Singing, Playing, Moving, Listening.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

• Create your own developmental sequence of music responses in each of the four music experiences: Singing, Playing, Moving,  and Listening. Use the Worksheet provided. Share with the group.

[Amy DiLabio]

Here is my stab at this assignment.
Singing:
(A) Awareness: alter vocalizations in response to the singing voice
(T)Trust: sings descending intervals
(I)Independance: uses vocal glissando
(C)Control: matches specific piches
(R)Responsibility: matches discrete pitches in high and low range

Playing Instruments:
A: Turn gaze towards source of sound
T: reaches out to touch instruments
I: grasp instrument such as maracas, bells and shakes
R: alternates hand to play shaing insruments

Moving
A: sucks rhythmically
T: moves body parts with internal rhymthic beat
I: claps hands
C: sustains hand clapping in familiar song
R: uses sequences of movement patterns

Listening
A: tolerates both recorded and live music in the environment
T: Looks toward face of singer
I: demonstrates musical preferences and dislikes
C: tolerates sining along with peers or others
R: adjusts quality of singing to blend with group

[Alyssa Kereki]

Amy – I really liked how you included specific examples in each stage. This was helpful to me when thinking through different ways that children respond across the five stages and creating my own outline.

Singing:
– Awareness: turns towards singing, momentarily fixes attention on singer, all vocalizations are positive
– Trust: begins to match pitch in response to singing, may respond vocally when their vocalizations are mimicked
– Independence: creates and experiments with melodic phrases independently, plays with different vocal sounds
– Control: sings the general framework of a song, adult can identify what child is singing
– Responsiblity: sings straight through song while maintaining a sense of pulse

Playing:
– Awareness: notices instrument playing and responds to it
– Trust: physically observes instruments and experiments with them to see what they do and how they are used
– Independence: starts playing instruments “appropriately” with purpose
– Control: playing begins to match the musical experience
– Responsibility: can connect with group musically either through maintaining a musical pulse or playing individually

Moving:
– Awareness: shows any rhythmical movement with body, may change movements with type of music
– Trust: uses movement as a purposeful response to music, shows freedom with body movements
– Independence: begins moving individual body parts such as waving an arm, kicking with a leg, etc.
– Control: can control body to mimic specfic movements
– Responsibility: can follow multiple movements combined in a sequence, demonstrates full control of body

Listening:
– Awareness: attends to or shows reaction to different sounds, pitches and timbres
– Trust: attends to familiar melodies, may react to melody with excitement or a sense of calm
– Independence: uses desired movement to connect with the music
– Control: fully attends to desired musical material,uses control to maintain focus
– Responsibility: respects group musical experiences and notices others’ musical contributions

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Those worksheets might be helpful to use to plan when you have a number of sessions back to back with children in different developmental levels. Or you can use it to sketch out goals and objectives.

[Tamara Strom]

Here is my attempt:

Singing:
Awareness: attends to singer, vocalizes using pitch, notices if therapist reflects their pitch by increasing vocalizations in response
Trust: attempts to match singers’ pitch, communicates through musical babble, takes turn with singer on back and forth vocalizing in which they attempt to match pitch
Independence: experiments with sound and creates their own songs using musical babble
Control: performs familiar songs with appropriate musical contour
Responsibility: sings familiar songs in their entirety with recognizable melody and rhythm

Playing:
Awareness: explores instrument with hands, mouth, etc., notices different types of music and responds differently to playful versus soothing music
Trust: grasps instruments and shakes it once or twice
Independence: explores instruments on their own and experiments with different ways of playing them and different types of sounds they can make
Control: will play along with others and begins to gain control of starting and stopping on cue
Responsibility: plays along with another person or a group, and can match and maintain a beat

Moving:
Awareness: moves body in response to music with natural movements
Trust: engages in a repetitive movement in response to the music, such as flapping arms, that is at their own tempo and not necessarily the beat of the music
Independence: responds to music with a purposeful movement such as stomping their feet to the rhythm of the music
Control: imitates specific movements modeled for them
Responsibility: produces a sequence of movements, such as to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”

Listening:
Awareness: responds to vocal timbre, such as soothed by voice of mother, or startled by someone speaking with an abrasive tone
Trust: is soothed by a familiar song
Independence: attends to song, and body and facial expressions reflect the music
Control: stops other activities to attend to the music
Responsibility: listens to music of others and learns by their example

[Cindy Humphreys]

This has been a really good exercise to see how one developmental level flows into the next. Breaking it down will be very helpful when talking with parents about their child’s musical development.

