[Angela Drury]

Sam – It actually got me thinking about that as well as I’ve watched him explore new ways of playing the same instrument. At first, I was so eager to get new toys and instruments, because they are for young babies and he is going to get bored with them. Then I saw how he views and explores objects so differently as he grows. It really makes me think about how babies perspectives and world is always changing. Once they can deliberately move and manipulate objects, see more clearly from a distance, identify patterns, sit or stand…their world gets flipped upside down! When they go through these big changes in their perception and abilities, they also tend to go through fussy spurts!…because its exhausting being a baby. Imagine not being able to differentiate between your senses and having everything you experience be equally stimulating, yikes!

[Angela Drury]

What does music therapy in a community based setting mean/look like (I feel like I am overthinking this, as community based settings is very broad)? Offering non-clinical music therapy based services? I don’t have any experience working in community based settings, I have only worked in a prison, where we release parolees to the community and leave them to fend for themselves in communities with limited resources or support. I look forward to reading more about what others have to say about this.

As far as offering music therapy based services to children and their families in the community, I feel we do offer very unique and needed services. Offering a program such as Sprouting Melodies makes our services, as trained music therapists, more accessible to all families, you don’t have to qualify or demonstrate a need. It is even more accessible, because it is more inviting to families and they may get more out of it than they intended. I can imagine a lot of parents enrolling for groups for the purpose of getting their children involved in social activities or music in general, and not realizing they are also gaining social and emotional support and connection, quality bonding, education about their children’s development, and parenting tools. You don’t have to have a child with special needs, post-partum depression, or any other qualifying circumstance to benefit from these services.
I am assuming perhaps one downside or set back to community based services in general is cost for families? I have already seen in my lower income community, that parents are hesitant/cautious about spending money on events/groups/services and require some buy in, but are more willing to pay for quality services that fit their needs.

[Angela Drury]

I have always considered myself a natural with babies and have spent time caring for cousins and nephews, but once you have brand spanking newborn of your own, it is so completely different! Newborns to around 3 months are COMPLETELY different animals. It is all reflexes and awareness and as a new parent you spend a good amount of time worrying about what you are doing and what baby is doing, because if you aren’t used to newborns, it is hard to tell! So imagine, not being able to recognize basic baby responses and reflexes or understand what they are experiencing and then introduce the baby to music. I am sure parents need lots of reassurance at this stage.
With a little one going on 9 months at home, this age range already seems so huge to me! Every month babies gain new skills, ability, and awareness. My son has been playing with the same small, quiet ocean drum since he was a few months old and he never gets tired of it, because every month he finds new ways to experience and play with it. He went from just touching it and scratching his fingers against it, tipping it slightly or knocking it with his hand, grabbing my hand to make me play it, to holding it on his own, to hitting it with a flat hand, then hitting it with a mallet, picking it up, hitting it with other objects, hitting his head against it, holding it up to his ear to listen, holding it and shaking it…all within this age range! I think that perfectly sums up this age….how the same toy can be an entirely new experience every month!

[Angela Drury]

5 words: bonding, swaying, nonjudgemental, steady

5 sentences:
Notice how your baby reacts to the music, did they turn their head or eye gaze?
The sudden silence in the music startled your baby, lets try this…
Get nice and close to your baby so they can really see your face and listen to YOUR voice,
Look at babies face, they are confused, this is so new to them!
Baby is having fun exploring their voice! They might scream, but that is a new sound for them

Plan:
Gathering: Hello. Give individual attention to name each baby. Encourage mom to touch baby on chest
Bonding: Wiggly, Jiggly Car, Row It Faster. Show different ways for mom to hold baby facing them that is comfortable for both. Encourage mom to move and sway with baby, keeping their face close. Repeat songs as necessary
Songs About me: Just Like Me. Sing song encouraging mom to point to herself then to baby, repeat song with outward movements and facing the group
Instrument Song: In My little Hand. Provide each baby a maraca to grasp, encourage mom to sing and keep steady rhythm on baby
Movement Song: As Big As Can Be. Encourage mom to hold baby in a comfortable manner, sitting up, on knees, or standing. Exaggerate movement to babies preference. Welcome parents to stand up with their babies.
Goodbye: Goodbye (MRP) Sing familiar goodbye with calming fingerpicking and steady rhythm, create space at the end for a deep breath and exhale

[Angela Drury]

Christina – You mentioned my favorite part about being a music therapist, that I never looked at as a huge strength before, that we are CREATIVE! We can meet goals in endless ways, we can even use the same intervention and make it completely new with some musical creativity. I think creativity greatly sets us apart form other professions and clinicians.

