What value do music therapists bring to families of young children?

[Meredith Pizzi]

What value do music therapists bring to families of young children? Post your thoughts and comments to the board. Reply to the contributions of the group.

[Kerry Cornelius]

Just finished watching the video and have to say that I was really excited to learn about success strategies for facilitating a community and to think about my value as a music therapy provider! Working in private practice can be challenging (especially when the business is still in its early growth stages), and it can be crucial for your own self-esteem, business marketing and energy as a therapist to think about your value and what you are bringing to your home community. I think that the value I bring (and the value that every music therapist brings!) is diverse knowledge and creativity as both a musician and a clinician. Not only are we skilled at playing many instruments in a variety of styles, but we also have a wide array of knowledge in areas ranging from developmental psychology and child development all the way to neurology and counseling. Because of these skill sets, we as music therapists can tailor every music experience we provide to each child’s own unique needs at that point in time. We don’t provide a set curriculum, but rather an opportunity to follow the child’s lead and reflect their exploration of the world musically during our sessions. As families begin to experience this flexibility and supportive environment for themselves after attending a few sessions, I find their excitement renewed as they begin asking questions and engaging with their child musically both at sessions and in home.

[Katie Bagley]

I could not agree more with Kerry, above. The things I wrote down during the video included: knowledge in multiple fields including Music (Theory, Instrumentation, Acoustics, etc.), Psychology (Human Development, different psychological perspectives, Treatment Planning, Counseling), Neurology, Anatomy and others. We as Music Therapists also have experience working with numerous populations and domains. Our education, training and board certification gives us a qualified and very unique background to provide services to all of these populations, including young children and families. We can provide families with opportunities for bonding, learning, and happiness. We have the knowledge and opportunity to educate parents on the development of their children, including what to look for, and how to praise/recognize development that they may confuse as being “bored” or possibly not participating. I feel that parental education is a very important aspect for our work as early childhood music therapists, which ultimately engages parents and encourages them to value and appreciate our offerings.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

So far, only Kerry and Katie have weighed in before me and they have both said it all with respect to putting into practice the core principles and success strategies. Having a foundation in psychology, child development, special education, counseling (listen!), and non-verbal communication (watch!) as well as having strong music skills is what we MTs bring to families and their children. Since becoming an MT-BC, I have am much keener at recognizing the subtle ways in which people respond to and engage in music. We can then reassure a family that even though their child isn’t singing at the top of her lungs, she is engaged because she’s transfixed by what she’s hearing and developing trust in herself and the experience.

I personally am an active networker in my community and have joined several business networking groups in my community. It is a huge investment in time and money (dues, lunches, presentations), but I have to say that after 2+ years, I have more work than I can handle (recall I also teach, perform, arrange and record). My biggest challenge is “educating” the business community about music therapy. Most people “get” music lessons, but not so MT. So, one of my strategies is to give short (10 – 15 minutes) PowerPoint presentations on how MT differs from music lessons followed by a group activity. When people get to know you and what you can do, they begin to take an interest in your work and begin referring you.

[Katherine Sestrick]

As everyone before me has mentioned, music therapists bring such unique and diverse knowledge and experiences to the families of young children. We are musicians, counselors, human development experts, teachers, and so much more. Another thing that we as music therapists are able to bring to families who participate in Sprouting Melodies classes is the ability to determine the needs of the children and the parents in our classes and to adjust the classes accordingly. Because it’s not a set curriculum, we are free to adapt current material and create our own material to meet the needs of everybody in the class. Unlike other programs, we also bring the goal to encourage the development of the whole child, rather than just focusing on the musical skills. The parents education component is such a large part of this because we are able to point out to parents how the music activities are helping their children develop non-musical skills. Without our unique background and training as music therapists, this would not be possible.

[Shonda Malik]

The four posts above very eloquently stated many of the values music therapists bring to early childhood music programs. I would like to talk about the live music we provide as compared to programs like Kindermusik that rely heavily on prerecorded music. Our live music approach allows us to be more in the moment with our groups and use silence, surprise, repetition, dynamics, voice timbre, etc etc. We are also better able to adjust mid-session to the needs of our clients because we have such a large repertoire of music within ourselves and therefore don’t have to fumble with a digital device.

