[Amadee Castenell]

I have learned “Where is My Face” with the scarves and utilized it many times with younger early childhood aged individuals in a session. It had proven to be very beneficial for that surprise factor, which can lead to greater stimulation and focus throughout the session. The other song I have learned is “Hello Hello, Beautiful Day” and I have utilized it within many different populations as it is universally a welcoming hello song that is musically simple enough in the lyrics while being memorable and sharing a positive message that is easily adaptable based on the day. For example, “Hello, hello, today is a [beautiful], [rainy], [cold], [hot]”, all of which can be substituted to flow easily and give a stronger awareness to the world around us.

[Amadee Castenell]

My most valuable take-away was learning about parental education and applying it into sessions with other populations. It has helped me advocate and deepen my therapeutic bonds with clients as well as parents to share what I am doing and why. It is not easy to be confident when sharing information, especially being an individual who is not currently a parents. Whether its something as simple as the proper range of where to hold your child for them to see you or what stages they are going through developmentally and being able to point that out as to why some children act in a certain way. When involving parents or caregivers within the session it can provide amazing benefits and mutual growth.

[Amadee Castenell]

Whether it is friends or families I encounter in the future, I will personally share the knowledge acquired. That knowledge pertains to developmental milestones for their children, even at the earliest of ages. Recently, I had a discussion with friends of mine who shared that they did not believe it was possible or what music could do for children this young so I stepped into advocacy mode. I was very thankful to be able to share so many small bits of information that shine light on the impact music can have at an early age through awareness, trust, and all other aspects of personal bonding and growth. I do not know whether or not I will partake in leading SM classes but I can guarantee that the knowledge will be passed on to other individuals who are curious or bring up the topic. As a music therapist I do not work much with individuals as young as the populations in sprouting melodies and my area of expertise if with older adults, hospice, and memory. If I lead groups in the future my knowledge will be applied by utilizing the songs provided in this curriculum to better reinforce early music therapy benefits.

[Amadee Castenell]

Hello Billie, thanks for bringing up the point about fussy kids. It is important for us all to remember that each kiddo is unique and has their own temperament. They will respond to stimuli in different ways than their peers although there may be some crossover in similarities. We all know what it is like to have one kid that does not like what the rest of the group is doing or one kid who responds differently based on prior school and life experiences. The same concept can be applied here as well.

[Amadee Castenell]

Thank you Carrie for sharing the sentence that informs parents that repetition is okay. I found myself in amazement when I got to observe Meredith conduct a session and continue the same song as she was able to educate the parents on the go by pointing out exactly what was happening and explaining why she was continuing the same song as well as the benefits of the reactions observed.
This often goes overlooked so thank you again.

[Amadee Castenell]

I love reading everyone’s sentences regarding what to use to educate the parents or inform. Brooke’s line about the cleanliness of the instruments is extremely important and I overlooked it even though it was mentioned in the video. That is wonderful information to pass along as colds get passed around at the age and the years to come like a beach ball at a concert.

[Amadee Castenell]

5 Words to describe the music experiences in Sprouting Melodies 2:

Inviting, Energetic, Exploratory, Safe, Fun

5 Sentences about musical responses in SM 2
1. The nature of the music space is for exploration and joy, to know that your child has the ability to roam around if need be. 2. It is okay if your child is engaged one minute and not engaged the other minute, it is near impossible for a child their age to focus for the full 45 minutes. 3. If your child explores the lap of another parent do not be afraid, they are simply displaying individual growth and exploration. 4. It is a display of trust and safety that the child is showing by being able to sit on another parent’s lap and engage in the current music experience. 5. You may be shocked but they may create their own melodies or mimic the pitches or rhythms in any of these given songs!

SM2 session plan
Greeting song – Today is a beautiful day: Used to greet everyone
Gathering song – Sit with Me and shake – Bringing everyone together and gathering attention as the introduction of surprises and different auditory stimuli with various maracas and bells are used. The surprise gathers attention when the “Stop” is used as well as dynamics and tempo to build up the excitement.
Movement song – Jump up and Wiggle Jiggle, Keeping up the stimulation and peaking for the group including movement that promotes organization of body parts as well as parental bonding and trust due to the feet manipulation involved.
Cooldown song – Scarves, utilizing any of the approved scarf songs can be a great way to incorporate songs previously learned along with new ones while dynamics and tempo suggest that the session is wrapping up.
Goodbye Song – Thank you, serving as a double purpose song in which the bonding and peer interaction begins as time goes on with the shaking on the hands.

