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.

[Kate St. John]

I use all four experiences (singing, playing instruments, moving and listening) in my practice. I use singing, playing instruments and moving the most but I also use listening. This week I was working with a 5 year old with an anoxic brain injury that resulted in global delays. He can’t sing, but we do a whole language approach with musical interventions to encourage word approximations, picture communication and sign language. He has been vocalizing a lot more since beginning music therapy and is starting to say more words! For instrument playing, he has a very difficult time grasping instruments so we are working on increasing his fine motor grasp strength. He can grasp instruments for anywhere from 2 seconds to 2 minutes. He cannot strike a drum or shake the bells since he is using all his concentration and strength just to grasp items, but he shows enjoyment with hand over hand instrument playing. He loves to move around the room and will get fussy if he is sitting still too long. He needs assistance to position his feet correctly and prompts to get started walking, and needs full support for his trunk to stay upright when walking. Once he gets going, he can take a few steps independently and kick a large ball, which is one of his favorite things to do. I always give him opportunities to get up, move, walk and kick throughout the session. Sometimes I also do hand over hand movements with him such as clapping, arms up and down, etc. This week we worked more on listening. He loves musical surprises so I do ascending and descending glissandos vocally and on the glockenspiel, start and stop, etc. This week he squeeled with laughter when I used fermatas, rests, and chord structure for “one….two……..three………..GO!” when I kicked a ball to him or when I helped him played an instrument.

[Caroline Gillott]

I use all four experiences in my treatment. I use movement the least mainly because it’s not something I feel comfortable doing. If anything, I want to make changes to how much I move and the quality of my movements in my treatment. After viewing recorded sessions I realized how stiff I looked whether at the piano (not a structured movement experience) or during a dancing experience (structured). I want to be more spontaneous and congruent (to the emotion) in my music. I do not currently see children that fall in the age range of “early childhood” but my 14 month daughter helps me out.

[Elyse Suhay]

I use all four types of experiences during my sessions. The weather has been so cold and snowy (-20 degrees for two weeks, then we got 8 inches of snow last night!) and my biggest contract is at a school, so I haven’t gotten much of a chance to implement what I have learned. However, I find myself planning out what I’m going to do in my next sessions while I’m watching the videos, and then I have to rewind to catch what I missed. You’re inspiring me to be better at what I do 🙂

I use movement because I feel it is important to take a break from sitting in your chair all day at school, and because most of my students need a chance to burn some energy halfway through the session. I feel that singing is a great way to incorporate academic goals, so I try to come up with new songs that have easy melodies to go along with what the teachers are focusing on every month. Playing instruments is probably most of my students’ favorite thing to do. They’re always asking if I brought the drums with me 🙂 I’ve only been working with these students for a couple of months, and I’m having a hard time getting information about academic goals from the teachers, so I’ve been focusing on goals such as playing and waiting, taking turns, and keeping a beat with the group. I do less with listening in most groups, but it has become a main focus of one group that I work with. They wanted to work on reading and comprehension skills, so I have them listen to a song that has a story line, and then ask them some questions about it. I have also asked my preschoolers to listen to a new song when I am introducing it.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I also use all four experiences in my music therapy sessions and in my little ones music groups. I would agree with the Kate that I use listening the least of the four experiences but I do integrate listening from time to time. I find many of my students need movement for regulation and I typically integrate some form of movement at the beginning of sessions (following greetings) and then mid-way through sessions (usually following focused work on academic concepts or academic learning). I like to vary and combine what I call “free” movement with structured movement as I find it helps kids regulate and organize. So we might shake or turn and then clap or stomp our feet within a movement intervention. The more I work one on one with kids I find that they love to simply sing favorite songs. I use a “Jukebox of Favorites” with some of my students where I keep picture symbols of favorite songs we sing over time. The students can make a song choice (or choices) at the end of our session and this gives them some control of their environment while also serving as a reinforcer for their hard work during the session. In my little one groups, I find that the “grown ups” love to sing familiar childhood songs in the music group. Near the end of the group I take “requests” and the parents/caregivers often chime in with a song or too. This helps me to know favorite songs for future groups as well. When we sing these songs, often times the “grown ups” smile and seem happy to share part of their musical memories with their little ones. This week this course is inspiring me to do more stopping and listening, following the stop with response time. That discussion was a good reminder! The kids love that and do tune in when we stop and wait… Thank you for the demonstration and reminder!

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I also use all four experiences in my music therapy sessions and in my little ones music groups. I would agree with the Kate that I use listening the least of the four experiences but I do integrate listening from time to time. I find many of my students need movement for regulation and I typically integrate some form of movement at the beginning of sessions (following greetings) and then mid-way through sessions (usually following focused work on academic concepts or academic learning). I like to vary and combine what I call “free” movement with structured movement as I find it helps kids regulate and organize. So we might shake or turn and then clap or stomp our feet within a movement intervention. The more I work one on one with kids I find that they love to simply sing favorite songs. I use a “Jukebox of Favorites” with some of my students where I keep picture symbols of favorite songs we sing over time. The students can make a song choice (or choices) at the end of our session and this gives them some control of their environment while also serving as a reinforcer for their hard work during the session. In my little one groups, I find that the “grown ups” love to sing familiar childhood songs in the music group. Near the end of the group I take “requests” and the parents/caregivers often chime in with a song or too. This helps me to know favorite songs for future groups as well. When we sing these songs, often times the “grown ups” smile and seem happy to share part of their musical memories with their little ones. This week this course is inspiring me to do more stopping and listening, following the stop with response time. That discussion was a good reminder! The kids love that and do tune in when we stop and wait… Thank you for the demonstration and reminder!

