Introductions

[Julie Palmieri]

Share your professional experience with the group and what your hopes and expectations are for this course.

Be sure to come back and respond to others as well.

[Meredith Pizzi]

Welcome to the Sprouting Melodies training! I’m looking forward to meeting all of you here in the forum and reading about your unique expertise and interests. You will get to know Meredith and me quite well over the course, so here is a little more personal background. I am a grandmother now, with 4 year old Max and 1 year-old Shani. It is such a wonderful opportunity to revisit all of the songs and music up close and personal with my own family. Shani’s favorite is a song called ‘Ten Little Fingers’ from my new song book – Together with the Beat.
Although I’m retired from clinical work, I still am quite busy teaching at both Molloy and Shenandoah Universities. My latest passion is assessment in music therapy. I’ll be presenting on music-centered music therapy assessments at the World Congress for Music Therapy this coming summer in Vancouver, Canada.
I will be checking in on the forum from time to time, but you are in good hands with Erika. Feel free to reach out to any of us through email at any time. Elizabeth

[Ceara Chiapparelli]

I didn’t know that you were at Shenandoah University! That is so awesome and I disappointed I missed being able to take courses with you!

[Jorden Liteplo]

That is exciting! Myself and my current intern will be attending world congress! I landed here in this course when you presented at the Canadian Association of Music Therapy’s conference.

[Angie Snell]

I am so happy to be in this course after attending several of your workshops over the years, Elizabeth!

[Kayla Stubblefield]

Hello! My name is Kayla Stubblefield. I graduated from Ohio University in 2021 & completed my music therapy internship at Bridgeway Academy in Columbus, OH. I have been board-certified since July of 2022 and relocated back to my college town in Athens, OH to work for Central Ohio Music Therapy. Currently, I work with adolescents in juvenile corrections, behavioral healthcare agencies, rehabilitation facilities, and adults in corrections. I am recently engaged and love serving at my church in Athens, taking long walks, and crocheting! I look forward to hearing more about you all.

Kayla

[Ceara Chiapparelli]

Wow, you sound like a fascinating and wonderful person. 🙂

[Jorden Liteplo]

ohh, I also love to crochet!

[Angie Snell]

Kayla, I live north of you just over the Ohio-Michigan border in Monroe, Michigan. I am about 30 north of Toledo.

[Sean FitzGerald]

Hello all! My name is Sean FitzGerald and I have been working as a full time music therapist for roughly a year and a half. I graduated from Temple University in 2021 and after completing my internship in geriatrics. After graduating, I became board certified and worked at Infinity Music Therapy Services in Southington, CT for one year. There I worked mainly with individuals with a wide range of ages and developmental levels. I now have worked at Roman Music Therapy Services in Wakefield, MA for 6 months and I have enjoyed mainly working in schools with groups. I am also in graduate school for clinical mental health counseling at night which has been very fun so far. My hopes for this course are to help expand my “toolbox” and to deepen my knowledge of early childhood music therapy! I also look forward to reading everyone’s responses and collaborating over the course of this experience 🙂

[Ceara Chiapparelli]

Hi Sean!
Temple has such a great program, that is awesome… and your grad program sound so cool!

[Angie Snell]

Hi Sean! I am finally up and running in this course. It is nice to be in a cohort with a co-worker. I am looking forward to being able to discuss what we are learning each week.

[Ceara Chiapparelli]

HI Everyone,

My name is Ceara Chiapparelli and I do a lot of different things. Primarily, I am the Director of Program Development at Central Ohio Music Therapy. I also adjunct for the music therapy department at Ohio University, and do admin support for a small music organization here in Columbus, OH.
Prior to that I worked in hospice and hospital settings for several years, and was a K-12 music teacher prior to that- coming to music therapy a little bit later that a traditional student.
I have a bachelor’s equivalency in music therapy and a master’s in music therapy both from Shenandoah University in Virginia.
I do actually do a little bit of private practice for COMT, running the soundbirthing and lullabies for healthy lives program at the state women’s prison.
I am so excited to be here and be really diving into this training to get some more tools in my toolbox!

[Jorden Liteplo]

Sound birthing? I would love to know more about that. Music was big with my first birth.

[Angie Snell]

Ceara, it is great to meet you in here. I am a few hours north of you just over the Ohio border in Michigan!

