Using the four music experiences

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

• How have you used these four music experiences in your practice? Have you made any changes in these areas since beginning this  course? Post your remarks to the board.

[Amy DiLabio]

I have used all four areas in my practice, however I naturally gravitate towards singing and instrument playing. One thing that I have begun using more of since the class began, is listening. I have always valued the rest, or silence, but did not always take advantage of it. I have begun using silence to bring my students attention to me and to their surrounding during movement. It is interesting to me to watch those children who readily stop at the silence, and those who struggle to stop their movement. I observed that for some the music is still going on within them even though the music has stopped around them. For these individuals it takes them a few more beats to recognize that the music has stopped. The other thing that has changed since this class began is that I have been analyzing where my students are developmentally with regards to musical development and relating this to where they are in development with regards to chronological age. It helps me to develop a plan to guide those students who may lag behind developmentally.

[Alyssa Kereki]

I have also been incorporating more silence in my music, usually as a pause to help refocus my clients or simply to add musical variety. What is interesting to me is that each child seems to respond differently to this use of silence. Some children stop almost immediately, some children stop playing/singing within a few seconds, and some children use it as an opportunity to have a musical solo. I think that each child is using this silence to fulfill a different need, and it is intriguing to me to see this happen.

This week’s lesson helped me realize that I rarely use music as an opportunity for listening. I am often so stuck in creating a seemingly “purposeful” objective that I forget that listening is just as important. I would really like to start using listening interventions that incorporate different textures and modes to see how the children respond.

Recently, I have been giving my clients freedom with their movements by demonstrating a few movement examples and then having them suggest new movements. It is interesting to see and hear the different movements that they come up with, ranging from acting like animals to simply moving fast. My favorite by far has been the child who consistently asks to dance “like Cookie Monster.” I have also noticed that even when I give my clients movement directions, they still take liberties with this. For example, if we are all “jumping,” each child appears to be jumping in their own way to their own beat.

Lately I have utilized singing the most, because I have been using educational songs with my older students who are in the responsibility stage. However, I pay close attention to how my other clients respond to singing and try to support their individual developmental levels. Sometimes I create silly vocal improvisations just to encourage my clients to use their voices. If I sense that a client is overwhelmed by the musical experience but seems eager to participate, I may substitute my lyrics with a repetitive consonant sound to make singing more accessible. To me, the most important part of singing is that the client is engaging his or her voice in some way.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Silence is such an important part of music and of the listening experience. In “Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood” there is a more complete discussion on the meaning of silence within music for the young child.

[Tamara Strom]

I use all four aspects in my practice. I use a lot of singing, and with different purposes depending on the child’s developmental level and goals. One of my clients is 11 and on the autism spectrum. I am working on expressive language and articulation. At home and and likely at school people tend to speak for him, as he is slow to express himself, has difficulty with articulation, and needs wait time to process. I give him choices of songs and of actions within songs, and slow the songs down and pause for him to sing along and to work on his articulation.

Many of my clients are in the control stage, so with instrument play, I will often play freeze dancing/playing games in which the child freezes on musical cue. I also have instrument songs in which I direct or offer them choices of how to play, such as high, low, fast, slow, loud, soft, on a body part, etc. With one of my clients, the biggest challenge is restraining the mother from taking control when she sees that her son is not playing “right”, and trying to educate her about how it is a process, and that he will develop through his own participation.

I use a lot of movement within my sessions. As with the instrument play, I often offer the children choices of movements within songs, or direct the movements within a song. For example, one of my clients is also working on OT goals of building upper body strength, so I often throw in actions such as crab walks.

Listening, I find I don’t use as much as the others, but will try to incorporate more into my sessions. I often will in a situation such as a cool down song. For example, if I’m working with scarves, parachutes, or bubbles, I might sing a mellow song and allow the child to absorb the music and the whole sensory experience as a means of relaxing, and of bonding with the group or with the parent.

[Lisa Spall]

I definitely use all of these within my practice. I try to keep a good flow in the session, like I was taught in Sprouting Melodies. Small body movement, energetic instrument play followed by big movement like marching or dancing, followed by a good cool down with scarves or the scarf canopy. Like many of the others here, I love to utilize silence. Building up on the guitar to a big stop – the looks and responses are great.

I’ve been particularly working on being better at giving enough space and cues for my kids to sing along. I’ve noticed that the kids I’m working with really need that extra time to process. If it’s been long enough where you don’t really hear that last chord in your head anymore, I’ll repeat the phrase and leave the opening again with a good pause. I try to really utilize the listening. I love to sing a lyric like “and nooow….” with a lot of inflection and a pause to give a moment of anticipation of what the next direction will be. Periodically changing your tone and volume to indicate a direction to follow will immediately catch more attention. Sometimes rather than give concrete directions, I’ll begin to play and sing in different dynamics and tempos. I wait a moment to see the attention given and then sing the direction. I guess I never realized how much I use all of these experiences. Sometimes I’m even surprised by myself as to how much better I’ve become at utilizing the instruments, vocal technique, and anticipation to invoke the responses I’m searching for (because I definitely wasn’t as suave circa sophomore year in college, haha). I know I have a lot more to learn, but it’s nice to watch the videos, study these techniques from this week, and realize these are things I’m doing pretty well already! I guess the point is for these things to begin to come naturally though, right? 🙂

[Cindy Humphreys]

I use all four music experiences with my students. All of my students have significant developmental delays, so the goals for each classroom vary. In the Severely Multiply Impaired classroom (SXI), several students are at the awareness and trust stage. This course has helped me define where each child is developmentally. One of the SXI students seems to be sleeping much of the time, but will open his eyes, smile and vocalize when he hears a familiar song. Another student in the same classroom has just begun to shake a maraca rather than putting it in his mouth. Progress has been very slow, but to see him be able to use an instrument functionally has been rewarding.

