Share how you can explain to parents the difference between music for development and music for skill building.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Victoria Fansler]

I always like to explain that music therapy is process oriented rather than product oriented. From there it is easy to give examples of that difference in focus: for example, although child might not produce the most obvious musical product of singing along to a song, the process of being present for these musical activities with their caregiver and peers has a myriad of developmental benefits that may be completely unrelated to singing. I think it is also appropriate to talk a bit about how much of brain development occurs in the first five years of life and how experience-driven that brain development is. This helps adults recognize that much of the growth that is happening may not show up in immediate behavioral responses in the moment, but that we know growth is happening on a deeper level simply because of the nature of music and the brain.

[Anonymous]

I find this question is sometimes confusing for participants. Victoria makes excellent points about music therapy. In this question Meredith and Beth are looking for how we explain in a community program, like Sprouting Melodies, the difference between music to support the overall development of a child as opposed to in a therapeutic setting where you are targeting specific areas of development. An example could be music therapy targeting to increase expressive language while Sprouting Melodies is supporting global development that may include communication. In Sprouting Melodies, we do not complete assessments or set goals and objectives for the group or the individuals as you would do in therapy.

[Courtney Kjaldgaard]

Based on your elaboration Erika, I guess the way I would explain the difference between using music to support overall development vs. using music to target specific skills/areas of functioning, is that within our community music programs (like Sprouting Melodies), children and families will be participating in music-making activities that will touch on a number of different skill areas and each child will take away something different from the classes they participate in (we hope that they will develop new knowledge/skills from the material in our classes but this increase in development will be different for each child and is not measured by the music therapist in this setting). Sprouting melodies provides a program that somewhat reflects the needs and abilities of the community and what the parents/children of our community want to take away from these classes may be different from the families that participate in this type of program in another region.

Using music for specific skills/areas of functioning is what occurs in music therapy sessions. People are directed to music therapy services if they need to work on a specific area of functioning. The music therapist will measure and keep track of their progress throughout treatment and the end goals/objectives are laid out in a treatment plan that is created specifically for the individual (there is an expectation to see a specific result(s) as they progress through treatment, where as in our community music programs, we do not have these expectations/goals).

I hope this is the kind of answer you were looking for…..

[Joanne Van Eycke]

In Sprouting Melodies there are a variety of musical activities that support the overall development of your child. The activities are specifically chosen to reflect the needs of the group, which is why there are different levels of SM according to age. These classes are a great opportunity to for the child to practice many of their emerging skills. As a parent, you will also learn some strategies and songs to continue this support at home.

If you were interested in using music to address a specific skill then music therapy would be an appropriate avenue to explore. In music therapy, there is a treatment plan to address your child’s needs. Goals and objectives are created and progress is tracked as the skills are built.

[Tori Clark]

Children are innately musical, so when we provide them with quality music experiences, we are nurturing in them a key part of the human experience and thus support their overall development. In a therapeutic environment, we can address skills specific to each child through a more tailored, clinical approach.

[Megan Neil]

I must say I’m a bit confused about this question. I think that Victoria’s answer sums up my thoughts and is how I took the question as well. It also makes me think about music therapy groups vs. music education groups. The most common difference in my opinion as well is the process vs. product. When we do an instrument song with “shake it high” and “shake it low” it’s not necessarily are focus for the kids to “follow the directions” however in an education setting this would probably be moreso the focus. Skill building vs. development. Music educators are looking to teach certain musical skills while we are trying to enhance overall development.

[Anonymous]

Hi Megan, I apologize if my explanation, above, did not help clarify question. Meredith and Beth are asking this question specifically about how we present Sprouting Melodies versus our work as a music therapist. Sprouting Melodies can only be run by a board certified music therapist but it’s overall function is different than our clinical service of music therapy. It is important for families to understand this different and why Sprouting Melodies is not therapy. I, agree, it is also important that parents are aware that Sprouting Melodies is not music education where the focus in on building music skills. This also helps to differentiate how Sprouting Melodies is different from other early childhood family music programs that focus on building the child’s music skills.

[Janet Buchanan]

I’m not totally sure I understand the question here. Certainly you can talk about how this is a program with its origins in music therapy and that it is informed by knowledge of music therapy research and child development. However, Sprouting Melodies is different from other MT services by being a community-based program open to all children with their parents. Therefore, you have some general developmental areas you want to reinforce and the ability to provide music experiences for that, but you don’t have the sorts of goals you do in MT. Lastly, I’ll echo what was said by others that you can differentiate SM from other music programs by the emphasis on the process and experience of music-making rather than the end product.

[Peggy Grace]

Based on your explanation, Erica, I think I would explain to the parents that Sprouting Melodies is a program that helps to support a child’s overall development. We are not focusing on specific skills or needs, so there is no formal assessments or care plan needed, although their participation may encourage the child’s interest in developing a musical skill as they get older.

However, it is imperative that a Sprouting Melodies program be facilitated by a board certified music therapist because music therapists are trained in basic childhood development, so we understand how music can support it, and we are able to detect any issues or concerns with the child’s growth. If an issue was identified, then a music therapist has the skill and knowledge to make recommendations for assessments to determine if a problem exist. A musician or non-music therapist would most likely not recognize any issues with the child’s development.

[Debrah Evans]

In explaining to a parent, I would make sure to explain the difference in what music educators do, versus music therapists, versus a Sprouting Melody provider. I would explain that groups run by a music teacher are focusing on using music to develop musical skills with any other benefits being secondary. A music therapist would be doing a group more clinically – using music to work on non-musical goals involving specific goals and interventions, and then charting on them for each person individually, similar to how a physical therapist would use exercises to work on a busted ankle. As a Sprouting melody provider, we aren’t charting on each individual child, but are just working to choose music to match the child developmentally and to encourage a relationship between parent and child. In Sprouting Melodies we are working on overall wellness and community development as well, where if it was just a music therapy session we would just be working on the individuals.

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