[Adrienne Salmon]

I have a client who has limited vocabulary and has in previous sessions, had some difficulties vocalizing, as well as voicing preference. In our most recent session, he started singing “NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!” along with me, clear as day. His mother almost cried. It was a beautiful, inspiring experience, and really showed me how much music therapy can help a parent access their child in ways that other therapies may not have allowed or opened them up to. I think that the value that music therapists bring to their families is really limitless, and patience and fun are paramount. Furthermore, 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?

[Adrienne Salmon]

I definitely do use these four stages in my practice. I do a lot of activities requiring the Responsibility phase of listening, which I learned that I am doing by participating in this course! I also have realized that it’s really hard to pinpoint exact instances when I have used these stages in my practice, but while developing my list, it occurred to me that I go through these stages in my practice literally every session. Now that it is more apparent to me what I have been doing and how, I will definitely be developing my sessions to foster the most amount of growth possible for my clients 🙂

[Adrienne Salmon]

Singing: Awareness- Sighs and vocalizations, localizing sound with gaze towards general area of source of sound; Trust- Approximating the tones/pitches of a favorite song for preference/request; Independence-babbling using musical dynamics and inflection such as descending note structure Control- approximately matching pitches/general contour and shape of familiar tunes Responsibility- Approximating the incorporation of pitches, steps, intervals, and/or tempo to reproduce songs

Playing: Awareness: Touches/feels an instrument with open or closed hand. Trust: Explores the instrument with hands and/or mouth. Independence: Makes instrument make noise on purpose (not by accident). Control: Plays instrument with a basic beat and starts/stops with cues within music, possibly with help from parent/aid. Responsibility: Takes turns with others in the group during instrumental play.

Moving: Awareness: Kicking legs excitedly and/or moves body in response to music playing; Trust: Vaguely moving whole body in response to music, hopefully an arm or leg will be tapping to the rhythm; Independence: Bouncing in rhythmic time to music being played; Control: Able to change from dancing slowly to slow music to dancing quickly to fast music; Responsibility: Coordinating movement to the movements of others during group music games

Listening: Awareness: Turns head toward general area where sound of the music is coming from; Trust: Stops crying and is comforted by familiar song; Independence: Tracks movement of sound during the session by rotating head while sitting; Control: Beginning to play and/or sing purposefully and in time with group activities; Responsibility: Watches and listens to group members and waits turn when an instrument is being passed around in a circle for turn-taking activities

[Adrienne Salmon]

Currently, I am working with a wonderful and very musical little four year old boy with acquired blindness due to brain surgery. Also from the brain surgery, he suffered a stroke and thus is working through some left side paralysis, speech/language delays, and other developmental delays. For most of our sessions, he is really in the awareness and trust stage; we are able to have meaningful musical interactions with him responding appropriately to musical opportunities, etc. However, the most recent session, he started showing stages of independence, singing a song for me that I did not know was one of his favorite. Until this point, we have used mostly nursery rhymes (which he loves, also in this session humming notes of Three Blind Mice and laughing gleefully when I guessed correctly) but he started humming the first few notes of Funky Town! I had no idea he has an affinity towards disco, and when I asked his mother, she said that her husband does play a lot of disco! So not only did he show independence in that session, he also showed how his home environment is affecting his preferences, and although he can not ask for them verbally, he is vocally requesting as well, showing independence.

[Adrienne Salmon]

I recently relocated about a year ago, and it is hard to call New Haven ‘home’ yet, although it is starting to feel that way. I also don’t work specifically in the city that I live in, so I can’t say that the ‘cultural’ influences of my ‘home’ community have begun to affect my practice yet. My home community growing up was very diverse, and that inspired me to continue to diversify my repertoire, so that has definitely helped my practice. However, the communities I serve and have served in my time here, I am finding, request a lot of Christian music and Country music, which I had not been very familiar with before my move. However, some of the clients also request John Denver and The Beatles, Johnny cash, some prefer Disney classics and children’s music, my caseload is pretty diverse, as is my original home community, so it all comes full circle. I also have clients who believe that “KISS 95.7 is the best radio station in Connecticut”, so I am enjoying learning new pop songs (which I personally rarely listen to) and have lots of requests for Taylor Swift.

[Adrienne Salmon]

I have been working with children since I was a child (at 10 I took it upon myself to be a mother’s helper in my neighborhood.. started babysitting at age 13, etc) and I think that the skills that I have retained from the 15+ years I have spent with children really help me as a music therapist. Since I was developing while working with children, I have developed a natural ability to be a child in the moment when appropriate. I can be very animated, silly, and really have no problem (and even prefer) to lead sessions sitting on the carpet with the whole group. I think that these qualities that I have grown with will support my work as a music therapist.

[Adrienne Salmon]

The most valuable lesson that I took away from this week’s assignment is the importance of understanding a child’s developmental levels, and working within them. I worked this summer as a nanny for a quite advanced 16 month old, who I bought sidewalk chalk for way too early.. Needless to say, he had a very colorful mouth. I will be applying understanding of just what a typical child should be able to do, at what age, while also keeping in mind the possibility of development not being 100%. On the flip side of that, I have worked with children of varied ages where I have wondered if certain actions that I was observing were a ‘red flag’ or not. I will definitely be getting to know these developmental expectations better and applying them to my arsenal as a music therapist to make sure that my activities are always developmentally appropriate.

[Adrienne Salmon]

Hi,

My name is Adrienne Salmon, and I recently started working at Connecticut Music Therapy Services, LLC. I live in New Haven, CT, and my clients are all around the state. I am, so far, really liking the job, but am very busy learning about all of my new clients and getting everything together, week to week, day to day. I get to meet so many incredible people. My clients right now range in age from 2-50 (or so), with lots of preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten groups. They’re all really wonderful, but love to share their germs! Haha

I am taking the Sprouting Melodies training for a couple of reasons. First, my new employers have encouraged/required their employees have the training. Second, I love children and I hope that this will help me be the best therapist that I can be, especially with such young clients who are at such a mysterious time in their brain development.

Sorry for the haste in the post, but I was locked out of the site due to a technical glitch on my end, so it will take me a little longer to catch up. I’m really looking forward to this course, what I will learn, and sharing it all together.

Best!!

-Adrienne Salmon

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