Singing: Awareness: The baby turns toward a singing voice. Trust: The infant vocalizes in response to a singing voice. Independence: The baby starts to imitate sounds such as animal sounds. Control: The child is able to ask for a preferred song using words,gestures or pictures. Responsibility: The child is able to independently sing a song.

Playing: Awareness: The baby may reach toward the sound. Trust: The child begins to explore instruments with hands and mouth. Independence: Now the child is able to grasp an instrument and shake it, or hit a drum. Control: The child is increasingly engaged and is able to start and stop playing in response to the music. Responsibility: The child is able to maintain instrument play for a longer duration.

Moving: Awareness: The infant calms with rocking. Trust: The baby moves his or her entire body in response to music. Independence: The child can imitate whole body movements. Control: At this stage the child can start and stop their body in response to music. Responsibility: The child is able to sequence movements.

Listening: Awareness: The infant will stop movement when familiar music is heard. Trust: The child looks at the sound source when there is silence. Independence: the child recognizes familiar music and can indicate preference. Control: The child stops to actively listen to music. Responsibility: At this stage the child enjoys listening to others music.

[Lisa Spall]

Admittedly, I had a little trouble with this. I was somewhat confused between flipping pages and reading responses and musical characteristics, etc. Lots of information! I seemed to have trouble really defining what responses were awareness versus trust (or both?) and whether I was putting responses together that would fit an age or developmental level appropriately. I think this week will definitely be dedicated to some more organization for me to really define what these terms mean to me and what the best way is to organize them for my learning process. I have a feeling there will be lots of post-its on my wall! For now, here is my attempt at the list…

[Singing]
Awareness: vocalizations are in simple rhythms
Trust: makes purposeful, pitched vocalizations
Independence: uses repeated sounds
Control: generally matches selected pitches
Responsibility: imitates simple rhythm patterns

[Playing]
Awareness: turns toward instrument play
Trust: briefly uses pulse and meter
Independence: grasps and shakes maraca or jingle bell
Control: matches tempo
Responsibility: maintains play of instrument within a group

[Moving]
Awareness: rhythmic movements are instinctual
Trust: responds to music with repetitive movement
Independence: uses whole body rhythmically
Control: dances spontaneously to music
Responsibility: creates spontaneous movement to music

[Listening]
Awareness: prefers consonance over dissonance
Trust: can locate sounds and recognize familiar melodies
Independence: enjoys crescendo, melodic surprises, etc.
Control: follows melodic contour of a familiar song
Responsibility: recognizes loud and soft (and reproduces)

[Laura Montesano]

SINGING: AWARENESS: the child is beginning to hear pitches and shows us by changing pitches within vocalizations. TRUST: the child begins to match some pitches- beginning form of communication and singing. INDEPENDENCE: child babbles with melodic inflection and enjoys exploring with voice and pitch. CONTROL: The child now follows the melodic contour of a familiar song- not necessarily ‘on pitch’- but we can being to identify when he sings, “Old MacDonald”. RESPONSIBILITY: the child now uses pulse, meter within the melodic contour- the meter actually matches the actual song- so not only can the child’s mother recognize them singing Old MacDonald but most people can because the child remembers and reproduces the song.

INSTRUMENTS: AWARENESS: Child my reach out toward instrument, they may also respond differently to sedative music versus playful music. TRUST: child may pickup and play an instrument briefly- the length of time they play with vary- it’s intentional play but often brief. INDEPENDENCE: the child explores a variety of instruments and purposefully plays them. CONTROL: the child starts and stops instrument play- they are internalizing control. RESPONSIBILITY: the child successfully maintains a steady beat.