[Angela Drury]

Christina – I love your emphasis on empowering parents and giving them an outlet to be heard. I can’t imagine how important this is for the wellbeing of parents and families who have experienced any sort of trauma, because it is SO important and needed for parents and caregivers in general, regardless of circumstances.

Kim – Yes! Providing the opportunity for children to just explore and without judgment. It boggles my mind how much judgment parents face with every decision about their parenting (or, rather, how much they perceive they are being judged). I feel a lot of parents I see get so caught up in trying to engage their children and enroll them in as many activities that they lose sight of the purpose of putting kiddos in activities in the first place, which is to explore new things! I think it is equally important and valuable to teach and model for parents how to LET their children just explore. It sounds so simple, but even within my own family and friends, I see parents who are embarrassed about their toddlers behavior and discourage or punish exploring, even when it is totally appropriate!

[Angela Drury]

I am with Sam H. on this one as I don’t have a community right now and am very curious about the process of getting to better know and understand the needs of my future community. I am in the process of moving right now, right as I finally feel comfortable to get out in my current community and start connecting with local business owners and parents, Doh!
I am very fortunate to have already made a friend or two who have lived in my future community for quite some time, who I feel have a very good handle on the needs of their community, especially having both been involved with local parents and children. The local business owners are also extremely nice and welcoming and would be eager to help me make new connections. I plan to use them as a resource as well.
Any advice from you more seasoned therapists on the most helpful ways to get to know the needs of a new community?

[Angela Drury]

When asked this question during the video, I immediately thought “flexibility and adaptation!”
We MT’s, both as musicians and as therapists, are able to respond to children and their parents in the moment. We constantly adapt what and how we present music and information to tailor both individual need and to the need of the group as a whole. Even if we use the same intervention and same structure, every time or every group may be a little different. You don’t have this flexibility with recorded music. MT’s are more open to change, more keen to the responses of children and their families, and better prepared to provide adequate support as needed. We have value both as therapist and as musician. A great therapist/teacher/facilitator can use recorded music, but will lose flexibilty and will be very limited in what they can provide. A great musician could provide great music experiences, but they may not be developmentally appropriate, the musician may not know how to use music as a tool to support and foster growth and learning.
Like Meredith mentioned, this flexibility and ability to adapt, allows us to provide successful opportunities. We know how to provide the scaffolding at the appropriate level and when to take away that scaffolding to allow for success and feeling of accomplishment. When learning and trying something new, the only way it will ‘stick’ is if we have internal motivation to keep doing it. This comes from success….and fun.

[Angela Drury]

Hally/Kim – Singing into drums in one of my favorite things to do! I think demonstrating creative ways of using and experiencing drums and instruments models and gives permission for kids (and adults!) to really explore the instruments and the different sounds.

[Angela Drury]

Samantha H – I feel the same about structure. Its very helpful to have a session planned to make sure you cover the four elements, but also to remain flexible and go with whatever presents itself. I look forward to learning more about tips to structure a group for success.

[Angela Drury]

I am so thankful for all of this wonderful information on MUSICAL development. I don’t remember learning much in my undergrad about the musical responses of children, let alone in a developmental sequence, at least not nearly to this extent. This information helps lay a foundation for assessing children, engaging them at the appropriate level, and guiding them through the next developmental stage within music, whether that be horizontal or vertical growth. This really helps me to make the connection to put observed musical responses into context within a child’s overall development and to feel more confident with the responses I receive.
It is handy to have a guinea pig (my son) at home to observe different musical responses and experiment within each musical element. I especially love that Meredith mentioned using familiar songs as a tool to get attention. Just today, my son took a tumble that startled him and he started crying. Thinking fast, I broke out into a familiar song, my husband joined in, and all was good in the world again.

