Introductions

[Meredith Pizzi]

Introduce yourself to the group. 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.

[Kristina Rio]

My name is Kristina Barbo and I am one of the online moderators for this course. I live in Reading MA. I graduated from Anna Maria College, and I currently work at Roman Music Therapy Services(RMTS) with Meredith Pizzi as a music therapist, Sprouting Melodies Provider, and practicum student supervisor. I work with a diverse clientele from birth to end of life in various populations. I have been a Sprouting Melodies Provider for three years in July. I participated in the live training in NY with Beth and Meredith in June of 2012, and completed the online training in November of 2012 after I became a board certified music therapist. My online training experience was unique as I had already started to lead SM groups of my own, which was very helpful as a refresher, and gave me the opportunity to absorb the information in a more applicable way. I will be present during this entire online training course to be a resource for you throughout your experience. I am here to respond to any questions you may have and offer my support as best I can, so please feel free to contact me here on the forum! You can also contact me by email with any specific questions you may have at kristina@romanmusictherapy.com. I look forward to getting to know all of you over the next several weeks!​

[Corie Barkey]

Hello! My name is Corie Barkey. I am a music therapist in the Buffalo area. I have been working in early education for the past six years leading music therapy groups in an integrated preschool setting as well as providing individual services for children who receive music therapy on their IEPs. I have recently been brought on full time by the agency I work in to service all of their early education locations. I also own a small private practice in which I service birth through school age. I am a graduate of SUNY Fredonia and also a current graduate student there. I am pursuing my LCAT and it is through that journey that I have been inspired to take this course. I am passionate about the availability of music therapy services to all members of the community especially early intervention. I am also a mother of 3 young boys ages 5, 3, and 1. I am so excited to learn as much as I can from this course to better serve the students that I work with, my community as well as have some fun with my own family. Thanks a bunch for reading and I look forward to getting to know the rest of the participants as we journey on!

~ By the way, Beth and Meredith, a hand written welcome card was the sweetest gesture and I already feel comfortable and excited about this experience. Thank you

Corie

[Emily Baroody]

Hi! My name is Emily Baroody and I am currently employed at the Manchester Community Music School in Manchester NH. I studied at Seton Hill University outside of Pittsburgh PA and completed my internship last year at Shriner’s Hospitals for Children-Boston. I have just completed my first year of professional practice and am on the path to gain as much knowledge as possible to help me grow as a professional. Over this past year I have had the opportunity to work with integrative preschool groups, individuals in classroom and private settings and run a music for little ones group at the music school(this is like a mommy and me music group with an age range of 6mos-5yrs). My experience with early childhood education has been wonderful. I have witnessed a lot of growth and had a blast music making with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. However I have always felt like something was missing. I felt that my particular skills as a music therapist could be honed in a deeper way. When I was at my conference this past April and had an opportunity to participate in Elizabeth Schwartz presentation on early childhood music therapy, I knew sprouting melodies was a way for me to learn more and be able to provide an even better service to my community. I like that it is a program from music therapists for music therapists as I feel that my training as a music therapist is a unique offering I have for my community here in NH.

[Cynthia Cross]

Hello! My name is Cindy Cross and I live and work in Michigan. I have worked in special education for the last 10 years. I work with students ages 3-26 with a variety of cognitive, emotional, and physical impairments. As of last year my schedule was reduced to 50%. I finished my master’s degree and began exploring the possibility of private practice. I am hoping to utilize this course to beef up my offerings for the early childhood groups I currently serve through my employer and to allow me to begin a practice in my community. Early childhood is such a big area in education so I feel this is an awesome opportunity to establish a MT presence with this population. I also love the idea of being part of the wellness movement. As a music therapist I often focus on making life better for my clients – the elusive “quality of life” goal. I think it is important that we are represented in all areas in which we can make a contribution. I am so looking forward to working with you all during the next several weeks!

[Cynthia Cross]

Just did my gravatar so seeing if it worked – also got my book today! Can’t wait to get started…

[Laura Silvestain]

Hi! My name is Laura Silvestain, and I am currently a student at the University of Evansville in Indiana. I have had practicums working with older adults with and without dementia, adults in a rehabilitation unit, and middle school-age children with severe and pervasive developmental disabilities in which some of Beth Schwartz’s practices were used. Since deciding I wanted to major in music therapy, I have been interested in working with young children, and I am excited to be able to this upcoming school year. In the fall, I will begin a project testing the validity and reliability of Beth Schwartz’s assessment: Music Indicators of Early Childhood Development. I am taking this course in order to learn more about early childhood and music therapy in general, as well as more of the specifics of Sprouting Melodies and Raising Harmony.

