Introduce yourself to the group!

[Meredith Pizzi]

Tell us about your professional experiences and what motivated you to take this course. Be sure to include where you live, if you are already doing work in early childhood and how you would like to make this information part of your practice.

[Keeley St Clair]

Hello everyone!
My name is Keeley St.Clair and I am in private practice in Portland, OR working with all ages and abilities. Previous to starting my private practice I worked as a Pediatric Music Therapist. This gave me lots of experience working with children and their families one to one but not much experience in groups.
I began to supervise practicum students this past year for the University and one of my groups is a head start classroom for children 2-4 years of age. I’ve had such a great time with this that I decided to expand on my knowledge and repertoire of this age group.
I am also excited at the prospect of providing Sprouting Melodies branded programming to my community.
I look forward to meeting you all and journeying together through this training!

[Toni]

Hello! I’m Toni Neff, and I have a private practice in Gallup, New Mexico. I serve all ages and abilities. I was employed for 15 years as a MT in the public school setting, serving students with exceptionalities between the ages of 2 and 23 years. During that time, I received training in Music Together, Musikgarten, and DIR/Floortime; and implemented portions of those programs along with my own MT interventions. While those are all wonderful programs, I was motivated to take this course because I want to offer early childhood music groups as part of my business. I feel that becoming a provider of a branded, research based program will be more marketable than simply saying that I offer early childhood music groups. I love that Sprouting Melodies is developed by MT’s for MT’s *and* that this is not a canned program… it is “by the child not the book”! A perfect combination! I fully intend to become a Sprouting Melodies provider. I hope it is affordable to get started! I look forward to learning new things and getting to know my teachers and classmates!

[Meredith Pizzi]

Hi Everyone! I love reading the introductions! It’s so wonderful to get to know all of you and hear about your experience and what brings you to this course. I have been stopping in to read your introductions, but realized last night that although I had started this thread, I never actually posted my own introduction! So, I am Meredith Roman Pizzi. I have a few titles, all of them fun! Founder, Owner and Executive Director of Roman Music Therapy Services, the only independent community music therapy agency in Massachusetts, serving young children, children and adults with disabilities and seniors. I am also the Creator of Sprouting Melodies 🙂 The Chief Idea Generator and since 2012, The Co-Founder and CEO of Raising Harmony. Basically, I started Sprouting Melodies to meet the obvious need in my community and to solve my private practice cash flow issues. Since then, Sprouting Melodies has grown to represent 20-25% of my business and more than $40,000 in annual revenue – all prepaid, and year round which makes a big difference when most of our contracts are school based. I have had such a great response from my community here that I really wanted to share this early childhood music therapy-based model with others. That’s when Beth, who was my internship director way back when, and I joined forces to create Raising Harmony! In the past year and half we have trained over 60 music therapists in Sprouting Melodies and have Sprouting Melodies Providers in a growing number of states! You’ll hear about more of them soon! We are thrilled to have you in this course, and I assure you – if you invest your time and energy into the videos, the assignments and the conversations on this forum, you will get an incredible training that will flow directly into your clinical work each and every day and if you chose to become a provider, it will prepare you to add this new program to your services in a way that values your work, supports your community and increases your income. So dig in, enjoy the videos, the conversations and feel free to reach out to me, Beth or Erika at any time via the forums, or by email.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Welcome! I am Beth Schwartz and am thrilled to be on this journey with all of you. Meredith and I have been astounded by the excitement and support that Raising Harmony and Sprouting Melodies has received from the music therapy community.
My main work place is a wonderful therapeutic and educational center on Long Island, New York called Alternatives for Children. I’ve been there 24 years and still enjoy my work with children and families every day. I also teach music therapy for Molloy College here on Long Island.
As you already know, it has been my passion over the past few years to put down in words and songs my thoughts about music therapy practice. It is an honor to share those thoughts with you.
Closer to home, I am the mother of three grown children and so I have lots of experience with the joys and challenges of parenting.
Looking forward to getting to know all of you better.

[Siobhan Rooney]

Hello, my name is Siobhan Rooney and I am from Long Island, NY. I currently work at a school for children with special needs ages 2-8, I developed this music therapy program 16 years ago and I am the only music therapist on staff. Although I feel very lucky that I was able to create this program I tend to feel professionally isolated. I would love to learn what other music therapists are doing in their early childhood groups and would also like to expand my program (as well as my skills!). Parents often ask me if I do any Saturday programs, mommy and me groups, etc. I would love the opportunity to become a Sprouting Melodies provider because I know there is great interest and need in my community for a program like this. I also had the opportunity to work with Beth many years ago and I respect and admire her work tremendously. So, here I am!

