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

[Meredith Pizzi]

[Channing Shippen]

I run a drop-in group at a family center that has a varying number of participants from week to week. It is drop-in play group that runs from 9:30-11:30, I come in and have a session for 45 mins with 15 mins of conversation time to answer and questions the parents may have. My first session had 8 infants with accompanying adults, my second had 30! So I learned quickly to expect the unexpected.These sessions are a great opportunity to inform parents about how they can use music in their homes with their infants and toddlers. I really love having this opportunity to educate parents on the ability music has to change their lives on a daily basis!

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Sounds like you are doing a great job. Channing.

[Anonymous]

Most of my experiences with infants have been through babysitting and my friends’ children. I did get a few chances in my internship to work with a handful of infants who were either being treated for medical issues or had been abandoned by their parents at the hospital. So, working with infants and their children will be a new experience for me. I am really looking forward to running sessions with this population and hoping I can remember all the amazing things I am learning here to do with them!

[Emily Seymour]

    I recently visited a friend who has a six month old baby.  Even though I made a visit to their home, the baby was unsure/scared when I arrived and needed time to get to know me.  I can understand why there is no instrument exploration at the beginning of Sprouting Melodies 1-  these babies and parents need time to acclimate and adjust.
I had purchased a little toy that played 3 different melodies and lit up when a button was pressed.  The baby first explored the toy with her hands and then pressed the buttons by putting the toy in her mouth and chewing on it.  Later that day, my friend played a tune on the piano and I held the baby while moving with her to the music.  She smiled in response to this and enjoyed all the different planes of movement.  I am looking forward to having more experiences working with this age range in a professional, music therapy setting.
 

[Jennifer Schofield Gietzen]

I have always wanted to work with this age group but have never had the opportunity.  Then, I had my own little guy who is now almost a year old.  Watching his development and getting to know him has really opened my eyes to how babies respond to music in so many different ways.  Listening to his vocal range and different sounds develop and how he has used them to “communicate” and sing is incredible. How he responds differently to various timbres I may use and also the timbres of different people has been so interesting.   So many of the concepts we have talked about are right there for me and now I can identify and have some words to describe them.  I can imagine working in a setting with multiple babies and parents would be great…I know I am constantly amazed by the new and little things Asher does.  It would be so nice to see parents react to new things their babies are doing both in class and at home.  I absolutely love that this stage is so much about connection, warmth, gentleness and loving your baby…I can’t wait to put it into action!

[Lauren Bevilacqua]

I’ve never done a group with this age group, but after watching the module and working through the material, I could see myself doing groups with the little ones. And I liked that the flow of the session experiences, the construction of the music, and the application of all that knowledge of developmental milestones made total sense.  

[Lisa Klostermann]

I have twins, now almost 5, who we 32 week preemies.  I had a very interesting experience as my daughter came home at 5 lbs and very much a preemie not quite ready to deal with the sensory stim of the outside world!  My son was actually in the hospital for the entire first 6 months of his life, and intubated for most of that, and so he was unable to make any vocal sound at all. 🙁  I must say that I was so, well, distracted with medical needs during this time that I don’t think I noticed a single musical thing.  Thankfully, my son especially now loves music more that most. 🙂

I have also had a couple of babies this age join my group, so it is nice to finally see what a more ‘typical’ development looks like.

[Kristen Macleod]

I do not have experience working with groups of this age level.  About 5 or 6 years ago I went to shadow a musician in central scotland who did some community music groups and she did do a music class for babies and parents.  At the time I thought that her approach and music was too advanced for the babies and it was too loud and too much going on. I couldn’t see myself using her approach. Now with the knowledge I am gaining from Sprouting melodies I can  now see how I might work with this group and I am looking forward to doing so.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

My children are grown now, but one of the reasons I wanted to research and write was because I really didn’t know what to expect musically from them. I had just begun to work in early childhood as my kids grew…so the work and home went hand in hand.

