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?

[Lydia Westle]

I found this week’s information about singing, playing instruments, moving and listening to be very helpful. Currently, in the infant/ caregiver & infant/toddler/caregiver groups that I facilitate at my hospital, I often incorporate many of the 4 different categories – although not necessarily all within the same group, depending on how patients are responding or depending on the nature of the unit. I often times rely on a lot on my voice, frequently accompanied on guitar and while I often have groups with instrument exploration opportunities, it is not uncommon for me to have groups that tend to be more receptive / listening based, especially for patients who have had chronic illness / long hospitalizations and easily over-stimulated. For a while, I was doing a group for babies with trach’s / vents who had never left their rooms and I found that for the first time or two attending it, I often times did not incorporate instruments until they were a bit more comfortable / demonstrating they could tolerate the level of stimulation in being a new environment, with other people. In these types of circumstances, I might just gently sing with guitar, will invite caregivers to join me in singing if they’re comfortable and encourage movement in ways that might be very subtle – such as rocking their baby gently to the rhythm of the music. As I watched the videos this week / reviewed the materials, I felt empowered to be a bit more intentional with considering using JUST voice, not necessarily with guitar, as I tend to sing acapella more in individual sessions than I do in groups.

In times when I’m working with babies who are more interactive / a bit less medically fragile (perhaps circumstances with less medical equipment / less levels o sedation) or toddlers, I’ve found movement and instrument exploration to be a really beautiful way to foster bonding opportunities; whether it’s bouncing on a caregiver’s lap, rowing to “row row row your boat” or exploring a baby rain stick for the first time with a caregiver.

Since starting this course and after reviewing this week’s materials, I’m finding myself to be more cognizant of noticing very subtle differences. I have also found myself to be more intentional to make sure I’m aligning with reccommendations for the different developmental phases. I also felt validated to be reminded that it is okay for children just to listen and to remind caregivers of that, as sometimes I’ve noticed that they come to a music group anticipating their child will play an instrument and seem a bit disappointed if their child isn’t engaging in an interactive way just yet. I think I could be more intentional in setting up that standard ahead of time / reminding caregivers of this.

[MacKenzie Lyons]

The information that was covered this week really helped solidify why singing, playing, moving, and listening are all vitally important when it comes to working with children. I definitely try to be aware of what types of experiences I am providing for my groups/individuals, but I think that it’s easy for me to overlook the why. Hearing and seeing how the developmental sequences were structured and how each new skill builds upon each other, helped me better understand why I do what I do. I know that each type of experience is beneficial for development, but being able to see how a child’s response changes based on where they fall in their stage of development is really amazing. Previously, I used singing, playing, moving, and listening experiences to provide variety in a music therapy setting. I was aware of the benefits of each type of experience so I thought that just implementing them was enough. I feel much more confident now that I know what I am looking for when implementing these experiences in sessions. Moving forward, I anticipate that I will be much more aware and intentional about how and when I am implementing these experiences.

[Courtney McDonald]

I use the three of the four areas very often. Listening is the most easily misplaced. The information this week has helped me to think about how listening can be more intentionally incorporated into my sessions, especially because most of my clients function in the awareness/trust stages. My job is to deepen and expand their experiences within awareness. I need to assist them to grow horizontally. I have unintentionally done this the past few weeks because I was bringing in a different, novel, instrument each week for them to experience. Part of their experience is listening to me play a simple tune.
Within movement and playing, I feel as though the information this week backed up what I am already doing. It is as if the information helps me to more accurately verbalize and solidify my experiences.
In singing, I have always looked for opportunities for clients to vocalize with me. I am going to add more musical cue to help prompt vocalization as well as give clients more opportunities within each song experience.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Thank you all for you insights 🙂

[Camryn Gallagher]