[Kathryn Opher]

Hi there-
My name is Katie Hartley Opher and I have been a music therapist for over 25 years. I have worked with all ages but do treat a lot of young children. I own a creative arts center outside of Philadelphia PA and run typical and therapy groups in all modalities there. I have know Beth for years and want to take this course to see how things are organized in a manner that is helpful to myself and also my teaching of others. I am adjunct faculty at Drexel Unviersity’s Creative Arts in Therapy program and teach the Child Skills course to first year graduate students.

I look forward to learning some new things and meeting new people and challenging my own creativity.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone. My name is Erika Svolos. I am the online moderator for this training. I would like to start by saying how grateful I am that Beth and Meredith brought me on to be the moderator! It is an honor to be apart of this fantastic training. I have been a music therapist in New Jersey for the past 14 years. Over that time I have worked in a variety of settings including in-patient child/adolescent psychiatry, a private clinic for autism, a large urban public school, private practice, and a private special education high school for individual’s with emotional and behavioral disorders. I am currently starting my own business/private practice; Music Therapy Services of New Jersey, LLC. I completed the last Sprouting Melodies training in June and I am very excited to add Sprouting Melodies to my practice. I will be with you most of the training, but will be taking a short break to have my first child some time, hopefully, at the end of October. I look forward to being on this journey with you!

[Andrea U]

Hi everybody!

My name is Andrea and I am from Toronto, Canada. I graduated from the Master of Music Therapy degree at Wilfred Laurier University last year and have just completed my internship. Throughout my internships and placements, I worked at a pediatric rehab hospital, a women’s and children’s shelter, and the pediatric unit of an acute care hospital. I am also currently doing a ABA course. I am interested in learning as much as I can from the Sprouting Melodies course as I begin what will surely be an exciting career!

[Lauren Stoner]

Hi everyone. I am Lauren Stoner. I have been a music therapist for about 5 years. I have worked in both forensic and acute psychiatric facilities working with children, adolescents, and adults. I am currently in Evansville, Indiana working in an acute psychiatric setting. I am also in my first year at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods pursuing MAMT. I became interested in this program, because of the focus of wellness and community for children and families. I have limited experience with the baby/ toddler population, but do have some due to practicums in early childhood, women and children shelter programs, and volunteer opportunities in grief programs. I look forward to learning and look forward to our discussions.

[Stacy Reno]

Hi! I am Stacy Reno. I have worked for Tuscola Intermediate School District, in Caro, MI for 15 years. Highland Pines School is a center based program for students with special needs ages 0-26. Prior to this I worked on the adult acute psychiatric unit at McLaren Hosptial. From this course I am hoping to expand my knowledge and music base in working with the 0-5 year olds. I have a once a month parent/child group that I run with a speech therapist. I feel the groups are going well but am always looking for ways to encourage follow through at home and would love to learn new interventions. I also am looking to try some new ideas with the 3-7 years old groups I have weekly. Again I run these with a speech therapist (different from the 0-3 program). I feel so lucky to be able to have this professional support – it keeps us both on top of our game! I am looking forward to hearing what you works our there in other places!

[Jennifer Sokira]

Hi Everyone! My name is Jennifer Sokira and I am a board certified music therapist from Monroe, CT. I have been working as a music therapist for almost 12 years (!). I began my career working for four years at a day school for children with significant neurological and behavioral disorders. I started my private practice, Connecticut Music Therapy Services, LLC in 2005 and a big part of my clinical work has been in integrated preschool settings with children ages 3-5. I also have provided groups in community settings (mostly libraries) for children 0-3. CTMTS became a Sprouting Melodies Provider this past spring, however due to my having a new little one at home (I am mom of 2 boys- Ryan, 5 years and Zachary, 17 months) we chose for my business partner Emily and some of our staff to take the training, so I haven’t personally been able to facilitate the groups.

As a business owner I was really looking for a way to to meet the need for quality early childhood music in a way that didn’t re-invent the wheel, so when I learned what Meredith (we went to our undergrad together…I remember wondering who that Beth Schwartz person was that she kept harassing at conferences!) and Beth were up to, I knew we had to be part of it.

I am looking forward to expanding my repertoire of songs and interventions as well as deepening my understanding of the connections between music and development. I am definitely looking forward to getting to know you all through this experience as well!

[Shannon Kiley]

Hi everyone! My name is Shannon Kiley and I am a music therapist working in private practice in Connecticut since last year. I graduated from FSU last summer 2012 and have been board-certified since fall 2011. A large chunk of my work is with people with disabilities, and out of that chunk, most of my clients are early intervention. I hope to develop a more complete framework of knowledge in music and development (especially now that I have gotten my feet wet in the field), to become more comfortable as an “expert” in this area, and to expand my repertoire of evidence-based interventions for my clients! I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better through this course!