MOVING: AWARENESS: here we observe natural movements in response to music; TRUST- here the children do their “baby bop” they respond with repetitive movements. INDEPENDENT: child moves rhythmically with isolated body parts- it’s very intentional. CONTROL: the child now imitates learned musical movements- they do things with you. RESPONSIBILITY: now they use musical movements in sequence, they enjoy cognitive challenges.

LISTENING: AWARENESS- the child recognizes vocal timbre (mother’s voice); TRUST: the child now recognizes familiar melodies- which can be used to help soothe during stressful situations or during transitions; INDEPENDENCE: the child begins to match intensity of their movements to the intensity of the music- watch facial expressions. CONTROL- here the child stops action to listen to music RESPONSIBILITY: the child now listens to music of others it’s not only about the self- they can appreciate what others create.

Writing this out has helped me to remember the details of each stage.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Thank you for working so hard on this exercise, everyone. One of the issues I find with music therapy is that we don’t always have clear correlations on specific musical responses and how they relate to other areas of life. Most of us are comfortable with giving parents information on when a child begins to walk or talk. My hope is that through exercises like this we can be just as confident showing parents where children are developmentally through watching and listening to them make music.

[Robin Jacobs]

I had a hard time this week doing this assignment. I didn’t just want to repeat back behaviors/actions that you talked about on the video. I do not have a music therapy practice at the moment, so maybe that too made it a little more difficult for me. As I reflected back on some of my young child music sessions, I realized that I was always observing the many different responses talked about on the training video this week. I didn’t have the understanding of what musical developmental stage the child was at, so I didn’t have a clear idea of what response was to come next or how to structure what I was doing to create the environment for the musical developmental stages to blossom. I noticed any little response, such as turning their heads towards the sounds, matching pitches, etc and shared with the adult(s) in a positive, brief manner during the session. That way not only the parent of the child I was talking about learned something new to look for and reinforce, all the adults could use that information with their children, and/or give positive feedback to other child/parent when they notice “that” happening. Building community…I think your framework for developmental stages is a wonderful tool in assessing and planning future sessions. It will also help me be more specific about what I see in class and what kinds of things they can do to generalize this into their day to day life.

Singing
Awareness: turn body or face towards singing
Trust: vocalize in the songs tonality/ show pleasure when hearing a familiar song
Independence: vocalize in the key of the music
Control: sing the last word of a song
Responsibility: sing a familiar song while playing an instrument

Playing
Awareness: reach out toward the sound of the instrument
Trust: explore instruments through their senses
Independence: grasp instruments and shake
Control: play with different dynamics
Responsibility:play a simple sequence

Movement
Awareness: child is comfortable with being bounced, rocked or “dancing”while being held and moving around the room
Trust: move body in rhythm to music (more reflexive/instinctual)
Independence: clap hands
Control: start and stop to music
Responsibility: balance during a freeze game

Listening
Awareness: shows increased attention to different timbre – to different voices and sounds
Trust: vocalize in response to silence (similar to call and response)
Independence: respond to changes in rhythm and dynamics
Control: knows the name of an instrument. choose between 2 instruments
Responsibility: take turns

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Thanks for your honesty, Robin. I too, practiced for years with my instincts guiding me. As I began to train more interns, though, I found that I needed to be better organized and clear in what made my instincts well…instinctual. I also knew that the students were exposed to the newest research, and so I had to keep up with that also. That’s how the whole developmental level framework came about. So it is just a way to organize and scaffold all the things we already knew from our clinical practice!

[Angie Carter]

Singing: Awareness: the baby alerts to singing and looks between care provider and the therapist. Trust: The baby may make eye contact as she vocalizes occasionally. May even be able to take turns. Independence: Certainly able tot ake turns, imitates sounds. Control: Make choices between songs or request independently. Responsibility: The child is able to independently sing a song.

