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

[Julie Palmieri]

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

Have you made any changes in these areas since beginning this course?

[Sean FitzGerald]

Watching and working with these four experiences of listening, movement, playing instruments, and singing has made me think more critically of how my clients are participating with these experiences in my work now. I have taken more note of how my clients interact with instruments and how they engage with movement and how they engage when listening. Taking that extra step of watching how they engage with instruments rather than just trying to get them to engage in the first place has helped me to tailor my interventions more towards the specific ways my clients enjoy interacting with instruments. For example, I have clients who do are able to participate at a higher level and enjoy participating more when using simpler instruments so I offer them instead which leads to client success at a higher rate. While some of the concepts didn’t apply very directly to my work now, due to me not working in early childhood, I feel as though they have helped to shift my perspective on my work now which has been a very positive experience!

[Jorden Liteplo]

I feel like this was huge for me as an intern. I would become frustrated when a client didn’t engage as intended, rather than pivoting and appreciating that they HAD engaged.

[Jorden Liteplo]

I have used moving, playing and listening consistently across most of my groups for many years. I have also used singing but honestly feel I have undervalued it a little. I love me a good movement song when I have a mixed abilities group because they are so easy to adapt, and studies have shown movement and music and crossing the midline further development, physical literacy and coordination in addition to the music.
Playing instruments are engaging to so many kids, but my go to these days are drums or boomwhackers. I like that both are always a hit with older ‘ cooler’ kids that are harder to impress. We usually do stop and go or turn taking songs with them.
Listening activities like move and freeze or hop and stop work for most of my groups. It’s also fun to do songs where the pitch, tempo and timbre are varied, especially with drums. Even when you have a child that doesn’t attend to the fact that others have changed their criteria they are still participating in the group and attending to hitting the drum in their own way.
One way I have used singing is though lining out. Actually a few weeks ago I had a child who has limited language come to group and when I asked how he was doing today his aide shrugged. I looked at him and Sang”I’m good!” With a descending 4th and he sang it back. His aides eyes got SO wide! Now we do it every week. So maybe my takeaway is that some on the moments and integrations can be small like this instead of having to be a larger structured “intvention”!

I think that so far the biggest change in my practice is how I view my groups through the lense of the four developmental levels, it’s really shifted my thinking in terms of how I approach each activity and what I view as participation.

[Kayla Stubblefield]

I can totally relate to you when you said that you feel that you’ve undervalued singing a little!

[Jorden Liteplo]

I don’t know about you, but maybe this is because I am a singer so I take it for granted?? I feel like I spent the first few years so busy trying to strengthen my “weak” areas that I forgot the power of ones own voice!

[Leah Strand]

I have definably used movement, listening, and playing. Constantly with sensory regulation in single client sessions movement is a big one. Making it easier to regulate and take home what they learn with each movement has been great for the child and their caretaker. Stop and go I’ve used with more familiar songs and improvisation when making music both with me giving the directions and then giving the client control as we play together. Learning more about the intentional aspects of these areas will really help my musical cues for the future.

[Kayla Stubblefield]

Movement is HUGE for sensory regulation, especially depending on the child you’re working with.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Thank you each for sharing how you use these music experiences in your clinical work.
-Erika

[Kayla Stubblefield]

I have used all four- listening, singing, movement, and playing in my clinical work. I practice from a more trauma-informed approach, and even with that approach I still use the four music experiences. To illustrate how I use the experiences in my trauma-informed practice, I am going to use a current client as an example. She is in kindergarten and has had lots of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in her lifetime. She has a diagnosis of ADHD. She loves to sing and move- but our sessions happen during her lunch time at school, so moving while she is eating is not always appropriate. We love reading the book “The Animal Boogie” by Barefoot Books. With the book, we sing along to the tune, mimic the movements that the various animals make, maintain a steady beat on instruments, and match the intensity of the music. This is one of the many ways I have used these music experiences to work on emotional regulation and impulse control. If she is off task and becomes distracted, I use gathering songs to encourage her to stay on task and finish the activity we started.

[Angie Snell]

As you know, I am not currently doing direct service on a regular basis. However, when in the clinical setting, I initially use singing, playing instruments, moving, and listening music experiences to assess the children. And Schwartz’ developmental framework provides a great way to explain what I have observed in the child’s/person’s music responses and how it relates to their everyday lives. Of course, after that, I use these four music experiences in a responsive and flexible way going forward. With my early childhood groups, I typically arrange 10-20 minutes with the parents/caregivers and staff to give them an overview of what and why I encourage them to model music engagement, refrain from correcting or trying to shape their child’s responses. I then practice some of the songs I have planned with them and share some of the developmental information. We practice some strategies such as simple modeling, timed touches, knee bouncing, and shared smiles at marked points in the different music experiences. I encourage them to accept their child’s responses unconditionally and focus on creating moments of emotional connection/bonding and to create positive memories associated with music making. I also allow the parents/caregivers to respond in the way they are most comfortable and that their child will notice how they are being musical, whether it is by small or animated toe/finger tapping, movements, singing, and or instrument play.

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