Where will you go from here?

[Meredith Pizzi]

Where will you go from here? How will this training impact your work as a music therapist?

[Susan Gannon]

Well, I am hoping that this training will impact my work considerably since today is my last day at my place of work. I am so relieved to be leaving a place that I worked at for 8.5 years that I never felt really “got” me or music therapy. There are probably 40 or so therapists working there of different disciplines: ABA, speech, OT, PT, academics, tutoring, etc. but I was the only music therapist. I think that is why I was so isolated and everyone was touting their own practices and if I tried to collaborate it was only what they were working on, and they didn’t want to or couldn’t accept my insight into the child’s needs.
After all this time, I feel very uneasy about going out on my own, finding enough clients to make my business viable, and taking care of the business aspect of my profession. I feel strongly that this program (Sprouting Melodies) which sort of fell into my lap, may be the solution I need to get started. It allows me the use of a national branded program that I can refer to and will support me. I am going to start slow and follow the path you took in starting Sprouting Melodies. I am going to check with libraries and community education, and even the local boards of education. I will get an attractive business card (my DBA is Sound Expressions which I may or may not change) set up an LLC, and start looking for a space. But I think before I do any of this, I will make my business plan and write up my vision. I will include a slow but steady pace for growth. Thanks for inspiring me.
Susan

[Julia Park]

Susan, I am so proud of you! Way to go. I pray that you find your voice through this and hope your future business will take off and help many children and families. There are some cmte courses about starting your own music therapy practices. musictherapyed.com offers some courses online. Cathy Knoll offers a course called “You’re the Boss” and I really liked it. http://musicworkspublications.com/courses/youre-the-boss/

I really want to add my own style and voice to the early childhood music therapy services through my practice. I am going to first sit down and create my own business strategies and my own songs using the knowledge I’ve gained about children’s developmental stages. What this training helped me the most is learning about the reasons WHY we sing or play certain songs. Each song matches with particular developmental stages and as a music therapists, we can educate the parents both music and non-musical developmental stages of their children.

[Susan Gannon]

Julia, I so appreciate your kind words and will definitely look into those cmte courses.

[Shelly Peterson]

Susan, I wish you well as you are headed into an amazing world! It is not easy to start up a practice, but it is so rewarding and flexible!
I would like to add that AMTA has many resources as well for starting a practice, reimbursement, advocacy, etc. Check out the website and explore all it has to offer you as well as the resources Julia mentioned.

[Alexis Ramagnano]

Julia, thank you for the information on business building CBMT courses! Tomorrow will also my my final day at a place I’ve worked at for over 8 years. I am going to be building a business from scratch but feel more motivated since completing this training. I have been discussing a business plan with a really close friend who is a CTRS. I am not sure that I will be able to provide Sprouting Melodies programs if I have a CTRS assistant. Is this something that would be ok? I am having surgery on Monday and will have six weeks of rest to figure things out. I am hoping this time of healing will also be a time of growth.

[Susan Gannon]

Wow, Alexis, you have a lot on your plate. How interesting that you and I are in the same boat. Perhaps we can stay in touch and support each other. I don’t know what a CTRS is. Can you explain those credentials? Also, to our moderators, can we share our email addresses with everyone so we can stay in touch with our classmates? And, Alexis, you have my best wishes for your business and for your surgery going well.

[Anonymous]

It is wonderful reading each of your plans as you go out to create your own business and work with the early childhood population. Julia thank you for sharing about the business CMTE’s, I know that will be helpful for others. Those who are starting business can also join the MTBO group on Facebook, connect with your local SCORE which is a free service for business owners, and if you need a business coach, Meredith offers business coaching and I believe she offers a discount to Sprouting Melodies Providers. Alex, you can talk further with Meredith and Beth about the friend that is a CTRS. I do know that to be a Sprouting Melodies Provider and to run the classes you have to have the MT-BC credential since this program is based off of music therapy practice and theory. But, if she is assisting in the business and not offering the classes directly that may be different. Susan- anyone who would like to connect and share contact information is welcome to do so. One of the reasons this class is structured with a forum is to encourage participants to interact with each other and learn from each other’s perspectives on the training information. Meredith and Beth know how much we can each learn from each other.

[Kate Potrykus]

I was so nervous starting a practice, but after meeting Meredith at a conference and talking to her about Sprouting Melodies, I became incredibly excited. Through this training I’ve learned a lot about early childhood and how music fits into this age group. While this age group is not one I have a lot of experience working with, I have had many parents come up to me at marketing events and ask “how young will you work with?” I can now honestly answer that there’s not such thing as too young when it comes to working with people through music. I hope to apply a lot of what I’ve learned to my clinical practice, and, of course, I hope to become a Sprouting Melodies Provider. I think it will be a great addition to my practice as a program we offer, and I truly believe this is something my community could benefit from.

