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

[Anonymous]

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

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

[Holly Jurca]

I have used the “listen” aspect along with “play” in one intervention. “First we listen, then we play” is how it starts. Then I tap a rhythm on a paddle drum and hand it over for them to repeat. It has been a good assessment tool and is one that I will repeat throughout my time in a school to assess any advances.

One change that I foresee happening is using music throughout the transitions of interventions. One song that I find particularly intriguing (which I will try tomorrow) is “Sit Down With Me.” Sometimes I am unsure of how to harness the energy that is cultivated with a movement or even instrument song. Using the “sing” and “listen” aspect of music experiences will be helpful!

[Meghan Hanley]

It’s amazing how many experiences we can combine in one song. For transitioning, I have been harnessing the energy from a movement experience to calmer movement completed while sitting down, such as stretching, waving up high, or pretending to imitate playing instruments. They really like pretending to play drums on the ground or playing the “piano” in the air!

[Meghan Hanley]

I have used singing to encourage vocalizing with children in a mixed-abilities school setting. Since starting the course, I have made some changes to my melodies and rhythms to allow more opportunities for matching pitches. For children who are closer the responsibility stage, I encourage them to high and low with more advanced rhythms.
For instrument play, I like to incorporate the opportunity for sensory input. Many of the children enjoy reaching towards the guitar to place their hands on the body of the instrument to feel the vibrations. For some of the children, I encourage them to make choices to play fast or slow.

For movement experiences, I have used lyrics about sleeping and swimming goldfish with matching accompaniment patterns to encourage repetitive movements such as moving to fast music and instinctual movements, like relaxed body to slow music.

For listening experiences, last week, I had a new child in my classroom. I played familiar songs, such as “You are my Sunshine,” to help with acclimating to the setting and encouraging trust.

[Diandra Doble]

I love that you have varied the pitches for the children in the responsibility level. It’s a nice balance of challenging them with those advanced pitches and rhythms while also making it so they can engage and not feel overwhelmed and discouraged at the same time.

[Erika Svolos]

Thank you for sharing all the creative ways you are using these music experiences. I always find questions like this help to tap into my own creativity and I get new ideas from other’s responses as well.

[Elizabeth Bentz]

Singing – I use singing in my practice to encourage vocalizations. Often times I will teach a functional phrase using a simple melody. I have also taught personal information using an original song.

Playing Instruments – I use playing instruments as a way to access motor movements. Since I work in the ID/DD population, I frequently address gross and fine motor movements as goals. I have been taking note recently of one of my client’s ability to play the drum with a steady beat to the music.

Moving – As stated above, I have several clients who address gross motor skills in sessions. I typically use predictable and familiar movement to music songs with one client. Some days she’s all in, other days I have to amp up my energy to get her to participate.

Listening – One thing I like to do in sessions is change a familiar song in some way, either by holding a note out for a long time, or holding a pause for a long time, and watching my client’s reaction. It’s a great way to pull them back into the session.

[Diandra Doble]

I have used playing instruments in relation with reaction time and observing the client’s responses. I felt that it was so helpful to hear them talk about how grownups may sometimes may think children are “not following directions” when in actuality, they are just jumping into the music developmentally and exploring. I am going to use the knowledge I have gained here at a site that I work at where a lot of the staff believe that the children need to be doing that right action and at the right time or they are not appropriately engaging in music. Overall, I want to more accurately and directly work on these children’s development by advocating for them and letting the adults know that exploring, listening and watching are all very much appropriate responses!

[Holly Jurca]

I love your point about grownups not really understanding that children are exploring and developing in a musical sense. I think this is exactly the value of this course! We as MT/PS can educate parents and also give kids the space to be uniquely themselves and where they are in development.

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