Role of Music Therapy

[Julie Palmieri]

Share your thoughts on the role of music therapy in community-based settings on the forum.

[Lydia Westle]

I think the role of music therapy in community-based settings has great potential to support opportunities for connectedness and to foster an environment where caregivers feel supported with resources. While I do not have children myself yet, I think caregivers, especially new parents, can often feel very isolated and overwhelmed with how to best support their child. I think that music therapy can foster these bonding opportunities organically and serve as a resource to help caregivers feel empowered with how they can best support their child’s development at home. As emphasized in the videos, I think that music therapy also supports opportunities for caregivers to socialize with other caregivers, just as much as it provide meaningful moments for children to connect with other children. In a world where there is often a lot of societal pressure / comparison to “be the best parent,” I think music therapy can minimize some of these dynamics by providing a humanizing experience that allows opportunities for meaningful connection naturally.

[Courtney McDonald]

The role of music therapy in a community ,I believe, should greatly depend on the specifics of that community. To give one example, a community where the socioeconomic status of most families is at or below the poverty line will create vastly different needs than an affluent one. Although I provide music therapy in a school setting, the needs of the community at large are evident in the programs requested/offered at my school. This extends to the families of the students that I serve. More programs for ages 3 -5 are being started and new program for self-contained Kindergarten Autistic Support has begun at 5 local elementary schools. I am at 2 of the 5 schools that have the new Kindergarten Autistic Support.
With this in mind, music therapy groups in this particular community might focus more heavily on bonding and relationships. It can provide examples of healthy interactions for young parents who are themselves very young or come from an unhealthy family environment. The music therapist can become a resource of knowledge about early childhood development as well as a go between for other community programs/services. Music therapy provides that safe, supportive environment for the adults who may need connection with the outside world and others in similar situations.

[Camryn Gallagher]

I love all of the considerations you mention here, Courtney! Especially your comment about young parents seeing examples of healthy caregiver/child interactions. I have met quite a few parents who have told me some version of “I’m just trying to do better than my own parents did.” Exploring this within the safe, familiar means of music really opens the door for a lot of these young parents who want what’s best for their child but are so hard on themselves.

[Camryn Gallagher]

Community-based music therapy provides families with opportunities for connection, education, and fun in a way that is both evidence-based and fun! Music is so adaptable that it can meet all kinds of needs, including different learning styles, cultural considerations, and children regardless of disability. To have that resource that offers so much right in your own community is so important, and from my experience, very very needed. I think also a community-based MT program could be a good starting point for families that could also encourage them to connect with their community as a whole and find other opportunities in the community as well. In our EI music group, we typically use the last session of every cohort to talk about specific resources and list them out for families to take home. The ability to seek out these resources and take advantage of them is a skill that these caregivers will carry throughout their child’s entire life.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

What wonderful insights! Thank you each for your submissions and thoughts.

I highly recommend saving your responses and any that you have found helpful as you move forward and advocate for your work. This one way to show how useful music therapy and early childhood music therapy can be a support in some many environments.

[MacKenzie Lyons]

The role of music therapy in community-based settings is to initiate connections amongst group members. For example in Sprouting Melodies, every caregiver and child experience the same music and the same information. Although each parent/child pair will bond with the music differently, they all walk out of the class humming the same tune. This shared experience provides parents with another means for support if needed while also being able to meet other families with children around the same age. The act of participating in a music therapy group is contributing towards building a community in itself.

[Maura Nicholson]

The role of music therapy in community-based settings has the potential to create a unique opportunity for children and caregivers to connect with one another. Sadly, so many social connections happen through screens today and especially in communities where programs for children are sparse, it is so very important to advocate and encourage participation from caregivers who may feel apprehensive or isolated.

The word “community” is hitting home particularly hard as I live in Maine about 40 miles from where the shootings occurred. I was supposed to host my first music therapy group on 10/26 but all of the area schools and businesses were closed. We are working to reschedule as soon as possible because I know now more than ever, coming together as part of a community is incredibly crucial not only for children who have been home from school but for the parents who have struggled to tell their little ones why they are home from school. My community is at a standstill with this horrific attack. Businesses don’t know if it is right open or not, several Halloween community events for children are being canceled this weekend out of respect for the victims. It is helpless feeling that is very surreal and devastating. I sincerely hope I can bring some light and joy to a small group of children and caregivers in the coming weeks.

