Share some of your experiences with children of this age and level.

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Kayla Lyles]

Outside of family and family friends, I have yet to experience a music group or musical experience (at least in a work setting) with children of this age and developmental level. When I read this post I immediately thought of one of my cousins who I got to meet for the first time over the holidays who was just over 9 months at the time. I just remember holding him, bouncing him on my knees, and making musical sounds. Watching his face change according to the pitch I was making and my facial expression was so special and it just makes me so excited to have these experiences in a music group setting where parents and caretakers are having these bonding experiences through music.

[Jacquelyn Blankinship]

I actually had a GREAT experience with this age group just this past weekend when I met my brand new twin niece and nephew. They are about a week old! And I really used that opportunity to put some of what we’ve talked about into practice. I sang quietly to them using a fairly narrow range and watched how they responded with their eyes and their bodies. I prided myself that neither of them startled while I was singing (because I’ve been told that I can be pretty loud – even when I don’t realize it)! I also used some very gentle rocking and swaying motions. I can definitely understand, after that experience, that parents may not be convinced that their babies who are that young are connecting with the music. The responses are SO subtle that I can see how important it becomes for us as the music therapists to be constantly pointing some of those responses out, reassuring the parents that their baby is responding normally, etc.

[Milijana Majstorovic Kozul]

We (music therapists) know that children are coming to this world musically equipped so we should have to use that capacity soon as it possible. According to that fact I believe that music can be great communication bridge between child/parent relation so therefore as a music therapist it is our job to make it easier and to show how to use that tool. Combination of eye, sound (instruments/voice), touch, movement “contacts” and listening are great bonding elements that can combine with music in very good. Sometime silence is also good and can be great element for changing/transformation. As a someone who is working mostly with a parents and babies under 1 as a Musical baby bonding instructor I can say that there are so many benefits to use music: building babies focus, concentration and listening skills, which are the main skills for good communication and therefore foundations for healthy bonding process.

[Jaycie Voorhees]

As a mother of two I feel fortunate to have hands on experience with children of this age, as well as real empathy for the difficulty of being a new parent or a parent of a very young child. I was lucky enough to not have postpartum depression, but definitely felt moments of despair and can relate to parents who may feel completely overwhelmed at this stage. It is especially difficult in the beginning before the child shows visible responses such as smiling or vocalizing because you feel like you are giving all the time and getting very little back. However as the child grows and begins to develop more awareness and the ability to interact, the bonding starts to increase little by little. I LOVE the idea of focusing these music classes on Bonding and really helping the parents to feel the joy of raising a little one. I will always remember one particularly hard day with my first child when he was just a few weeks old, and I turned on some music and held and bounced him and just with the music, my whole emotional state improved. I love that we can provide that for parents! This is such a precious age group, and I get to do it all over again with my next baby coming in just 3 months, and this makes me so excited (and nervous all over again) for the amazing experience of being with these precious little souls!

[Megan Dewing]

Most of my experience with children this age comes from helping with nursery/child care at my church. I love how they are so excited to watch everyone and take in what is going on around them. Watching their facial expressions change as you make different faces at them and how they react differently to the timbre of your voice is always interesting. I also love to watch their face when they hear Mom or Dad’s voice. Even if they are facing away from them, they know when they have come into the room. The babies smile and excitement says it all! This experience and the new knowledge from this week’s videos makes me very excited to work with babies and their caretakers through music.

[Amanda Braden]

