Nuts & Bolts Q&A

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Christine Heaps]

How do you handle moms who want to stay after class to chat? I am in a coffeehouse now, so the can stay as long as they want. What if you’re in a place where you don’t have a class right after but your current group needs to leave? I had one class were I had to tell the moms to leave. I asked nicely and they agreed, but I just felt bad about it. One of the things I really love about these classes is that the moms can develop great friendships with other moms! What do you do at the end of class? Do you do just ask them to leave? Do you have another system in place?

[Christine Heaps]

What are your plans for summer Sprouting Melodies? I am thinking about having a four-week class in June followed by a two-week break and then a six-week class July-August. Are you planning to have a special theme? Have you done anything like that in the past? I would love to hear your ideas!

[Anonymous]

The mom issue just happened for the first time, for me, this past weekend. I have spaces outside of the room where I do class and I am going to have to gently let everyone know if they come early or would like to stay and chat they are welcome to use one of the other rooms. The early and lingering families were definitely a distraction for the class that was still in session!

I am doing a four week mini-session starting the last week in May and then I am going to do another mini-session over the summer. Last summer I had no one sign up for July. They were all going on Vacation. Most of my families came to the four week session I had in August. This time I have to do 4 between July and August because of the space I rent. I always like to include songs that include a summer feel. Last year we did a song by CLIMB called Splash! The kids loved it. They got to be different creatures that liked to jump into the water, make a splash, and swim. This summer I am looking at I Like to Lick the Ice Cream and How do you know it’s Summer.

[Christine Heaps]

I decided to have a Summer 1 session and a Summer 2 session. Summer 1 will be 4 weeks in June (5-26). Summer 2 will be 6 weeks. (July 24-August 28). We started singing Beth’s song, “Swimming Together” in May. I think that one should definitely be in the mix for my summer sessions! Songs about Ice Cream are always a good idea. I will have to add that one, too! I like how you used Splash with the kids. That sounds really fun!

[Christine Heaps]

I have another moms question. I have changed the time of my SM class many times to try to accommodate sleeping and eating schedules. Obviously, you cannot please everyone all the time. However, I have a group of 4 moms who are really consistent and even host classes in their homes when necessary. I think we have been together almost a year now! They started out when their babies were in Sprouting Melodies 1 when it is totally okay and expected to nurse your baby during class. During last week’s class, they were all eating! At this point, they can eat solid foods. They were eating dried fruit I think. It was so distracting, and I got a little annoyed. Because I am not a mother, I am trying to be extra patient. My question is: Is it really true that babies/toddlers need to eat constantly or is it reasonable to ask that they eat before and/or after class? They only ate for 15 minutes or so, but during that time I felt like I was singing to myself! I feel like because SM 1 is so laid back with that kind of stuff that they just got used to it. Should I just let this go? What do you think? Thanks!

[Christine Heaps]

Hey Everybody!
What instruments do you use in your Sprouting Melodies classes and which instruments are on your wish list?
I use hand drums (could use a lot more!), jingle bells, baby jingle bells, baby maracas, egg shakers, scarves, and a parachute. I would love to get a large gathering drum and a ukulele! I am looking forward to hearing about your instruments and wish list!
Christine

[Anonymous]

I had to put a rule out that there is no eating in my groups. It was becoming a problem and a distraction. I let them know that the facility where I rent space would prefer no eating on the floor and it will be less distracting for everyone if they eat before or after class. I even offered them a designated kids table in the space that they could sit at and eat after the class was finished. No one had a problem and I have not had an issue since.

Instruments:
I am currently using-

Drums- a variety of kids size tubanos, bongos separated into two drums, floor toms, lollipop drums, the lynn kleiner baby drums, and kids hand drums

Shakers- various sizes of maracas and mini rain makers

Jingles- various kinds of jingle bells with small and large handles and wrist bells with and without velcro

Resonator bells and glockenspiels

Baby instruments they have at West Music

Various sizes of rhythm sticks and lummi sticks

Guitar

Clatterpillars

I am hoping to repair the gathering drum I have and get two more along with some more instruments for babies, better mallets, shape drums, and other more resonator bells.

[Anonymous]

I would love to start a conversation about what and how you are sharing informative articles, information, and songs with your families. In my fall session I am following something Kristina Barbo is doing at Roman Music Therapy and sharing information weekly. I am planning to do this by email and then I am also setting up a secret FB group where my families can interact and I can share things daily (separate of what I share in email.) On the FB page I hope to challenge families to try things with music and then come back and share. Similar to this forum.