[Marcie Hernandez, MT-BC]

I already feel like I’ve been able to incorporate the information from this training with my current clients, and my hope is that I can take the information I’ve learned here and help to create a successful Sprouting Melodies series for the practice I work in. I’ve shared before in other posts, that I can see the need in our community for an early childhood program like this one, and I’m looking forward to bringing something truly beneficial and exciting to the community as a Sprouting Melodies Provider.

[Charniqua Snell]

I am excited to use the skills with the clients and groups I already see. The private practice I work for in Orlando is already starting Sprouting melodies classes this summer. So I feel ready to be able to contribute to the business and start facilitating classes myself.

[Daniel Henry]

I’m lucky to work at Roman Music therapy services with Meredith and hope to have the opportunity to lead a Sprouting Melodies group in the future. But This training is also helpful in working with my current clients. I believe that one area that it has already helped me in is communicating with parents and caregivers. It’s a great help to be able to effectively communicate with parents/caregivers about how music therapy is helping their children and how their children are doing in the session. This has allowed parents to trust me as a clinician and I have certainly noticed how once the parent trusts my judgement and leadership they are much quicker to participate and model for their children which makes such a difference in getting their children engaged in the music and makes the sessions more effective over all. I’m also looking forward to continue my learning about early child development now that this course has come to a close.

[Kristina Rio]

It so great to hear that so many of you are ready to become Sprouting Melodies Providers! I’m looking forward to having so many wonderful new providers added to our community!

Once you become a provider and have access to the Sprouting Melodies Provider Site Forum, check out the recorded Sprouting Melodies Provider conference calls. There is one in particular that Meredith and I were on called “How To Get Your Classes Going.” We talked about strategies for building awareness of your program and strategies for marketing and for retaining enrollments!

[Rebecca Woodruff]

I am very excited to be heading to a second interview on Thursday for a job at a local music therapy firm. If everything works out I probably won’t be starting a private practice for a few years. However, I feel like Sprouting Melodies would be a wonderful option for me to get my private practice off the ground when the time homes. Regardless, the knowledge and skills I have gained through taking this course will help me in future music therapy work with young children and children with special needs. Thank you for offering a course that I could take from home it has been so very interesting!

[Nicole Drozd]

Sorry I am so last minute with my response! Things have been hectic with work (which is actually a good thing in Private practice). I hope to become an SM provider by the end of this month and begin networking with others in my community about services. July 4th is my 1 year anniversary of private practice and I have been really taking it slow. Now that I have a little bit of an idea of what I am doing, I think it’s time to leap. The other thing I would like to add, is that while I am taking this leap I will have the SM community supporting me-which is also why I have been taking my time. I have some BIG ideas and I need all the support I can get.

Susan and Alexis, doing it on your own can be kind of scary but you two are making some great steps to prepare for your journey! I have used Cathy Knoll’s “You’re the Boss” course and I have used Kimberley Sena Moore’s E-Book Business Blueprint as starting points for my practice (both are great and affordable). The MTBO Community is a really great community to be a part of and free-you should join as soon as you get your first client!

Good Luck everyone with your work and with become a provider!

[Shelly Peterson]

I feel like the sky’s the limit and I need to wrap my head around the possibilities. My family is moving to Fort Collins, Colorado in July and making some big changes so now might be a really good opportunity to implement Sprouting Melodies within my business. This training has really given me such a boost in confidence in my skills and what I can offer my new community as well as updates in the research and best practices in working in early childhood. My repertoire for songs has increased and also provided me with new inspiration for my own song creations. I would like to be able to offer classes to families in need within my new community – for instance low socio-economic areas, but community needs are yet to be determined.

[Shelly Peterson]

Another business resource that was very helpful to me was my state’s Small Business Development Center. Look into your state and see if you have one. They offer classes that are affordable and often 1:1 consultations for free once you finish the initial courses. They help you every step of the way as much as you want!

Best wishes to everyone on your journeys!

I like Susan’s idea of sharing email addresses so I will just list mine here:
kidsinharmonymusic@gmail.com

[Elizabeth Carras]

This course has been incredibly helpful to me in two major ways: information and affirmation. I feel much better informed about early childhood development, and especially musical development, that I was when I began the course. Now that I have a more complete and secure knowledge base, I can plan better, facilitate better, and communicate better as a provider. I also found myself listening to Meredith and Beth in the videos and thinking, “Yeah, I do that.” I’m fairly new to the field (this is my second year as an MTBC) and I’m still finding my footing. Recognizing that my knowledge is better than I give myself credit for, and my instincts as a therapist are on the right track, I believe, will directly impact the success of my sessions, whether it is music therapy or community music groups.

[Christina Bass]

This training has really opened my eyes to the different aspect of child development and I have learned so much! I have so many new ideas for working with my young clients as well as some of my older ones that are at similar development levels. I feel more confident in talking with the parents I work with as well as educating members in my community in how music can provide support for childhood growth. I have talked with a family friend who is part of a homeschooling community in town and she shared that there may be interest for music classes the parents with you children while their older kids are in classes and activities, I have not yet had the opportunity to look into all the details, but it would be a great opportunity to see if a Sprouting Melodies program would fit well with their needs.

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