In my practice, I and another MT run a weekly music group for ages 18months-3 years. Several months ago we changed the structure of the group to include about 20-25 minutes of just allowing children and families to explore a selection of instruments together. We place them around the room to encourage children to choose which ones they are interested in and feel motivated to move towards/pick up. We try to stress to caregivers that the purpose is exploration and experimentation, and we encourage them to get down on the floor with us, follow their child’s lead, and play along.
We also have an “arts and crafts” portion of group where we combine music with visual/tactile sensory activities like finger painting, sensory bins of sand, play dough, etc. We’re singing throughout the whole group, but this tends to be when we put away the guitars/instruments and instead sing acapella. We typically sing short, repetitive songs based on what children are doing with their new tools.
After art, we move to movement songs! Again, we keep these simple and repetitive, which often leads to adapting familiar songs like nursery rhymes and Laurie Berkner tunes, and sometimes even pop songs. I also have yet to meet a group of kids who don’t fall in love with Elizabeth’s “Wiggly Jiggly Car” – before we start it, we always remind parents that the child is welcome to move to it however they feel comfortable, whether they’re sitting on their caregiver’s lap, standing up/bouncing, waving their arms, or even just listening/watching their peers. On that note, listening is a big part of everything I do in these groups and during individual sessions – I guess I just didn’t appreciate that fact until now. Just like Meredith, I find myself using a lot of “stop” and “go” during familiar songs. Often times we combine this with singing by pausing just before the end of a musical phrase to see if any children “fill-in-the-blank.” I also try to encourage caregivers to notice how specifically children show us that they’re listening, even if it’s not through eye contact or other “typical” signs of listening.

[Maura Nicholson]

Yes! I have had great success with Wiggly Jiggly Car as well! I like that you introduce it with letting the parents know that truly any response from their little one is OKAY.

[Olivia Todd]

Like MacKenzie, I have always been aware of what kinds of experiences I am providing for a group and follow a similar structure each time (when appropriate). I start with a hello song, then some kind of sitting movement song or instrument song, then a standing and more energetic movement song, then a listening song, then goodbye song. I like to explain the structure to teachers almost like a bell curve of energy, I won’t leave them with children that were just jumping around the carpet! However, this week’s readings and videos have helped me to be more intentional with what kind of experience I am choosing, and what I am looking for in those experiences. Since starting at Roman Music Therapy and learning about the gathering songs I have used them in each session. Sometimes students are just making their way to the carpet or others need a little more time or assistance to transition to music therapy. The gathering songs are a great way to ease into the music and pique their curiosity. One week I had a student walking around the room and not engaging with the teacher who was trying to get him to the carpet and as soon as I started singing he stopped walking, turned, and made his way to the carpet. He was so excited to play the tambourine!

[Maura Nicholson]

I found it so helpful to truly breakdown all of these music experiences. It has sharpened my awareness to the more subtle changes that tend to be overlooked. Right now, my daughter is so incredibly imitative and we have had a lot of fun with stopping and starting both within songs and movements. I find myself paying a lot more attention to observing her process each response that she makes to music and the choices she makes. As I prepare to start a new music group, I am also very appreciative of the language to aid in explaining the “why” to parents and caregivers who will be joining.

[Elmira Abasova]

As for many of you, It’s been helpful material this week for me too. I agree with Courtney about the importance of listening at the session. Some time ago, listening was underrepresented in my sessions. Somehow, I believed that children had to be engaged in sessions by doing actions. I tried to use more movement/instruments playing songs than singing and listening. I am glad it changed))) Also, like Olivia, I always started sessions with Hello songs. Observing Sprouting Melodies this summer, I saw how Gathering songs helpful for organizing children, and I included them in my practice.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

It was wonderful to hear about each of your experiences and. how you are using these in your practice.

[Daniel DeLucia]

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

As a therapist who is currently working within school based settings, I often use all four experiences with different children at different chronological ages and developmental levels. Usually, if I take a structured song that uses movement, I would typically scaffold the experience to have it be appropriate for that particular group of children at that specific developmental level. For example, if the movement experience was made for pre-schoolers and getting them simply to follow along to the movements, I would change it for elementary students and give them an opportunity to initiate their own movements or have the rest of the group imitate their own unique movement.

