around them. Movement experiences I feel are the most vital of all music experiences. A child’s sensory system made up of sound, vision, touch, proprioception, and vestibular is how they are able to receive information to engage in musical-play. Sustaining levels of attention, sensory processing, organization of thought, and awareness while releasing internal and external energy are some areas that are influenced by music and movement. I have found that a child without many words will articulate their needs through the under responsiveness and over responsiveness that is exhibited in sessions through movement motivated by musical stimuli. In using movement in music, we are really working from the outside to the inside. Singing experiences I utilize to enhance vocalizations, allowing the child to be aware of what their voices have the opportunity to sound like. Instrument playing allows the child to understand what their bodies are capable of doing (shaking, striking, beating, etc). They begin to develop an understanding of their actions, that if I do this, then this is the outcome. With instrument playing, I feel as though listening co-exists. The change of tempo, dynamics, stop then go, the direction of playing is a listening experience as much as it is an instrumental music experience.

[Kathryn Costanza]

In general, I view the world of music therapy practice through the lens of Neurologic Music Therapy since I went to CSU, therefore, a lot of the ways that I use any one of these activities has to do specifically with a NMT technique directed towards a specific goal. Overall, the knowledge I’ve gained through these classes has encouraged me to really understand the developmental musical level where my client is before starting to implement said techniques. NMT techniques are specific to neurorehabilitation and when viewed through the lens of development, need to be adapted for the client’s abilities and states.

How I’ve used Singing: I’ve used singing to help prompt vocal output by leaving off the ends of familiar musical phrases and having the client fill them in (NMT technique: MUSTIM). When this skill is established, I then proceed to words or phrases they need to use more frequently in daily life by embedding them at the end of musical phrases in composed songs until they, too, become familiar. By having the client learn to fill in the end and then fading the music to rhythm and then to just speech, they are learning to say specific phrases at specific times. Developmentally, I may change my use of this progression depending on where the client is in the musical stages.

How I’ve used Playing: Instrument playing has been used primarily to encourage auditory discrimination and attention through start/stop games, matching timbre, and motor goals (reaching, grasping, etc.). What Sprouting Melodies has taught me is that simply playing the instrument is a sensory exploration in and of itself and doesn’t necessarily need to be paired to a task to be neurologically productive and engaging.

How I’ve used Moving: Any movement in my sessions has been done with a metronome or steady beat underlying the musical cues to provide a rhythmic feedback loop for the client to help them create the motor plan and get immediate feedback for whether that motor plan was successful. Sprouting Melodies opened up the knowledge that entrainment may not be possible for that child/client at that time (especially in Awareness and Trust stages), but that they have their own sense of rhythm and by matching their individual rhythm (instead of providing an external one), you can be more effective.

How I’ve used Listening: I’ve personally only ever used listening when embedding academic, safety, or other information into a song for the client to learn and remember and even then would give them an active part to play in the song itself. I’ve actually shied away from using listening experiences in music therapy sessions because I was taught that listening is passive and therefore not engaging the brain in a functional way. It’s been fascinating to think of listening as an active experience (especially for the very young ones!) and that has completely changed my opinion and views on listening experiences overall. I never realized how important just a simple listening task could be to joint attention, auditory discrimination, etc.

[Katie Romano]

I have not officially used these four music experience in my practice, in the same sense Sprouting Melodies does. I HAVE used them though indirectly. All of my sessions were structured to incorporate these ideas. In the future when I use these concepts I will have a greater understanding and thought about “awareness,” “trust,” “independence,” “control” and “responsibility.” I’ve learned more about the developmental considerations to take in and I feel like my session plans will have more purpose because of it.

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