[Michelle Muth]

I do not have my own children but have been blessed with nieces and nephews and friends babies have been a part of my life.  My most significant experience with this age level is when my second-niece was born.  My sister lived in Seattle while I was in Boston but I was with her the first 2-weeks she was home; then at 3 or 4 months/ 6 months and then moved to Seattle (@ 9 months) and lived with my sister & brother-in-law for a year.  I helped with childcare and was a major caregiver along with my sister and brother-in-law.  So, I was able to experience the first 1 1/2 years of my niece’s life and the struggles my sister went through as a new parent who had her first child at 39 and was trying to figure out how to cope.  (I think this type of program would have been fantastic for them both).  The amount of learning and growth that happens with an infant is truly remarkable.  I don’t think there is anything like it at any other time of life.  Personally, because I have no children, this was a very special time for me and helped me to have a better understanding of new parents.  In my 20s when all my friends were having babies and would disappear it became somewhat frustrating as I could never see them.  I wish I had the insight I have now so that I could have done more for them as they became new parents.

 

[Megan Goddu]

I haven’t had an opportunity to work with this age group in a music based setting. For the past 5-6 summers, I have working within a day care program which provides for infants up to preschool age children. The time I have spent in the infant/toddler room has definitely been a great learning experience. I have been working in the infant/toddler room on Fridays now and while the children in there are all about 1; I have been trying out some musical things with them. One little boy who is about 1 and 1/2 years old loves to be held (especially since he has a new baby sister at home) and will copy some of the sounds I make to him. It’s cute when I buzz my lips at him with different pitches. He tries to copy me and does a pretty good job doing it without pitches.

[Vanessa Talbott]

I have two children 15 and 12 so have been blessed to experience my girls through all levels. I have also been teaching infant classes both with parent/child groups and daycare groups for 15 years. I also teach infant massage classes with parents which I love. I love infants and watching them grow as the weeks progress. Their response to music is amazing! I did the NICU training as well and was amazed at their reaction to music. Infants are such musical beings!

[Courtney Fanello]

I have a 15 month old right now, and I used to love experimenting with different sounds and see how she would react. I wish I could post a video I have of her at 3 months. She loved whistling and normal singing, but if I sang in my opera voice, she would start screaming and crying. (don’t worry, I only did it two or three times to see if she had grown out of it yet). I think it had something to do with the frequency beating in her ears, because it was only when I used my full opera voice:) Other than that, I have given her rattles and little maracas since she was little but it wasn’t until about 7-8 months old that she became interested. Now that she is older she regularly tears apart my instrument drawers and explores with all of them. I love watching her explore and shake and dance.

[Courtney Fanello]

I also have to add that when she was very young (0-6months) I was a little at a loss as to what to do with her. Of course I would take care of her, and hold her, but I was so glad that I had music that I could sing to her and play games with her. Even though she didn’t respond much (I didn’t know what to look for though) it was great for me to have a way to connect with her. Singing is better than just talking, because talking to yourself feels a little silly for awhile, but a song is a song and you sing it until its done. I feel that it was a big release and connection for myself as a mother and it was then that i really started thinking about formulating my own mommy and me classes.

[Carla Carnegie]

I have 4 grown children of my own that I experienced music with: singing, movement with music, reading, listening, and just plain lullaby-ing.  I also ran a day care for several years in my own home when my kids were young to help with finances. In addition, I have taught piano and violin to ages 6 and up.  I do feel I didn’t get much experience in my practicum and for sure in my internship using music with little ones.  I did a mommy, music & me music experience last week with babies and toddlers, which I felt a huge learning curve with! I am anxious to learn and grow through the general framework of SM! It is so helpful for the start anyway, to have some appropriate songs to use, and I know that I will be composing some of my own as I move forward to add to my repetoire.  It feels like a complete circle to now be bringing all this together, combining my experience as a mother and grandmother with my training as a music therapist, to bring music based early childhood classes to the community!

[Carla Carnegie]

my own experiences have been as a mother of 4 grown kids, and now as a grandma of 2.  When my kids were small, I ran a day care out of my home.  I used music for listening, movement, and I sang to them all the time.  we used singing in the car to re-direct, and deal with boredom. In addition, I have been a piano teacher and violin teacher for kids 6 and up for some years.  I do feel I missed out on some good practicum experience with small ones, as well as no experience what-so-ever during my internship with the preschool age kids.  I look forward to growing and developing as a MT and provider of SM in this area, as well as being in a position to bring education and awareness to the community on another level, of SM and of music therapy in general.

[Carla Carnegie]

oops!  I don’t know how that happened, because I thought I had posted, but couldn’t see it, so I reposted! sorry everyone—-I am a bit tech-deficient!

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