I would love to hear what everyone else is doing and also help each other with useful information to share!

[Michelle Muth]

Hi Erika,
What works best for me is I send a weekly email to Sprouting Melodies families with some tidbit of information and any reminders about classes. Often I try to have a “song of the week” in which I write out lyrics and describe different ways the songs can be used. I keep a spreadsheet of Elizabeth’s blogs and depending on the season/topic I will include a link to those. I’ve also written articles for the “Stork” edition of MacaroniKid.com (you can access the list only website: http://m3musictherapy.com/in-the-news/) and, if appropriate, will include these. Typically, I have a short greeting, main content (which would be one of the above items: song, blog, article) and then a closing. I only send this to the folks that are currently enrolled in class as I see it as a perk of enrollment. I like the FB idea, but can’t limit it to only the families currently enrolled.

The next Sprouting Melodies family survey I’ll send out I will ask if people are finding this helpful or not. I use Constant Contact to distribute the emails and am able to track if they are opened etc.

[Christine Heaps]

That sounds like a really neat idea! I have been sending an email with the link to Beth’s blog when she has new songs.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Michelle!

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Great conversation, everyone. Thanks for sharing. Another thought is to share fact sheets from other organizations. You can find some of my favorites on the Zero to Three website.

[Anonymous]

Great idea Beth. I had just been sending them to the website. But, I find that my families want a quick read and a fact sheet would be perfect!

[Christine Heaps]

Hey Everybody!
I have a question for you. I feel like as SMP’s we should be successful in leading all of the SM classes. To be honest, I really struggle with keeping the older ones (18 months-3 years) engaged. I think I prefer Sprouting Melodies I & II because the kids are younger and it is easier to keep them involved. Am I way off or do you experience something similar? When we had the class at the park last week, one of the boys was on the playground during most of the class. I just let the mom handle it because I knew that if she brought him back to the circle, he would get upset. I guess my question is, do you prefer a certain age group (feel like it is your niche) and is that okay?

Looking forward to your input!
Christine

[Anonymous]

So, I am opposite of you. I actually prefer the older ages. It always “feels” like there is so much more I can do with them then the younger ages. Mostly because the older ages have more developmental skills then the younger ages. I frequently feel like the younger ones are not always getting what they need and try to stay on top of making sure I attend to them too. Now, I am inside a contained room with minimal distractions other than what I provide. So I feel like that helps a lot. I can’t imagine any of the mobile kids sitting if there was a playground available. I use to be in a pre-school classroom with tons of toys and “fun” things to play with and I would buy covers so the kids wouldn’t be distracted by them. I think we all have our strengths and preferences and it is completely normal to want to “prefer” a certain age group over another. What is great about Sprouting Melodies is that we have the freedom to run the program the way it works best for us. So, if you decide you only want to run classes for the younger ages that would be fine. Maybe you will find that you have enough families to hire someone to run groups for the older ages and you stick to the younger ages?

[Christine Heaps]

What a great idea! I didn’t even think about hiring someone else to lead the older groups. That is definitely something I will keep in mind!

[Christine Heaps]

Hello! I have a question about discounts. I have a mom who just joined the class with her two little ones. She loves the class and is telling her friends about it. She asked me if I gave discounts for referrals. I want to because referrals are the best way to grow my class. Do you offer a referral incentive?

[Christine Heaps]

Hey Everybody!
I am planning the summer schedule, and I was wondering if you handle summer classes differently than the fall and spring classes. Are they shorter sessions? Do you have classes all through the summer? How do you handle makeups because of vacation? I noticed that a local dance studio offers pro-rated tuition for advance notice of vacations but does not offer makeups during the summer. I am going to have a free demo at a local baby store on June 21. Then I will have a summer session at a dance studio in July. What does your Sprouting Melodies summer schedule look like?

[Christine Heaps]

Hey Everybody! I hope you are having a great summer! What are your plans for the fall? I think I learned a lesson the hard way last week! I scheduled a new Sprouting Melodies class to start the day after a holiday on July 5th! I had a couple of moms come for one of the two classes I offered. No one came to the other one. I am looking forward to lots of marketing and trying again in August or September. What has been your experience in starting new classes? Has the time of year made a difference for you?

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