Introductions

[Anonymous]

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.

[Celia Grove]

Hello! My name is Celia Grove, and I’m a music therapist from Northern Virginia! I went to Elizabethtown College in PA and graduated in 2018. I completed my internship with Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, working in both an elementary school, and an adaptive school with kids in grades K-12. After my internship, I spent the first two and a half years of my working experience working for a Medicaid waiver provider in Indiana, providing individual services to a wide variety of ages and diagnoses, including early childhood. Last year, I decided to move back to the DC metro area, which is where I’m originally from, and started working for a private practice providing in-person and virtual music therapy, as well as adapted piano, ukulele and voice lessons.
I have wanted to take the Sprouting Melodies course for quite a while- I remember being very impressed and excited when seeing Raising Harmony at conference sessions, but finding the right timing has been hard. As we emerge from some of the shutdowns of the pandemic, I find myself needing a refresher on my group-leading and community building skills, as well as more musical inspiration for my early childhood clientele, so I think that taking this course now will help me to do just that! Looking forward to working and learning with you all!

[Hally Batterman]

Hi Celia! I was actually born in Alexandria and lived in the area where you completed your internship! It was beautiful down there and I miss it a lot! We moved up to Long Island when I was 5 so that I could grow up around my family. Your work sounds like a blast!

[Samantha M Lawrence]

Hi Celia! I can’t wait to hear your contributions relating to virtual MT! I’ve done so much virtually and it can be so isolating. It will be great to have another voice in how to best serve our virtual kiddos.

[Brenna Sheaffer]

Hi Celia! I am also from PA! I went to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh! DC is not too far from where I’m located.

[Hally Batterman]

Hi everyone! My name is Hally Batterman and I’m an MT-BC from Long Island, NY. I have been practicing as a professional in the field for 3 years now. I currently work full-time at a facility in Hauppauge, NY called the Music Academy for Special Learners where we offer music therapy, community music, as well as adapted lessons to children and adults of all ages and abilities. I have been with the Music Academy for a little over 4 years now. My heart has always been in early childhood. I graduated with a BS in Music Therapy from SUNY Fredonia in 2017 and I went on to intern under Elizabeth Schwartz at Alternatives for Children (a set of 4 pre-schools for children with disabilities). After Beth retired from AFC, I took over as the music therapist at the Dix Hills location. I recently decided to go back to school to pursue my Masters in MT from Molloy University. I hope to finish my coursework in the next couple of years and then apply for my LCAT. Once I got my acceptance letter from Molloy, I made the difficult decision to leave my job at the pre-school and just continue working at the one job at the Music Academy. Two jobs plus graduate school just wasn’t manageable. However, I miss my early childhood work so much. I actually took this training once before back in 2019. It has been a while and I know the training has been re-recorded/updated since I last took it. I am currently in the process of setting up a “mommy and me” type of program at the Music Academy and thought it might be a good idea to re-take this training so that I would have a nice refresher on many of the tools I will need to get myself started in this new program. There is a need for these kinds of early childhood music groups in my area on Long Island, but not much is being done about it. I plan on organizing a program with the help of my boss through the Music Academy so that we can better service the families and children in our area.

[Celia Grove]

Hi Hally! Congrats on getting started on your Masters! Excited to be learning with you, and hope to hear more about how your new program goes as it gets started!

[Samantha M Lawrence]

Hi Hally! I’m in awe of your ambition. Grad school & working & starting a new program! All so exciting!!!

[Erika Svolos]

Hello everyone, my name is Erika Svolos. I have been the online moderator for the Sprouting Melodies training for past 9 years. I live in New Jersey with my husband, my almost 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 will be receiving 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!

[Samantha M Lawrence]

Hi everyone! My name is Sam Lawrence. I’m from upstate NY and I’ve been a music therapist for 4 years. I completed my Bachelors and Masters at SUNY New Paltz. While I was there I interned at Hudson Valley Hospice and I wrote my thesis about the use of lullabies in hospice music therapy. As I entered my professional career, I intended on working in hospice. It felt like immediately after completing my boards, I happened upon a private practice position through a friend of friend kind of situation. I wasn’t going to pass up getting a job in the field and so I started working with mostly kids in schools as well as few adult group homes. I’ve been in this same position in many capacities since. I was part-time as I finished my thesis and then started a full-time schedule Fall of 2019, which quickly became very part-time and virtual as the pandemic unfolded. I have continued that job as part-time and 100% virtual, and I’ve now moved to Vermont where I also do some in-person work in nursing homes as an independent contractor.