[Leah Strand]

Hi everyone! My name is Leah Strand and I am fresh out of my internship. I graduated from Ohio University recently, did my internship in Florida at Florida Music Therapy, and am now starting my career with Central Ohio Music Therapy. I am currently working on getting my MT-BC. During my internship experience, I worked with a lot of kids mainly in individual settings. I also had a good amount of experience working with neurodivergent kiddos and really enjoyed my experience with them. Im really excited to expand my knowledge with this course and to see how I can use it in my starting career.

[Kayla Stubblefield]

Hi Leah! 🙂 Great to see you.

[Angie Snell]

Hello Leah, There are several of us here from the Great Lakes Region. Hooray for Ohio! I am looking forward to getting to know you in the coming weeks.

[Erika Svolos]

Hi Everyone,

I apologize I am a little late in posting.
It is a pleasure to read all of your introductions!

My name is Erika Svolos. I have been the online moderator for the Sprouting Melodies training for the past 9 years. I live in New Jersey with my husband, my 9 yo daughter, and our cats Moose and Sir Didymos.

It is a joy to be a part of this fantastic program and to join in your Sprouting Melodies journey. I am a graduate of Marywood University, currently finishing up my graduate degree at Montclair State University. I’ve been a clinical music therapist for the past 24 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 system, private practice, a private special education high school for individuals with emotional and behavioral disorders, and a private Orthodox Jewish special education school. 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 was a wonderful addition to my practice. I began offering Sprouting Melodies classes in February of 2014 and I’ve truly enjoyed working with my SM families.

I will be assisting with any questions and/or technical difficulties.

You should have received 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.svolosmtbc@gmail.com.

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

[Angie Snell]

Hi Erika, I am so happy to finally be up and running on this forum and I appreciate all your support. You bring a lot of experience here. I have been a fan of Sprouting Melodies for many years through conference presentations and following Elizabeth and Meredith’s work. I am so happy to now have the opportunity to take the training.

[Jorden Liteplo]

Hi everyone, I’m Jorden and I’m Canadian.

I graduated in 2015 from one of only 6 music therapy programs in Canada. I currently run groups for neuro divergent kids in my local school district, and started my own private practice in 2016 and opening my own studio in 2017.

My daughter was born two weeks into the pandemic, so there were no music or other early childhood programs at the time. This and some nudging by a few bored mom friends prompted me to launch early music classes at my studio in addition to music therapy. I developed my own program but I am looking for something to inspire me as I’m beginning to feel stagnant and I’m hoping this course can help. I have worked in churches, long term care facilities and community programs. I currently serve over 150 (!) kids a week in studio, school district, preschool, childcare, and after school programs in my community.

[Angie Snell]

Hi Jorden,
Great to have the opportunity to take this training with you and the others here. Exciting to hear that you have started offering early music classes. Incredible that you work in a variety of settings and that you serve over 150 children. Wow.

[Angie Snell]

Hello to All here!

My name is Angie and I am coming to you from Monroe, Michigan. I have 2 sons, a daughter, 2 daughters-in-love, 1 son-in-love….and FIVE wonderful grandkids. They bring me so much joy and happiness. I am semi-retired and fortunate to be working in the field that I love.

Early in my career, I initially worked for a partial day treatment program and for FAR Conservatory for Therapeutic and Performing Arts, a nonprofit arts organization. However, the majority of my work has been as a public schools music therapist. I worked for Detroit Public Schools for 2 years and then spent the following 34-35 years with the Monroe County Intermediate School District (MCISD), located about 30 min. south of Detroit. I worked with children ages zero to 26. I retired from MCISD in 2020 and found that I missed the students, their families, and having the privilege of sharing music and music therapy every day with them and the community. MCISD provides special education to all the schools in the county, so I worked in 9 public school districts and 3-4 private schools. Fortunately, in the fall of 2020 Eastern Michigan University called to have me provide clinical supervision for some of their practicum students when needed (typically in the Fall semester). In 2021, Roman Music Therapy Services needed a Clinical Coordinator, so I fill that role through the magic of Zoom part-time and it is so much fun! I love it there. My passions are early childhood, inclusive education, parent support, transition planning, and community outreach.

[Jorden Liteplo]

Wow! I can definitely see myself only ever managing semi retired! What lucky grandkids!

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