[Kate Jihye Choi]

I think the role of music therapy in community-based depends on the characteristics of the community, such as who consists of the community, their needs, their cultural background, educational level, etc. My community consists of many immigrants from different countries. Often, they are isolated from one another and don’t know how to get along. For them, everything is new, even how to raise a child in a different community. In terms of the perspective that music can provide a safe environment, I found many families open up more easily, find their friends, or just be themselves in the group, which some families had never experienced before. Music therapy really can provide the opportunity for the parents/caregivers to find their roles in the family as well as in the community. In the family, they are not just a parent/caregiver who takes care of their child, but also they are growing up together as a companion of their child. In society, they find out what the meaning of raising a child is and how it affects the community. Understanding their role in the family and the community with music restores their self-esteem, confident, and resilience.

[Olivia Todd]

Like many people in this thread, I think one of the roles of community-based music therapy is to create connections. Often times new parents or caregivers can feel isolated or may not know many other parents. Community-based music therapy for infants or toddlers creates a safe space for young children to engage with other children, in all different types of play. It is also a safe space for parents or caregivers to be able to acknowledge each other and build connections. As I was walking out of the music therapy center after a Sprouting Melodies session, I heard one mother say that it was so helpful and relieving to talk to so many parents about their experiences and to see other children a few months older than her child and what to expect.

[Amy Calderon]

I completely agree Olivia! Having other parents that are going through the same thing at the same time is so vital for parents. They can learn so much from each other.

[Elmira Abasova]

I agree with everyone posted in this forum. Music therapy means so much for families in community settings. It provides a positive environment and moments of joy and peace. In my community, it’s also important to emotionally support parents and to reassure them that their children’s development is an ongoing process. I believe that music therapists in a community should address all the members and give support to everyone through music, knowledge, and sharing resources.

[Daniel DeLucia]

I think music innately has a way of just instilling community all on its own. To make music, it does only require yourself but music also requires you to play with other people and create shared experiences. When discussing music therapy’s role within community based settings, I think it is able to be the role of creating shared experiences and is inviting, but it’s also unique engaging for individuals across all developmental levels and ages. It facilitates a unique two way relationship between the therapist and community members, or infant to family in ways that provide spaces for shared joy and meaning.

[Amy Calderon]

Share your thoughts on the role of music therapy in community-based settings on the forum.

The role of music in community-based settings is to help parents bond with their children in a unique way. It is also to help them discover a new way to connect with their child. It allows them to connect with other families and to have their children socialize with others in the community. Music brings people together and it allows us to access our emotions in a different way. The music therapist in this space, is knowledgeable in development and can help parents understand why kids are behaving the way they are. They can give parents an understanding of where their child is in development and help them notice things they may not have been paying attention to.

[Jessica Solimini]

Community-based music therapy serves as a vehicle for creating shared experiences. In the case of Sprouting Melodies specifically, it proves opportunities for caregivers and children to enhance their bond and enhance the child’s development. It becomes a safe space for babies and children to see and interact with other kids their own age and start to realize that “Hey, you’re just like me!” Also, importantly it provides a safe space for parents and caregivers to form community with other adults who are going through similar experiences with small children, perhaps struggling with their identities as new parents.

[Mark Dunford]

Jess – I like how you touched on how sprouting melodies also is a great avenue for parents to find support and comfort in other parents with similarly aged children. I’d imagine your social life can lessen or completely go away sometimes when having children so it’s great for parents to have that place where they can create friendships with other parents in their community.

[Mark Dunford]

Music therapy is a flexible and interactive set of experiences that is adopted to meet various needs of a community including early childhood and life span development, socialization, communication, recreational experiences and many more domains within various populations in a community. It acts as the glue for various groups in a community to come together and foster relationships and creativity while providing specific therapeutic benefits for the participants. Sprouting melodies provides parents with important bonding time with their children and developmental knowledge to assist them in navigating the various developmental levels their children are moving through.

[Billie Junget]

Music therapists in community based settings are an asset in providing safe and knowledgable experiences that are fun for the families to engage in together. They are able to facilitate building social capital within the community. Music therapy in the community is not only fun, but educational and can bring people together in a creative way.

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