I’m so excited to begin this journey into early childhood music therapy. I’ve always said that I “accidentally” started working with children. It’s been such a joy to discover how much I enjoy doing music with little ones! I’ve just started some virtual work in pre-schools and I can’t wait to start trying out some new tools in these groups.

[Brenna Sheaffer]

Hi Everyone!

My name is Brenna and I currently work for Noteable Progressions in Frederick Maryland. I primarily work with children aged Pre-K up to high school age in Frederick County Public Schools.

I have been practicing for about 2 1/2 years now and I absolutely love what I do! I have a rescue dog named Macchiato and I love to go to farmers markets and spend time with family and friends.

I’m hoping to continue to grow as a Music Therapist and develop new methods and strategies to work with various clients and populations. Looking forward to learning!

[Caitlyn Pawelek]

Hello everyone!

My name is Caitlyn Pawelek. I also currently work at Noteable Progressions in Maryland. I work primarily in the school setting with children with IDDs, but I also have some older adult and adults clients. I have been a music therapist for over a year and a half now. I have spent my first year as a contracted music therapist doing home visits with primarily children with IDDs. I graduated from Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte NC in 2019. I have completed my internship at a private practice in Tulsa Oklahoma. I have two pups named Cooper and Finley. A huge goal of mine is to have them registered at therapy dogs so I can take them to work with me!

I have always loved working in early childhood, so I am very excited to take this course and expand my knowledge with the population. I hope to use what I learn here to bring into my current sessions as well as hope to build more groups in my area!

Excited to be joining you all in the group!

[Grace Baer]

Hey everyone!

My name is Grace Baer, and I work at Noteable Progressions in Frederick, MD. I work mostly with individual elementary and middle-school students and with Pre-K groups in Frederick County Public Schools.

I completed my internship with Noteable Progressions, and I was so glad to be working with a private practice and gaining experience with so many different types of clients. After graduating with my Bachelor’s in music therapy from Charleston Southern University in South Carolina this past May and getting my certification, I was hired on as a staff music therapist at Noteable. I live in Pennsylvania with my husband, and we love growing our collection of cool plants (one day I’ll have dogs and cats!).

As time goes on and I gain more experience, I find that I’m drawn to working more with the early childhood population, so I’m eager to expand my knowledge through this training. My hope is to grow my toolbox of strategies, techniques, and session ideas for working with young children individually and in group settings.

Looking forward to learning from everyone!

[Leeann Mcmorrow]

Hello everyone!

I joined this course a bit late and I am working on catching up this week!
My name is Leeann McMorrow and I live in Watertown, Massachusetts. I graduated from Elizabethtown College in 2011 and I worked in hospice for almost 10 years, primarily with Seasons (now called AccentCare). While at Seasons, I worked as a Music Therapy Intern, Music Therapist, Associate Team Director, and Director of Patient Experience. I carried a pediatric palliative case load for a while as a music therapist, but primarily my work was with older adults in hospice care and I thought I would do that forever because I was (and still am) very passionate about it. But then my life changed.
In January 2021, I gave birth to my daughter Bridget during the height of the pandemic. When I returned to work after maternity leave, something felt off. Last fall, I decided to leave full time hospice work and take a flexible part time job as a children’s director at a local church. Between my new job and becoming a mom, working with kids has brought a new energy to my life. I also have started to become more involved in my community, mainly through music. Last year, I was hired to perform monthly children’s concerts at my local public library. I have started doing music time at my daughter’s cooperative daycare. Over the last few months, I’ve realized a need in my area for early childhood music experiences and I’ve realized how much I enjoy doing it.
Since most of my work as a music therapist has been with older adults on hospice, I know that I need more training and experience to move into the early childhood music field, so that’s why I really want to take this course. My goal is to eventually find a job as an early childhood music teacher at a preschool where my daughter can also attend when she’s old enough to go.
Looking forward to meeting you all as I catch up to you in the course. I think I saw some more Etown grads on this forum! Go Blue Jays!

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