[Angela Drury]

Singing:
Awareness – Varies dynamics in crying
Trust – Sings descending interval
Independence – Vocally experiments with screech, screaming
Control – sustains singing a tone
Responsibility – Sings with different vocal qualities

Playing:
Awareness – Reaches towards, grasps instrument
Trust – Anticipates instrument sounds with repetition
Independence – Purposefully bangs a drum or shakes maraca
Control – plays with dynamics
Responsibility – Alternates hands when playing instrument

Moving:
Awareness – Rhythmic movement and actions
Trust – Moves rhythmically to own rhythm (not synchronized externally)
Independence – Alters movement in response to music
Control – Maintains a movement pattern
Responsibility – Can sing and move at same time

Listening:
Awareness – Prefers familiar timbre
Trust – Recognizes changes in familiar music
Independence – Demonstrates musical preferences
Control – Anticipates song endings
Responsibility – Adjusts singing to blend with group

[Angela Drury]

Samantha, I like that you included your views on specific genres of music “country music isn’t real music). Now that I think about it I had opinions about certain types of music from my family and upbringing as well.

[Angela Drury]

This is a broad question that I can reflect on in 3 ways. First, when I think of my personal upbringing and experiences with music as a child I instantly think Raffi and traditional nursery rhymes and children’s tunes. Looking back, singing and engaging in traditional children’s songs in school and at home played a much larger role in my experiences than I had initially thought. I grew up in Sacramento, Ca, which is a very diverse community and I attended a moderately diverse public school, however I don’t recall having as much exposure to traditional music in other cultures. Now when I observe elementary schools in that area they are filled with more diverse materials and education about different cultures and their traditions. There is a growing number of English Language Learners from many different nationalities.

Second, how my background influences my practice. As an adult I primarily identify with the music of my parent’s generation, as this is what I was exposed to (60’s and 70’s folk and classic rock). In my home community growing up, I had exposure to a wide variety of American popular music. This served me well when I worked in a prison with a large population of middle to late aged white males. I tended to use primarily American rock/pop/folk songs for my sessions, which was in my comfort zone. I even realized that the facilities available CD collection consisted of primarily these genres and had very little if any selection of R&B, hiphop/rap, hispanic artists etc. I finally started to have clients share their preferred artists and how the music is meaningful to them. Looking back, I am glad I had my clients teach me, rather than me trying to do my own ‘research’. They taught me the ‘lingo’, the stereotypes of each artist/genre, the cultural significance of specific artists and their music, and most importantly what music would be popular for each generation. I often saw professionals try to bring in more culturally diverse music that is inappropriate, because they don’t know the content of the music/lyrics, they chose music that would have been from the clients parents generation, or they didn’t know the cultural significance of the music (that is a drinking song).

My third and last reflection is on the differentiation of “home” community. I am from Sacramento, but I now live in the foothills, and I work in a small town up in the mountains. They are all predominantly white, low-middle income communities. However, I would bring much different music to sessions within each community. I actually had a culture shock when I moved to the foothills, because it is predominantly ‘country’ folk who listen to country music. Up in the mountains, I have a large population of children in Waldorf schools who do not use any type of media, including movies. I had to eliminate all of my songs from popular movies, because they do not know the references.

[Angela Drury]

It’s been fun to have a little one at home to learn these songs with and engage him with, but it’s also been fun to use them with my dog and my husband. I switched up “Are you ready for music?” to “are you ready to play fetch?, do you wanna go outside?, do you wanna take a walk?” and got my dog (not my husband) all sorts of excited, and then realized I now have to go play with him, so it may have backfired.
I catch my husband singing these songs around the house and to our son, so I can attest that they are accessible for all parents! I absolutely love (and so does my son) the Ride a Bike song. My mother in law would put my son on her lap and kick his legs like he is riding a bike and make up a little song/chant. I can still remember my parents putting me on their knees and bouncing me around telling me to hold on tight. These bonding songs are such a joy for both the children and the caregivers. You can’t get a bigger smile out of a kid than that pause right before the tempo change. I have been paying a lot more attention to the use of silence since this weeks presentation and have been exaggerating songs even more and getting even bigger reactions from my son.

This week has also led me to get a flood of old children’s songs stuck in my head, some of which make me wonder what their original intent was or where/when they originated. I love the idea of piggy backing traditional tunes to use more appropriate language and simplify them.

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