[Brianna McCulloch]

Hello! My name is Brianna McCulloch, and I’m a music therapist working in Vacaville, CA (about halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco). Following my internship, I worked for about a year under a FABULOUS music therapist in her private practice in the Sacramento area. Our clients were pre-school and school-age children with various developmental exceptionalities. We also had a number of community “mommy and me” style groups, mostly hosted in homes. After the birth of my son, I decided I didn’t want to commute and my experience working for the music therapy agency in Sac gave me the extra confidence boost I needed to fulfill my dream of opening a private practice. I began my practice within a nonprofit music conservatory, and in under a year was invited to create a music therapy division within the music conservatory. I have one mommy and me group that meets weekly, but I look forward to providing an increasing value for the families I work with. I’m currently working on creating a partnership with our local early-intervention providers; I look forward to this training helping me utilize my skills as a music therapist to enhance the early childhood experiences I offer.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone. My name is Erika Svolos. I am one of the online moderators for this training. I live in New Jersey with my husband, my 20- month old daughter, and our four cats. It is a joy to be apart of this fantastic program and to join in your Sprouting Melodies journey. I am a graduate of Marywood University and have been a music therapist in New Jersey for the past 15+ 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. In August 2013 I started my own business/private practice; Music Therapy Services of New Jersey, LLC. I completed the April 2013 Sprouting Melodies online training and it is a wonderful addition to my practice. I began offering Sprouting Melodies classes in February of 2014 and I am truly enjoying working with my SM families.

I will be assisting with any questions and/or technical difficulties. I will be sending you an email with information about the online forum technology and my contact information. If you do not receive the email, please contact me at erika.svolos@gmail.com.

I am looking forward to getting to know each of you over the next ten weeks!

[Mary Kerrigan]

Hello all! My name is Mary Kerrigan and I am a music therapist in the Worcester County area of Massachusetts. I am currently working full-time with adults with developmental disabilities ages 22 to about 90 through a non-profit human services agency based in Worcester, MA. I am also a member of the Roman Music Therapy Services team part time in which I receive most of my opportunities working with children and adolescents which I love! I received my bachelors degree in music therapy from Immaculata University in PA in June of 2012 and have been practicing as a professional MT ever since. I am currently in my last 2 credits of my Masters in Music Therapy degree online through Colorado State University and I just recently earned my certificate as a Neurologic Music Therapist in February of this year. As much as I do treasure and enjoy my work with the adult population, ever since I decided to study music therapy and become a music therapist, my passion in the field has always been in working with children. In December of 2014 my cousin gave birth to her son prematurely at 30 weeks and he was in the NICU for about 2 months. He is now a thriving 1 1/2 year old and doing great and in the time since he was born he has shown such an incredible interest in music. My family has always supported my career but I think in watching my little cousin connect and develop through music, my family finally, truly understands what it is that we as music therapist do and the power of our field. This personal experience and my desire to continue to work towards increasing my experience in working with children, especially early childhood, now has inspired me even more to pursue the Sprouting Melodies training and I hope to practice more as Sprouting Melodies provider in the future! I have enjoyed reading everyone’s posts and your experiences and am excited to continue this training with you all!

[Melaine Pohlman]

Hello! My name is Melaine Pohlman and I live and work in Geneva, IL; a far western suburb of Chicago. I’ve maintained a successful full and part time Music Therapy practice since entering the field in 2001 focusing my work and energies on work with older adults as well as young children. I have been credentialed as an Early Intervention Provider in Illinois since 2004. MT-BCs can be credentialed as Developmental Therapists and this gives me an in to work with some wonderful families in the EI system. As the mom of two (9 years and 6 years old), I find both my clinical and maternal knowledge and experiences as well as my love of little ones make this work quite satisfying and enjoyable!

In recent years I have wanted to create and begin an early childhood group in our area. I find that the wonderful park districts in our area offer some of the nationally branded early childhood music groups, but there is not a group or environment where those who might have special needs can feel comfortable. The Sprouting Melodies program intrigues me as an option to offer these families. Having been in the field for almost 15 years (YIKES!) I’m looking forward to this training being a little professional energy boost that can help me figure out how I can bring some groups to life in our area. I’m looking forward to the online interactions and musical “booster shots” that will come with new repertoire and ideas. As well, I’m hopeful that I can gain some sound business ideas and insight to help bring a program like Sprouting Melodies to our community and continue to advocate for Music Therapy.

