[Ayelet Weiss]

I live in the Upper East Side neighborhood of NYC, where as I mentioned before, there are tons of mommy and me music classes and programs available. However, I don’t know of one that helps to educate and support the caregivers and provide knowledge about typical and atypical development and be able to relate it to what the children are doing in music. As a new mom in this neighborhood, I am part of some community list-serves and facebook groups with thousands of members, and there are ALWAYS parents asking other parents if something is normal or what to do in a certain scenario so I know that the need is definitely out there.

Additionally, for the children, there is a need for a safe and research guided music program that appropriately meets their developmental timeline. Parents will be able to see their children thrive (or learn how to notice red flags) while learning how to support their children at home.

[Ayelet Weiss]

I haven’t really worked with the 0-5 population but have definitely used the four music experiences of Singing, Playing, Moving, and Listening with other populations:

In my work with the geriatric population, I used a lot of singing, playing along with, and listening to familiar songs. Given the range of cognitive and physical abilities in this population I always tried to focus on even the smallest responses such as pitched vocalizations, or just psychically attending to one song vs. another. I had a hospice client with late stage Alzheimers, who would slightly move her fingers (wherever they were positioned- lap, wheelchair handles, bed) to music as if she was playing the piano like when she was younger.

I think this practice of observing small details is definitely necessary in early childhood development.

I also worked with a group of developmentally delayed adolescents that LOVED Stop and Start activities in addition to listening to and singing/playing our own versions of popular songs.

[Ayelet Weiss]

SINGING
Awareness: Turns toward or away from musical source, uses pitch in vocalizations
Trust: Coos/vocalizes in matching pitch
Independence: Babble musically (melodic inflection) and experiment with different sounds.
Control: Begin singing short phrases within melodic contour of familiar song.
Responsibility: Recall and reproduce familiar songs using pulse and meter.

PLAYING INSTRUMENTS:
Awareness: Different responses to sedative music vs play songs, reach out and touch instrument
Trust: Briefly uses pulse and meter, Begin picking up, grasping, and shaking instruments.
Independence: Begin purposeful exploration of different instruments; Pressing keys of keyboard; Choosing which instruments to touch and play
Control: Starting and stopping instrument play with the starts and stops of the music; Playing or stopping playing during musical pauses.
Responsibility: Begin to be able to maintain a steady beat and become able to play instruments together with others.

MOVEMENT:
Awareness: Instinctual rhythmic movement, body relaxes to sedative music, body moves faster to exciting music
Trust: Purposeful repetitive movements such as moving arms or shaking head; “Baby Bop”
Independence: Begin to be able to isolate and move specific body parts for example stamping feet.
Control: Can watch and initiate movements of others, can move with others
Responsibility: Can create and produce rhythmic sequences that fit into a melody.

LISTENING
Awareness: Recognizes mother by her vocal timbre
Trust: Recognizes familiar music and can be comforted by its presence
Independence: Noticeable physical responses to different types of music such as leaning in, moving away, or facial expression
Control: Can stop moving and choose to actively listen and absorb the music
Responsibility: Can listen to the music of others instead of focusing on self

[Ayelet Weiss]

I live in NYC where there is obviously a very diverse population. Also, very often in my area, nannies are the ones accompanying children to music groups so there is that added diversity as well. It would definitely be useful to learn different types of songs and to explore different scales. I personally grew up with a mix of middle eastern music and traditional I-IV-V songs as I was born in Israel but raised by American parents.

[Ayelet Weiss]

I loved hearing and learning these songs and can’t wait to try some of them with my son! I am not currently working with children but I remember some of these from my field placement at Alternatives. I remember specifically how effective transition songs were. For example: inviting the children to come into the music room one by one, and accompanying children while singing all the way to their school buses!

[Ayelet Weiss]

During one of my fieldwork placements in a children’s hospital, I worked with a patient who was severely hearing and sight impaired. Focusing on the awareness level, we brought and ocean drum and used hand over hand to help her move the drum slowly from side to side so that she could feel the beads moving and the vibration of the drum. She began to independently move the drum and smiled when feeling the vibrations.

[Ayelet Weiss]

As I discussed previously, the music groups that I have been to with my son are not really geared toward specific development stages or the children’s abilities. Thinking back to when I did a field placement with Beth, everything the child needs can be provided within the music as long as it is designed or created with realistic and attainable goals. Hopefully this course together with raising a child can help me internalize what would be realistic and attainable and have it come more naturally then it did in the past…

[Ayelet Weiss]

There was a lot of valuable content this week. Having an organized list of typical development for various stages is super helpful for me as most of my work has been with older adults. It was also so interesting for me as a parent of a 21 month old…as I was watching I found myself either being impressed that my son is doing some things that are typical of later stages as well as calmed that he is doing things within the normal time that I thought he should be doing by now. I think doing this course now is enabling me to really put myself in the shoes of parents that I will encounter. The red flags and suggested tips on what to say to parents was also very helpful.

[Ayelet Weiss]

Hi! My name is Ayelet Weiss and I currently live in Manhattan. I got my B.S in Music from Binghamton University and then continued to get my M.S in Music Therapy at Molloy College. I also did an early practicum with Beth at Alternatives for Children. Working with children was very foreign and challenging for me as I had very little exposure to that population. I was then lucky enough to have Beth’s support and guidance as my academic internship supervisor at North Shore University Hospital Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation with the geriatric population. Before I graduated Molloy, I got married and moved to Connecticut for my husband’s training and finished my degree from there. After becoming an MT-BC I started working at Connecticut Music Therapy Services, which is a Sprouting Melodies provider (and where I first heard about Sprouting Melodies). Again, just as I was getting settled in to the job, we had to move back to NYC for the next part of my husband’s training. Since moving back to NY I have been working outside of the field of music therapy and raising our 20 month old son…which finally brings me to this course. I have been dying to get back into our field that I love and want to go back to doing meaningful work. Having a toddler now brings me back to wanting to understand development and hoping that I can learn to work with a population that was a real struggle for me. Additionally, I have taken my son to many “mommy and me” type music classes and realize what a need there is here for a program that is rooted in research based practice by a music therapist! I hope to gain an understanding of early childhood development and the proper tools to be able to fill this need in my community.

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