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

Yes. This course so far has been helpful in getting me to be more aware and be more intentional with the specific choices I make within the music experiences for the different groups I work with. In addition, this course so far has made me adjust previous experiences that either may have been too difficult for different developmental age groups. For example, when working with two different pre-school aged groups I realized that skills involving the level of responsibility (such as sharing instruments) were challenging for children who were developmentally on more of the awareness/trust levels compared with more neuro-typical groups of children.

[Kate Jihye Choi]

As I work with children between 0-3 years old, I often find that every child has different preferences for music experience. For example, I have a kid with mild cognition delay. He loves moving to music more than any other music experience. Arousal through the big movement makes him attend to the music better. Sometimes, I found that giving him directions like playing instruments or placing many props on the floor gets him frustrated and overwhelmed due to not knowing what to do. Understanding these four music experiences helped me approach children who have a strong preference for specific music experiences with different strategies. I am now able to divide my sessions into different music experiences and make clinical choices about how long I stay in one activity or song and when to move to the next one. I have more evidence to make clinical decisions in the session, which prepared me to answer the questions from my co-workers and the parents.

[Amy Calderon]

That’s wonderful Kate! I am glad you found a way to restructure and makes it work for your particular client. We often have to adjust as we go with each child we work with.

[Amy Calderon]

In the hospital, I use a lot of instrument play and listening. With patients who are unable to get out of bed I try to incorporate movement by having them reach to tap instruments or to kick with their legs. There are some children who love to sing and others who would prefer not to. Some are not able to sing becuas they have a trach. In my babay music class, I just started incorporating instruments last week. They really seemed to enjoy banging maracas on various things or putting it in their mouth. I let parents know that it was ok for them to put it in their mouth, becasue that is how they are exploring the world right now and I assured them The instruments get cleaned.

[Jessica Solimini]

I wish I had known about these experiences and practices when my daughter was a baby! As a “big kid” now she is always singing and dancing and gets so much enjoyment out of music. I love to know how her musical development might have been different, or come earlier, had she been exposed to music in an intentional way.

[Reagan Rademacher]

I try to use these experiences as the basis for each of my group sessions with early childhood! The children listen or sing during the hello song, and are also provided opportunities throughout the session to listen to the other children as well. I always try to incorporate instrument play in some way, including drum conversations among the class and individual small instrument improvisation. Each session usually has a fine/small motor activity and a gross motor activity for movement as well.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Thank you all for your insights.

[Mark Dunford]

I use all four music experiences with a young elementary school class. Some days it’s more movement songs and less instrument songs other days it’s less movement and more listening and instrument songs. Using the iso-principle I find breaking interventions down into these four categories is useful in facilitating a fun, engaging and balanced session. Also, many interventions I do incorporate 3 or sometimes all 4 of the elements but those are usually worked up to in the session. I don’t use many interventions that focus exclusively on singing but I’m always leaving space and encouraging/praising vocalizations throughout the session.

[Billie Junget]

Mark, I love having space for vocalizations! It’s always fun hearing how someone may fill in a blank or vocalize along with the music 🙂

[Billie Junget]

I use transition songs often, keeping the music going and using it to support the kids. I’ve also been describing the benefit of transition songs with the parents in my SM classes and teach them how to use the songs as coping. I think I use all four experiences quite often in my work, I think the balance is important while also meeting the kids where they’re at, adapting to their changing tides.

[Lincoln Bowen]

In pre-school groups especially, I try to implement a natural curve to each session- involving multiple opportunities for participation in each experience. Occasionally, the energy level of the group calls for a modification of the session curve. There have been sessions where 80% of is movement or 100% is singing familiar music, but within each of those are offerings of other experiences. Having these four frameworks is helpful in breaking down what is most appropriate or accessible in any given moment. One change I’ve been able to incorporate is the continuation of music. The usage of transition songs and even sung/chanted directions have resulted in smoother changes and simpler expectations within these sessions.

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