I look forward to the coming weeks! Thanks to Meredith and Elizabeth for the warm welcome and resources to get us started!

[Mary Carter]

Hello! My name is Mary Carter and I’m a music therapist living in Montclair, New Jersey. I graduated from Montclair State University a little over two years ago and immediately after graduation began working full time as a music therapist in a private school for children with severe developmental and medical needs ages 3-21. I loved the children and found my work challenging and fulfilling. Unfortunately due to my overwhelming case load (close to 90 students and about 45 sessions a week + concerts/events to plan with no prep time) and a salary I could not live on (not-for-profit) I was completely burnt out in just a year and a half. I made the decision to leave my job to pursue opening my own private practice which I have been developing over the last couple months. I am hoping to launch Enriching Rhythms Music Therapy, LLC in September to provide in home services for children with developmental needs and early intervention clients. Many of the online courses I took through musictherapyed.com (which I would highly recommend) on business and private practice mentioned this program as something to add to your services and I loved the idea. My mother was a music educator in the school system who went on to develop her own parenting with music courses that brought her much joy and she has always pushes me to add something like this to my repertoire.

I’m not sure how personal we can get here or how this will sound (I hope it doesn’t come across strange) but I think adding a service like this to my practice will be something healthy for me. I do love working with special needs populations and think that I am very strong and talented and can provide a valuable service for my clients and their families. I found though working at the school where I was only exposed to children who were a small percentage of the population and who were most often in pain, discomfort or distress that I developed a warped sense of children in general. Eye gaze, switch hitting or head turning was considered a major success and while we rejoiced in these successes they were often few and far between. Joy was not something that was a guaranteed part of my day. I don’t want to sound like I practice music therapy to get something from it, but I think that adding something like this to my practice where you are not always working with sick children and can just have fun with families who are less stressed will be something that may help prevent burnout. A change of pace if you will. (And yes, I do things for myself like going for runs with super fun music in my ears and supervision but I think this is still a great way to diversify my practice.)

[Molly Moses]

Hello! My name is Molly Moses and I am a music therapist in Winter Park, Florida. I graduated from Florida State University last month with my equivalency/Master’s degree. I completed my internship at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, and absolutely loved working with the infants, children, and their families. I completed my NICU-MT certification while at FSU, and my practicum included working with student veterans, preschool-aged children, middle school-aged children, older adults, and adults in the medical setting. At conference in 2013, I attended a session on Sprouting Melodies and loved it. I am working towards starting my private practice in Central Florida and am so excited to learn how to lead these groups in order to incorporate them into my practice. I can’t wait to learn more and to get to know all of you in the next few weeks!

[Mary Jane Dibble]

Hello! My name is Mary Jane Dibble. I work as a music therapist in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have been working in private practice for the past year with a variety of populations including children with developmental delays and children with various disabilities. This course was recommended to me by another music therapist who took the course and really enjoyed it. I have been wanting to gain as much knowledge and skills as I can in order to provide the best care for my clients and I am hoping I can work even more with children in the future. I’m looking forward to this course and in getting to know you all.

[Kristina Rio]

It is so great to read about all of the great work everyone is doing. Thank you for sharing, and I’m happy to hear all of the excitement going forward!

[Anonymous]

Mary I am located in NJ too! I am the only MT offering Sprouting Melodies in the state and I am so excited you are planning to add this to your practice! Let me know if you might want to get together and possibly visit one of my Sprouting Melodies classes.

So great to read about everyone’s backgrounds and the wonderful work you are all doing. I am also looking forward to following you on your Sprouting Melodies training journey.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Welcome all! It is so exciting for me to read through the introductions in each new Sprouting Melodies course. I am constantly impressed by the vast experience that all of you bring to the training, and your passion for the field and for children and their families.
You will get to know me well throughout the weeks, but here are a few more personal details. In addition to Raising Harmony, I work several days a week as the senior music therapist at a therapeutic preschool called Alternatives for Children on Long Island, New York. On Thursdays, I work as an adjunct instructor in music therapy at Molloy College, and the experience of teaching is one I really treasure.
I have a wonderful family with three grown children and I can assure those of you that are parents that all of the work is worth it!
You have a wonderful team of forum moderators with Erika and Kristina, but please feel free to contact either Meredith or myself at any time.

[Author]

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