[Katie Romano]

As my peers have so beautifully stated what makes music therapists so unique in the services we apply to children and their families. Our education in a variety of fields, helps us provided more well rounded services. It also gives us more tools and angles when provided music therapy to children. Out musical education paired with knowledge of childhood development and psychology helps with intervention planning and musical choices. It also gives us the opportunity and knowledge base to improvise midsession and meet the children where there are at.

[Kasey Sollenberger]

It has been so interesting to read everyone’s comments on this topic. I’ve always had difficulty with the idea of “selling myself”(for lack of a better term) and/or my services; but I find it easier to focus on the value of music therapists as a whole vs. just myself and this course has greatly helped me to feel more confident. There have been no many great points made here. The first thing that comes to my mind is, when I started my group sessions, parents were constantly apologizing for their children. It is so valuable for the families to be able to come into a group setting, and just let their children be themselves! In whatever stage of development they are in, it is so important for us as the professional to ensure the parents that their child is not doing anything “wrong”. Music therapists enrich the lives of our families in so many ways: in creating bonds between caretaker and child, in creating support systems between families, and by facilitating child development in such a unique and effective way through music.

[Christina Wensveen]

I really liked Shonda’s comment about music therapists bringing live music to the children. There have been so many times the plan goes out the window and as a music therapist you are able to adjust and move forward. I think being able to adjust to the children in the moment is a huge part of making a session successful and that is something not all other music providers are able to do. I think another thing music therapists do is adapt music. I often change lyrics or put in a child’s name in a song to draw out responses. Changing a tune for a specific reason is something we do all the time. If a family needs support (i.e.: with transitions/ potty training etc..) we are able to create a song that might assist them during these stressful times.

[Adrienne Salmon]

It would be both very easy but also very honest to say ditto to literally everybody above me. I have a family who has requested to put music and lyrics to address certain behaviors of the client. This is something that I learned about time and again in studies, and getting to put it into practice has been wonderful. Now, after watching this video, I understand that my value in that role means a lot to the family, whereas it seems just standard for us, the therapists. It’s really nice to think back to clients and families and realize what you can bring to them to enrich their overall quality of life as individuals and family members. The knowledge we have gained through studies and training allow us to come to families from a perspective that touches upon fun, but is also deeply rooted in neurology, biology, etc. making us attractive to families with young children because childhood should be all about the fun, shouldn’t it?

[Kathryn Costanza]

I identify a lot with what Kasey said (and what everybody else said) specifically about how it can be difficult to sell yourself as a provider but how it is much easier to think about selling music therapy as a whole. One thing that struck me was the mom in the video saying that it was clear that every Music Therapist she worked with was passionate and enthusiastic. I think that is very true of every music therapist I’ve met and very unique to our profession as a whole.

It’s difficult to think of what else to add to the eloquent responses above, but I’ll say this: we are specialists, not of a specific domain, but of a specific medium. Our knowledge of our medium (music) includes understanding how it affects and interacts with function in everyday life and that is an extraordinary and unique skill set, especially when you consider how music literally touches every area of the brain. In my words: Music is the ultimate brain hack and I’m the hacker.

[Nicole Sanabria]

We as music therapist’s bring an open door full of endless opportunities that encourage the child to explore who they are and the world around them. We don’t rely on a recipe to reach our clients. We adapt to certain changes to meet our clients, empathize, then move forward to support their internal and external growth, all through the power of music. Some other professionals may have a strong background in only counseling, biology, or developmental psychology. Yet, music therapist’s professional background encompasses all of those things, plus being diverse musicians that can use any style of music to create interactive/authentic music experiences that enable the clients to truly enjoy the experience whole heartedly, while accepting who they are as a person, or learning more about what they are capable of accomplishing.

[Jonni Fogerty]

Music therapists are specialists in both music and development, which makes us uniquely qualified to provide information and support to families of young children. Specifically, helpful strategies for using music for transitions and daily routines. I like Nicole’s way of describing it. We bring “endless opportunities that encourage the child to explore who they are and the world around them.” Music therapists go beyond just providing fun musical experiences. We help the child, teacher, family, connect to the world and use the material learned in the musical experiences to further development and more easily travel through the day, the week, and the year.

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