Playing: Awareness: Looks toward the sound and may reach toward the sound. Trust: Reach and grasp instruments, bringing to mouth. Independence: Now the child is able to grasp an instrument and shake it, or hit a drum. Control: Begninning to follow directions for “Ready, set, go” for instrument play and follow music play Responsibility: Attend to instrument play for longer periods of time

Moving: Awareness: The infant calms with rocking. Trust: moving to music as body responds. Independence: particiapte with whole body movment such as running, jumping, walking Control: Follow “Ready, set” go” sequence and directions related to whole body. Responsibility: Able to follow bi-lateral movement directions

Listening: Awareness: Turn and focus with previously presented and familiar music. Trust: Alerts to change in the way a song is sung, fill in the blank, or silence. Independence: Able to select or recognize familiar songs to make choices. Control: Beginning to attend to music without playing stimuli. Responsibility: Able to attend more independently

[Meredith Pizzi]

Thanks for thinking this through everyone! I have found that by looking at these details, we are much more equipped to articulate to parents exactly what we see in their young child’s development. It also helps us to relate musical development to overall development and growth and to anticipate and plan for what will come next developmentally. Keep up the great work everyone!

[Wei Ming Loi]

Sorry that I’m late but this exercise is really helpful for me to remember the steps. Thanks.

Singing
Awareness: Cooing, Vocalising pitched sounds
Trust: Altering pitch in response to singing voice; vocal exchanges in an intentional manner
Independence: Experimental Babbling; repeating certain motifs
Control: Some parts of a song can be heard enough for an adult to identify
Responsibility: Reproducing full songs maintaining pulse

Playing Instruments
Awareness: Reaching out to instruments/orienting to instruments play
Trust: Brief intentional play from child
Independence: Using instruments purposefully
Control: Start and Stop playing with the music
Responsibility: Maintaining a steady beat, playing in rhythm

Moving
Awareness: Rhythmic movements in body seen; Movement in body may change with changes in music
Trust: Moving with music in a repetitive manner
Independence: Ability to isolate movements to a particular body part
Control: Imitating learned movements in a song
Responsibility: Sequencing movements

Listening
Awareness: Change in expression to vocal timbre changes e.g. smiles when hearing mum’s voice
Trust: Recognising familiar songs by smiling/pointing to an object etc.
Independence: Match Intensity of movements to intensity of music
Control: Stops actions to listen to music
Responsibility: Appreciating the music of others; moving beyond self

[Leigh Giglio]

I really liked looking at each musical response developmentally. I had never done that before. This would be a very helpful tool to use when creating a treatment plan with future clients!!

Singing:
(A) Recognizes Mom’s vocal timbre and uses pitch in vocalization to communicate with Mom.
(T) Matches Mom’s pitches in a vocalized play.
(I) Creates varied vowels and consonants when vocalizing. Wants Mom to imitate her sound.
(C) Starts to sing the melody of a familiar song with vowel/consoants and some of the words to the song.
(R) Sings spontaneous songs independently.
Playing Instruments:
(A) Turns head towards the “sound source” when therapist plays an instrument.
(T) Reaches out to the instrument and explores with hands/mouth.
(I) Able to sit up, grasp the instrument and transfer the instrument from one hand to the other.
(C) Explores the use of instruments by banging or pounding, using different tempos and/or dynamics.
(R) Will play with others in a group imitating simple rhythms and/or maintaing a steady beat.
Moving:
(A) Spontaneous, active movements are present (ie. kicking legs) when upbeat, play music is introduced. Relaxed, calm body when lullabies or soft instrumental music is introduced.
(T) Baby rocks back and forth on all fours rhythmically when play music is introduced.
(I) Claps hands, stomps feet to the music.
(C) Watches therapist and imitates movements to the song being played.
(R) Creates own movements to a familiar song
Listening:
(A) Recognized Mom’s singing and turns her head towards her voice.
(T) Hears Mom’s vocalizations and tries to imitate/match the pitch.
(I) Hears the silence/pause in the music. Stays still and quiet, smiles and then leads others to continue the song through vocalizations.
(C) Takes turns in a call/response song with Mom.
(R) Sits and listens patiently while others take a turn to sing/lead the group.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

I loved that you framed everything in terms of “mom”. I always feel as if my job is to always move the child from rapt attention toward me (as the music) and toward their mom or caregiver- the music partner.

[Author]

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