[Amadee Castenell]

Stimulation is a balancing game. For older adults, it can be incredibly beneficial to use highly stimulating instruments, sounds, and music that is more upbeat to keep everyone’s attention, especially with short-term memory or individuals with Alzheimer’s/Dementia. For young kids it can be very difficult to find the right balance seeing as a loud noise for one group member could be characterized as a normal sound for another based on auditory stimuli that they were previously subjected to. An example would be a household in the city with the sounds of sirens, animals, street talking, cars, trains, etc. which all contribute to a large ambient sound level. If you consider that as well as the opposite living situation, it can create many differences that can be difficult to play around. All in all, stimulation is the key to maintaining focus in the session by utilizing pacing and transitions appropriately based on your read of the group. Whether there are kids banging on the walls or kids deeply engaged, the true challenge is finding the balance to keep all members engaged to the best of your ability without over-doing it and causing discomfort or overstimulation. When seeing eye contact or participation, that is a prefect area in which they are stimulated but not overstimulated. If wild vocalizations, crying, or loss of interest occur, there is a good chance that you have either understimulated or overstimulated the group members. This can be remedied through use of new auditory or tactile stimuli, such as new instruments, or even a new instrument such as a Ukelele instead of a guitar.

[Amadee Castenell]

As a RMTS employee, I also have access to all the instruments seen in the videos and previously mentioned by Billie.
Remo is the brand that is most used as they make reliable, durable drums that provide a sufficient sound and feel great.
My favorite is a giant remo drum that is roughly the size of four toddlers. It can draw the attention and produces a sound that is exciting but only overstimulating if used with mallets.

[Amadee Castenell]

That is awesome that you have been able to observe the different levels of classes. Looking forward to observing you in action sometime! As a non-parent it feels difficult to share a confident voice throughout these types of classes but this course has been helpful in boosting the confidence and educating us all.

[Amadee Castenell]

I have never worked directly with children of this age range although I have observed sessions of Sprouting Melodies before when first starting work. My experience has been very gentle music with and learning from peers about the simplicity of beats, dyanmics, words, and other musical elements that truly solidify the experience for everyone. It will be nice to observe more so that I can improve knowledge of early childhood population.

[Amadee Castenell]

5 Words – Gather, Stimulate, Educate, Bonding, Comforting Farewell

Starting with the “Today is a Beautiful Day” as a gathering song to introduce everyone and give individual attention. Second,
“Row Row Row Your Boat” to incorporate parent and child bonding and promote stimulation through different levels of trust as the babies come towards the parent and proper distance is dictated. Third, using the scarves for peek-a-boo song to promote awareness and having the babies grab scarf off of them while paying attention to their visible sight range. Fourth, “Just like Me” furthering the bonding and education through teaching parents about waving properly instead of pointing and awareness of body parts. Goodbye “Music Time is Done” to start the comforting farewell that remains continuous throughout so that parents and kids know when the end is there and prepare accordingly.

[Amadee Castenell]

You make a wonderful point Samantha. I did not think about how the education we provide for music therapy throughout the community at such a young age for most of the children could lead to amazing advocacy as the children grow over the years. From what I hear, the sprouting melodies kids end up coming back year after year and because of that there was a need to expand sprouting melodies into different segments and levels. Thank you for sharing!

[Amadee Castenell]

I never really took into consideration the fatigue and overall exhaustion that the parents must be facing throughout the week. When I heard that some of the parents are joining in on their lunch breaks for that one hour of music with their little one, it dawned on me how rejuvenating and special Sprouting Melodies can be. This is truly a special time for parents to take a breather and be surrounded by the bonding and knowledge that what they are doing is okay and helping them take steps toward improving that bond and learning more about the overall development of their little one through music. It is amazing that we can create such a safe space for parents in a world of uncertainty and so many different opinions/views in various books, websites, and elsewhere.

[Amadee Castenell]

Hi Stephanie,
It is great to see that you are thinking of those individuals that might be considered at-risk.
I grew up as an at-risk kid in a dangerous area and simply thinking of the joy, love, and warmth that a group
catered to kids in similar situations to that would have through music would be amazingly beneficial.
Thank you for thinking of that side of the younger age to serve.

[Author]

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