While I do not currently work with children at this age or have children of my own, I recently babysat a young girl at 9 months of age for some friends of ours. We don’t have a lot of toys at our home, but I pulled out my small maracas for her, and she loved them. Immediately, she reached out for them, grabbed them, and placed them in her mouth. I took one and shook it, and she quickly began to follow my lead and shook. She lit up with huge smiles as we shook the maracas together and I sang “shake-a-shake-a-shake.” She made a lot of vocalizations, and many of them were short, descending melodic phrases. Also, while vocalizing, she said, “dadadada” repeatedly. She also said, “ma” at one point. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on my husband for the few hours she was with us – I’m not sure if this was due to his voice having a lower timbre than her own father’s timbre, but she watched him a lot throughout the evening. She was definitely on the move as she has become quite a strong crawler. Also, she was trying to pull herself up to stand – I’m sure she’ll be walking before we know it! She thoroughly enjoyed playing with a wicker basket that sits on our living room floor. She often mouthed it, and she enjoyed turning it over to one side. She was the perfect size to fit inside of the basket. So, we took out the books that were in it, and placed her in it, and she enjoyed that. I’ve also watched this same little girl in our church nursery, and while around children just months older, she often stared and watched them closely. Also, when her mother can’t be seen (her mother also works in the nursery), she immediately begins to cry, but will stop once her mother reappears. So, she’s definitely going through that stage of trust now.

[Michelle Russell]

I have the opportunity to work with children in a childcare center twice a month. Working with children in the infant room is always fun. It never ceases to amaze the staff in there when the children lock into my sound right away. “Wow, look at how they are staring at you”. I enjoy modeling for the teachers. My favorite thing to model for them is the use of silence. Making sure that I take breaks in the sound to make eye contact and leave space for a response. There is no better feeling than getting an infant to smile in response to you!

[Darcy Lipscomb]

Honestly, I have minimal experience working with children of this age & developmental level. I’m looking forward to that changing!

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for sharing your unique experiences. It is wonderful to hear the wonderful things you each bring and Darcy that you will develop a new skill with this age level.

[Kristina Rio]

I really enjoyed reading all of your experiences with this age group! It’s exciting to read how excited you are to work with children this age.

[Christine Czuhajewski]

I love reading everyone else’s responses about their experience with this age, especially the mothers! Since I don’t have any children of my own, it is nice to hear some of the insights in how you as moms can relate to some things the parents might be going through.

I don’t currently and haven’t worked with this age range yet. Although I don’t have any children of my own, I have had the pleasure of watching my cousins, nieces and nephew grow up. When my twin nieces were born, they were 2.5 month premature and spent over a month in the NICU before they could come home. When they were 0-9 months old they were much smaller than other babies of that age. I spent a lot of time singing to them and engaging with them while they were so young. The twin’s mom was eager to learn some simple songs and share some of her favorite songs that she remembered from when we were young. This was years ago and I didn’t know much about early childhood music development, but it would have been interesting if I had that knowledge at the time to really understand their journey through musical development. How does being premature affect musical developmental stages in babies? Have you ever had any premature babies come in to the 0-9 month classes?

[Katie Whipple]

So both of my sons are very musical! Charlie my 6 month old loves to coo and sing to mama! My 2 1/2 year old, Griffin, loves to sing and play just about anything! He introduces me to songs that I forget all about… like the baby bumble bee song! It’s fantastic and Charlie will just laugh and light up when I sing it to him, especially with all the dramatic components! My most favorite thing to do right now is record Griffin singing right before he goes to sleep. He has been singing Baa Baa Black Sheep almost every night the last week or so and although he has a hard time with the words at times he has the pitches and rhythms.

[Mary Withington]

This week in my baby class, a 7 month old smiled when I sang, and watched me intently. He visually tracked the scarf I waved gently around his head and above. For the first time, his grandma said, he rolled over on each side to reach out for the scarf as I moved it to that side on the floor. He was fascinated by scarf play and didn’t want to stop. He also showed the same interest in the egg shakers. He reached for them, mouthed them, shook them after awhile, while we sang and played with him. He laughed as I sang while holding him and skipping. He babbled and smiled as I moved him up in the air and down to the floor. I copied and echoed his vocalizations, trying to match him. And he stopped and listened to me, and did them some more. We were having a real give and take sounds conversation. When I did tongue clicking sounds he watched my mouth and moved his tongue in imitation. He was 2 months premature, but seems to be cognitively OK. I shared some of her things learned in earlier lessons. He still has trouble holding his neck up and needs someone to support his head while sitting, so his physical development is a little delayed. His grandma does everything we do in class with him at home, and is willing to sing and play with him.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing Mary. It sounds like you are doing some great work with your families.

[Author]

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