Movement is an important part of each of my sessions. Many of our students with autism do not know how to play, or move, so I use a variety of structured movement experiences and move toward increasingly free movement. This course has shown me that I am meeting the children at their developmental level and assisting them to the next level.

With a group of three year old significantly delayed children, my focus is on exploration and experience. As I now look at the group I see that two of the children are at the Trust stage, one is at the Awareness and the fourth is at Independence. We explore instruments with hands and mouth, rock, bounce and swing to the music. A favorite is to bounce on the therapy ball
and start and stop with the music.

These are just a few examples. This course has definitely increased my awareness of my student’s developmental stage and given me understanding and insight into the musical lives of children.

[Laura Montesano]

My goal is always to address all four music experiences in practice. I definitely use singing the most – as most of the children I work with are around the control stage – they are beginning to fill in words or sounds of songs when I pause within the music.

I also use a lot of movement- I tend to do a body parts song with this one little guy who seems to be just about at the independence stage- as he is beginning to move hands and feet at the ‘appropriate’ times within the song.

I was thinking about how I use listening…clearly there is overlap between the the different experiences. They way I utilize listening the most is, when I sing questions- I use a lot of pauses and play in my movements to exaggerate the question, such as when I sing, “Donde esta el carro?” (Where is the car) If a child is looking for a toy car, I provide ‘quizzical’- music and use my voice to reflect the question by ending in an ascending pitch. The responses I am looking for at this level of listening- are for him to understand that we are looking for something, and what is that something- and then listen as we sing about where it could be- is he responding to the different verbal/musical cues within the song.
Oh, and I definitely use a clean-up song- ALWAYS! It’s quite magical how that works 🙂

I use a lot of shaker eggs in my instrument play. Most of the kids I’m working with are moving toward control at this point- they are just getting the hang of stopping when the music stops.

(I will be starting some new music therapy groups in a couple of weeks and look forward to really utilizing all of the different music experiences.)

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

It is wonderful how much each of you have to share! Thank you for being so insightful. I have been thinking alot lately about how important singing is for children. When they really begin to ‘own’ the music through their singing. This is something I always have to be super aware of since as I trained singer I can easily overwhelm the vocalizations of the children. I try and pull back a little bit vocally each time I sing a song. It amazes me how the children then fill in the musical space.

[Robin Jacobs]

I also have used all 4 experiences. I feel moving to the music is a wonderful way for them to experience the rhythms and tempos. There is also more flexibility for them to experience the music wherever they are in the developmental stages in their own movements.

[Angie Carter]

Sing. Play. Move. Listen.
I use all 4, but feel I need to use “move” more. I have found myself focussing on attending with children and insisting on more “sit down” play rather than getting up and moving. In a group setting, for some reason, I find it easier to get up and move, but with one on ones, I end up sitting for the time and doing more instrument “play”. I would like to get back to incorporating more movement.

Singing and listening are probably my strengths. To bring more focus to singing and listening I have reduced my use of guitar and often don’t bring it to sessions. I have found for several of my kiddos that get over stimulated that this has increased listening and allowed me to be more involved and interactive as I don’t have the guitar as a barrier between the child and myself. Musical space is so important! I started with a new family today and their uncomfortableness was a reminder that waiting, space and slowing things down is ever important.

[Leigh Giglio]

I, also, try to incorparate the four music experiences in my sessions. I tend to use movement singing and listening the most. My school does not really have any instruments nor a budget for music, so, if I do use an instrumental experience in a session, I need to bring instruments from my own collection at home (and with some of the classes being so big and with them back to back, it makes it difficult to be able to keep them sanitized and/or have enough to use for each class). So, I tend to not incorporate this experience as often or with every preschool class each week.

The use of listening has usually been for transitions or following directions. Lately, I have been incorporating more of the silence! The kids just love this and will stay still and attend to see what I’m going to do, usually with a smile on their face or some giggling. I have paused long enough unitl the children respond on their own. Also, I have been incorporating more changes in tempo within a song or changing the tempo (ie. one time I’ll singing it fast, another time slower, another time slow and then fast at the nd, etc.) if it’s a song that is repeated per child. It makes it more play like and makes them have to listen to see how it will be presented to them.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

I love the term “play-like”! Although instruments add a lot to sessions, it is possible to create wonderful, complex and fulfilling music with just ourselves. (Have you seen any of the video by Bobby McFerran?). When I present to parents or early childhood professionals, I sometimes deliberately plan to have no instruments so they can see how they can make music with only their voices and body percussion.

[Wei Ming Loi]

Sorry I am so late in posting. I am using all 4. But after the course has started, like a few of you, I’ve reduced my reliance on the guitar and have been using more voice lately and the response is great. The children are attending and participating. I’ve also been involving the caregivers in the sessions more and getting to be more involve in the sessions together.

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