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?

[Rachel Lighty]

This course has had a huge impact on my case load because I started early childhood music groups shortly after starting this group. Without the knowledge and resources that were provided and discussed, I don’t think my groups would be as successful as they currently are. I have never done groups like this before and it was so beneficial for me to be a part of this course. I have always been excited about this age group and am thrilled that I can now feel confident in my abilities to provide high quality groups for early childhood and their families.

I would love to start more music groups around the community because there are very few and many of them are not led by music therapists. Hopefully more groups will be able to start in the near future!

[Anonymous]

Rachel I am delighted to hear this course has been informing and supporting your work. And, that you are experiencing so much success! I wish you all the best in your endeavors!

[Alison Albino]

I have all of these ideas! What I really want to do is chat with Meredith about expanding the Sprouting Melodies program through RMTS to the Brookline area. Library programs are so wonderful and they’re a great place to start! I love working with children and hope once I become certified and begin working full time as a music therapist that I can work with more children through Sprouting Melodies and early intervention. I really look forward to taking all of this information I have learned and incorporating it into my work once I begin working with little ones. I was so inspired by this class that I came up with a bonding/lap ride song! I feel much more knowledgeable about early childhood development. I really believe I can really educate families and caregivers now.

[Anonymous]

Best of luck Alison! I am so glad you had the opportunity to intern with Meredith and see Sprouting Melodies first hand as you took this training.

[Jessica Triana]

My motivation to continue working with this population has only grown with my participation in this training. I feel validated in my work as a music therapist and refreshed by reading everyone’s experiences and ideas. Just this week I proposed a community-based model for an outpatient group for young children and their families to my directors and colleagues. I was able to use so much of the information on early childhood development and music therapy implications that were presented in this training to very clearly articulate the need and importance of this kind of group for our patients. I was met with overwhelming support and the green light to start as soon as possible. This training provided me with more confidence to move forward with this idea and implement these ideas into practice!

[Tracy Schoenberg]

This training has motivated me to try and possibly see what areas in my community might benefit from a program like this while also using some of these ideas for seniors and other populations. Since I am pretty busy raising my own kids at this time, I will be looking into music studios I’ve worked at previously, but might also look into Early intervention or Head Start since the kids might really benefit from a program like this, as well as their families. I honestly would prefer someone to do the paperwork and financial dealings like a Park District or music school since I don’t have a lot of free time right now. I will be presenting the importance of music therapy in relation to child development to other moms in my area as practice, and hope it will help educate the caregivers and their family ways to use music to encourage ways to move toward milestones in child development.

[Anonymous]

Jessica- great work in presenting to your colleagues and administrators. Best of luck with your new program. Tracy- also consider looking at your local libraries and community centers, several Sprouting Melodies Providers have had great success with these facilities.

[Gwendolyn Van Baalen]

This course has confirmed experiences that I’ve had working with this population, provided me with language to discuss music therapy and early childhood development with colleagues and families, and given me a framework for beginning my own group!
I’m looking forward to continuing to gather research to support my practice and to developing my skills as a group facilitator with this population.

[Elizabeth Ferguson]

This course helped me to reorganize my thoughts on my early childhood groups. I had already read “Music Therapy and Early Childhood” years ago and have used it for many years as a loved reference. Working with young children as always been my passion and it was wonderful to see two successful professionals sharing the same passion!

I have been trying to get into the Head Start programs in my community with out success. This course reiterated the need to be apart of those programs!

[RaeAnna Zinniel]

In less then a week I move back to school to start my senior year at Wartburg College and now with this training I am so excited for my two practicums which are with infants and two year olds. This training has given me a great head start on the semester. After college and my internship I still hope to start up my own private practice and I think being a Provider would be of a great benefit for my practice and my community.

[Marchele Gilman]

This class has been invaluable in my emersion in music with the 0-5 population. Understanding how musical development coincides with other types of development has been empowering as a music therapist. I believe that this information is validating for our field.
I am not sure where I am going from here, but I feel much more confident about approaching, explaining, and setting up groups with this population. I am also much more informed about what type of music to pick and how to write music for this population.

[Cassandra Reyna]

This training has done exactly what I hope it would–fill in all of the knowledge gaps I had about early childhood and refresh what I did learn. At my university, our early childhood information was quite early on in the program, and that information leaked out of my brain over the course of the next three years. We also focused quite heavily on children with special needs, so I never had the opportunity to work with typical children until my internship at a children’s hospital. There, I realized that I needed to be very aware of music’s role in development because these childrens’s illnesses were impacting their ability to develop like any other child would, whether that be due to limited mobility or a trach tube impacting their verbal skills.
While I intend to stick around the behavioral health hospital for while longer, I intend to utilize this information at the music school I work at (they have “Mommy and Me” classes) and as I pursue my Master’s, which will most likely have a focus on working with children. In the coming years, I will certainly break out my Raising Harmony notes in order to constantly refresh the information and add new songs to my repertoire!

[Anonymous]

Wishing you all the best as you move forward!

[Flora Whitmore]

This training has really expanded how I approach and understand my work with younger clients. I am really excited to have new songs and techniques to add to my toolkit with this age group. I will continue to use the skills acquired in this course to help me explore new directions with interventions and apply the principals I have learned within my work with the practice I am part of. I am ALSO so excited to use these songs with my families when we start offering SM3 in my town this October!! I had the opportunity to sit in on some demo class with my colleague who has already undergone the training and it was so cool to see the songs in practice and to observe the responses. I think this is going to be hugely enriching and I’m grateful for the professional development aspect, and just for the insight Elizabeth and Meredith have provided!

[Beth McLaughlin]

It’s very exciting to read what everyone is intending to do with this training and how it will inform and expand their practice. I love how SM training has validated and inspired us as clinicians. My situation is a little different as I am not intending to grow an existing practice. I am considering starting a VERY small practice focusing on providing music to families with babies and toddlers. The SM model provides a perfect framework for these classes and I am seriously considering becoming a provider. I appreciate all the work that Meredith and Beth have put in to creating this business and the materials needed for us to use as we start the program in our communities. I am at a point where I am happy to have this work done for me! I look forward to continuing to grow in my knowledge of early childhood development and to share the information and resources with the families I work with.

[Alice Sorensen]

This training has made me excited about the upcoming year. As I mentioned before, I’m not currently in music therapy practice and with SM training, I plan on working with my current job to become a spouting melodies provider, being able to hold the sessions at our facility. This is especially exciting because it’ll bring some much needed money to our parish, it’ll give me a sense of fulfillment, serve a need in the community, and spread awareness of Sprouting Melodies!

[Ayelet Weiss]

This course has really helped align child development and musical development and has equipped me with strategies of how to speak to parents, how to represent what we do, how to try to start programs, and of course how to run successful groups! I am still figuring out the next step, but I have just switched to part time at my non music therapy job to free up some time to try to figure it out! I will probably start by researching and finding where there is a need for this in my community.

[Ayelet Weiss]

And learning all of the music!

[Anonymous]

Wishing you the best as you start on your new endeavors Ayelet! It has been great having you in the training.

[Author]

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