[Katie Maurer]

I’m not currently working in early childhood, but when I did last – my internship – I included singing, playing instruments, and moving into each session. I did some listening activities, but they were less often and generally occurred in one-on-one sessions.

This week’s information was a good reminder that while I may have always included the four experiences, I most likely wasn’t always using them at an appropriate developmental level. I definitely needed the reminder about using listening experiences and the importance of allowing time for the children to respond when listening.

The idea that we must always be doing ‘something’, and not always allowing time for responses, is definitely something I struggle with, not just in working in early childhood. I’ve really started to be mindful of this with my current client, a geriatric individual with special needs. Sometimes I just need to wait and give her time to formulate her response to the music. I’m waiting after singing to allow her to respond instead of jumping in with my own commentary, allowing more time for her to independently find the colored piano dot without offering assistance, not rushing into the next intervention when she wants to talk. The discussion about listening and silence this week make me want to really be mindful of this.

I’m also trying to work in some new instrument playing interventions based on the developmental levels.

[Nancy Bair]

Hi all-
My name is Nancy and I am joining this class (albeit a little late…!). I introduced myself on the week one forum and will be catching up this week to week 5 with everyone. I am so excited to be a part of this program and to use it after we are finished! Look forward to getting to know you all better as well!

Nancy

[Kristina Rio]

Welcome Nancy! We are so glad you are joining us. If you have any questions feel free to contact me here on the forum or at Kristina@romanmusictherapy.com.

@Jennifer….I love what you said about how the familiar music allows the “grown ups” to share part of their musical memories with their little ones. During my Sprouting Melodies groups, I always make a point to prompt the “grown ups” to sing along. We have such a great skill set for writing or choosing purposeful, functional, and developmentally driven music. If you can encourage the caregivers to sing, they will learn the songs quickly, be able to use them at home, and add them to their familiar musical memories with their little ones. Often my SM families comment on how they use a specific song they learned from me to help their child transition to bedtime, or that it was less of a struggle putting on the winter coat, hat, gloves, and boots to get out of the house when they used the song I taught them. The caregivers are more comfortable singing familiar words and melodies, but with a little encouragement, they will be singing along, and your songs will become their “go to” favorite familiar songs!

[Dany Orozco]

I haven’t worked too much in early childhood but I always try to incorporate the 4 types in my sessions. I think one of the great characteristics of music is that we can incorporate different goals and work towards them at the same time. For example during a call and response exercise, we can work on listening, playing an instrument and movement, especially if you give cues to play in different ways (like play the drum above you head). It’s good to read the goals broken down like in the book, it helps to think about all the things that make each stage.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

One of the things I have to always remind myself is to leave musical room for the children and parents. My voice is pretty strong, and so I have to consciously think about not overwhelming the group. The grownups usually sing more when I pull back.

[Nancy Bair]

I have used all four (Singing, Playing, Movement, Listening) in my past therapy sessions. I agree with other sentiments about how important to remember to provide time to listen (leave that dead space of sound). I also think I sometimes forget to do this and it is very powerful when it is done.
Singing is a no-brainer, seems like I’m always singing. Also, playing, that’s an easy one to add–who doesn’t want to play along while they sing. Adding movement is also wonderful for a variety of reasons from helping to “reign in” the participants to motivating others to move and participate. I would say that listening is certainly one that I mentally do within a session, but probably don’t present to others in the session as part of the music development or experience. Thanks for the reminder!!

[Cassandra Mulcahy]

I use all 4 of these experiences in my sessions for sure. I use listening-centered experiences the most with my newborn groups, and often with my 5 year olds who can tolerate it. But for those in the trust, independence and control groups I tend to have listening moments. I always try to incorporate some sort of movement in each experience. I find that my little ones need it to stay engaged. My schedule has been a vicim of snow days since beginning this course, and I have only had one early childhood group. I did not change anything during this group. Sometimes consistency is the key when schedules are upside down. However, I did find myself observing the group and beginning to pick out things that have been discussed in this course.

[Sarah jane Mason]

I also use all 4 music experiences in my practice. It’s interesting that we all realize we don’t use listening as much as the other three music experiences. I am the same! Movement is often a part of my sessions (I am currently segueing from stay at home mom back to work) because I have clients with physical disabilities. Using paddle drums for reaching, crossing midline, etc is always a favorite movement intervention. I also do a simple choreographed music and movement song with stops for anticipation and fun. Playing instruments is part of every session and I learn so much about where the client is that day, at that moment by what instrument they choose. Singing is a wonderful carrier of information as others have mentioned. One of the ways MT is different when singing with clients than just a music class, or working with a MT is more beneficial, is that we are able to understand the client’s needs, sing in their key if needed, sing at their tempo if needed, and be flexible in the moment about the song. I see many music programs in early childhood that sing along with a cd, and it doesn’t necessarily match the rhythm of the client or the group. I certainly can benefit in my sessions from incorporating more listening experiences.

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