[Coleen Shanagher]

Hi everyone! Sorry I’m getting a little bit of a late start this week but I’m so excited to learn from everyone. My name is Coleen Shanagher. I am a music therapist working as a private contractor around new jersey. I finished school in 2012 and was so thrilled with my internship in hospice care. I love working with older adults and I loved the intensive training which comes with an internship. When I began working with children with special needs I realized that, while I’d taken the courses and read the books on special needs and young children, I missed that hands-on specific training that comes with immersing one’s self in a specific program. I thought this might give me concrete examples of music and interventions to use with young children which I can adapt for my individual and group clients.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

What a great group of music therapists! One of the best parts of this Sprouting Melodies Forum is the diversity of the course participants. We all have so much to offer each other, and I look forward to the conversations as the training continues.
Although Erika is our moderator, I check the forum frequently so please ask any specific questions you might have for me. I also encourage all of you to check back during the week to see what your fellow MTs are posting.
Beth
PS..So nice to reconnect with friends from long ago and so nice to see that many of us are still passionate about the field!

[Kehlen Bushatz]

Hi everyone! My name is Kehlen Bushatz and I am a music therapist and pre-school itinerant teacher in Dayton, OH. I have my bachelors degree in music therapy and I did my music therapy internship at Capital District Beginnings in Troy, NY, working with birth to 7 year-olds with special needs. That internship solidified my love of music therapy and working with young children with special needs. After my internship I earned my masters in Early Childhood Education and Special Education. My full-time job is as a preschool itinerant teacher working with children with special needs who are being served in a community preschool setting. I also have a few private music therapy clients. I’ve been a music therapist for 8 years and a teacher for 6 years. I’m taking this course because, even in my teaching job, I use a lot of music with my students, and I’m always looking for new ideas or ways to work with my students/clients.

[Erin Spring]

Hi Everyone! I am very behind in getting started with the training but am very excited to be participating! I am a business owner in Circleville, Ohio, just south of Columbus. My practice has 3 therapists and serves most of southeast Ohio. The business has until recently been very heavy one the adult populations, such as hospitals, hospice, nursing homes etc. I am looking to add more balance to the age range my practice serves, and create more community music opportunities for families. I also teach and supervise students for Ohio University and am looking forward to expanding and enhancing my knowledge and expertise with children as many of the sites I supervise are preschools and special education classrooms.

[Petra Paukova]

HI everyone! My name is Petra Paukova. I am also behind, but I will catch up. I am originally from the Czech Republic. I used to work there as a music/fine art teacher. I and my husband moved to Arizona 12 years ago. Year later my son was born and 3 years later he was diagnosed with autism. That’s how I got into Music Therapy field and I love it. I studied MT Equivalency program at Arizona State University, finished internship (working mostly with kids and teens with disabilities, geriatrics, hospice clients), and got certified this summer. I am trying to build my private practice and want to work with kids. I used to take my son to Music Together and loved that program. I expect to learn new materials and get more creative. Please, be patient with my grammar. It is not perfect…..:)

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Welcome, Petra. We are so glad you have joined us. I look forward to your insights.

[Sarah Tree]

Hi everyone! I know I am joining the forum very late, but for good reason. My name is Sarah Tree, and I’m so excited to begin my professional employment as a music therapist at Roman Music Therapy Services with Meredith this month! I recently completed my masters equivalency at SUNY New Paltz, and became board certified in September of 2013. I was formerly a music educator, and found that I have a passion for the focus of music therapy for individuals with special needs, and the facilitation of their development. I completed an internship at a residential facility for individuals with autism aged 7-21, and a practicum experience at a Headstart program in NY. I am so excited to get the opportunity to develop my music therapy skills, and I LOVE that Sprouting Melodies focuses on family growth in addition to the child’s development.

[Anonymous]

Welcome Sarah! So glad you could join us. If you need any help or are having technical difficulties just let us know!

[Anonymous]

Hello All! I am joining in very late as well. My name is Melody Boyd and I have also in the past month accepted employment with Roman Music Therapy Services! I am originally from Massachusetts. I received my bachelors degree in Music Therapy from Texas Woman’s University. Before graduating, I travelled back up to MA to live and to complete my internship with Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care in Newton, MA. For the past year and a half I have been working as an Activity Coordinator in a memory care unit at a retirement community facility. In July, I became board certified and about a month ago reconnected with Meredith after several years. I am really looking forward to expanding my knowledge and applying the use of music therapy to facilitate in the growth of young children and their families as I have not had as much experience with this population. I look forward to learning with you all! 🙂

[Anonymous]

Welcome Melody! I just had a daughter last month and named her Melody 🙂

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Welcome Sarah and Melody. So great to have you join us.

[Author]

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