[Angela Drury]

Kim – I too fell in love with the piano accompaniment. It was refreshing to hear a song accompanied in piano and how much fuller, stylistic, and engaging it sounded. I am more comfortable on guitar and guitar always seems to be more accessible/practical in groups I lead. I would love to push myself to learn some of these new songs on piano and try out some new accompaniments.

[Angela Drury]

Kim – I love your example of the kiddo screaming along with the music. It seems like my 8 month old at home tries out a new yell or scream every week and sometimes even surprises himself. It is really fun and amazing to watch babies explore the sounds they can make and how quickly they can learn! I can’t wait to watch how young ones may grow and adapt in a group setting, like you observed.

[Angela Drury]

The most I have worked with children in early childhood within a music/music therapy capacity was way back during my first practicum! I did my practicum in an inclusive preschool setting with a ratio of about half special needs (10-12 kids).
Now that I have a better understanding of these developmental levels for musical responses, a lot of the challenges I had creating music interventions to engage the entire group make a lot more sense!
I remember the kids with typical development eating up songs with choices, call and response, sudden stops and tempo changes, fast songs, sequencing songs, and learned movements/gestures. I would say they were in the control level of development. While they were wanting to move, move, move and play every instrument, the other children may have been still in the trust and maybe independent stages. They would have musical babble, if they vocalized at all, with vowel sounds at most. I remember having a lot of classroom aids that were both helpful and hurtful. It was really hard to assess responses to interventions, because the aids (despite feeble efforts to educate and redirect as a new MT student) would always provide hand over hand assistance, help them make decisions, such as pointing, move their body rhythmically etc. They would also make the kids sit in their assigned seat and would stop them from getting up to move to the music. With these kids, I remember how exciting it was if they responded vocally to the music, whether it was a rhythmic grunt or an oo, or if they reached for an instrument or shook it.

[Angela Drury]

I am sorry if this already posted, having some technical difficulties!
I am glad I am taking this course after I had my first kid, because some of the information sticks out to me or rings a familiar bell that I would have gleamed over prior to experiencing parenthood. As each developmental stage is explained, there are small tid bits of information that is encouraged to share with parents, so they better understand the behaviors of their children. Prior to having my own kids, I would have thought that no parent would want someone to explain their kids behavior to them or give them advice on how to manage it!</p>
<p>Now that I am a parent, I totally understand where this is coming from. Kids don’t come with an instruction manual, but when you understand why your baby acts the way they do, it is such a relief and can help solve so many problems. I remember the first week of my sons life very clearly, because it was full of frustration and emotion as I struggled with breastfeeding. I was referred to a lactation consultant (after seeing multiple), who in one, 45 minute session solved all of my problems and I left with tears of relief on my face. Her solution? She told me how a newborn baby works! She educated me on newborn reflexes and gave me basic, solid information that was never shared by any of the other consultants or even in the class I took!</p>
<p>Since becoming a mom, I have a whole new appreciation for every parent. I see first hand the assumptions, stigmas, and expectations towards parents that can become very frustrating. As a provider of early childhood music groups, I want to validate parents, get parents to connect with each other and find support, educate them, and empower them to use music in their own homes. I want to create a safe, non-judgmental, welcoming environment for not only children, but for all parents. Not to mention, if mom is happy and relaxed, so is baby!

[Angela Drury]

Samantha, I had that exact same thought when stranger danger was presented in the powerpoint! I made a big note to allow the parents to engage FIRST. I think that is just not a practice I am used to, because I don’t work with infants and in group settings, everyone is always looking at you, the facilitator, to initiate everything.

[Angela Drury]

My biggest take away would be applying the developmental stages and milestones to ensure developmentally appropriate practices and better inform parents in a constructive manner. Specifically, milestones that stuck out to me were 6-9 mo: imitation of emotions; 9-12 mo: biting behavior and fussiness; 12-18 mo: ownership of objects/people; 24-36mo: make believe play vs reality, asking questions; 36-48 mo: does not understand moral concepts. These are the milestones that I frequently see parents and even my own family address in developmentally inappropriate ways, not because they are being harsh or mean, but simply because they have not been informed. A baby might just be imitating your emotion, but not actually experiencing it. Your child is biting not because they are defiant, but because they might need sensory stimulation or their teeth hurt. The one year old will learn to “share” when they are older and can understand “yours vs mine.” Yes, children ask a lot of questions, but it can help reassure them to take time to give them a short, simple answer.
Just the other day I was having a baby play date and my friend kept telling her one year old “no!” when she would grab her toy from my baby and my friend would give the toy back to my son. Of course, she just kept grabbing it back in a round of tug – o – war and giving her mom some seriously confused eyebrows. It was very amusing, but I didn’t quite know how nor feel it my place to tell my friend that maybe her daughter is too young to really understand that she has to “share.”

[Angela Drury]

Hi Samantha! When I worked in an adult forensic psychiatric inpatient setting I was always having to advocate for adults who looked their age, but were developmentally much much younger. I would always find myself doing what you did with your kiddos and trying to pinpoint where each client is developmentally. It is sad to imagine how their cognitive and emotional development might have been different if they had been guided down “a path of healthy development and wellness” as Hally mentioned.

[Angela Drury]

Hello! My name is Angi Drury and I am a fairly new MT having obtained my certification in 2016. I live in Calaveras county, California, but hail from the Sacramento area. During my undergrad I had my mind set that I did not want to work with children as a music therapist, though I absolutely love working with children of all ages. I saw that in my area the therapists that primarily worked with children did a lot of contract work or private practice and were burnt out with little pay. I enjoy kids so much I felt that if I chose to work with them in this capacity, I would burn out quickly and lose that spark.This was only reinforced early on when I did my fieldwork in an inclusive preschool and felt that I needed a million arms and a million tricks up my sleeve to make the group successful. Because of this mindset, I did not take advantage of opportunities to gain more knowledge, experience, and training with this population. Music therapy is such a diverse field with opportunities to work with so many populations, I just wanted to focus on the ones I felt I would more realistically work with and pursue in my future. Long story short, I am now at a crossroads in my life as I sit here at home on my extended maternity leave with my 7 month old dreading going back to work. My current job is a dream job, but the politics and drama of the institution and system as a whole is overwhelming and directly interferes with my job and even my safety (I work in forensic psychiatry)! The pay is the last motivator and now that I have a little one of my own, it is NOT worth it! My husband’s family lives on the Oregon coast and we are now ready to pack up and move to Oregon to live a simpler, small town life. I am full of motivation, passion, and eagerness, as well as timidness to open up a community children’s center in my new community, where I can provide music groups in a therapeutic capacity for families. I am that person that wants to be an expert and have as much knowledge and know how before even attempting something new, which I know is silly and experience is key! I am here to gobble up all the information and advice I can get to foster the best musical experiences for building relationships, promoting learning and growth, and having fun.

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