[Barb Blackburn]

I’m not sure at this juncture, with my current career change. I would highly recommend this training to all music therapists, I think it’s a phenomenal service to offer alongside your therapy sessions. I would love to possibly send out some flyers and share the information with my community. The community in which I live is not the same area that I am currently working in. I live in Castle Rock, CO (working in Colorado Springs, about 45 mins away) and it is a very family oriented little town. I think I could easily grab people’s attention and interest in Sprouting Melodies if I am able to begin offering classes.

[Barb Blackburn]

Well, to be 100% honest I was going to be a Sprouting Melodies provider through the facility that I am working for, my supervisor took this training and became a provider earlier this year. We were going to begin offering classes in the fall. I have recently accepted another position somewhere else and will be leaving that facility at the end of July (bittersweet). I’m still giving some thought to becoming a provider myself and offering some Sprouting Melodies classes on Saturday mornings at our local library. It all depends on my financial situation since I’m making a career change at the moment.

I learned a great deal of information throughout this training and I hope to be able to put it to good use in the future!!

[Barb Blackburn]

I haven’t worked with groups in music therapy since my internship. I think it’s very important to always give positive reinforcement to children who are following directions, maybe even a little incentive like a sticker. Kids love to be praised, and they feel proud when you notice and call attention to it. “Wow, I love that (name) is sitting so quietly waiting for the song to begin. This will encourage other children to want to behave properly so that they too can get positive reinforcement and possibly even a sticker! =)

I try to give children the opportunity to self correct (as long as they’re being safe). I may say something like, “(name) is that how we play the tambourine?” And most of the time they will smile shyly and say, “no” ad play correctly. If they are being uncooperative and say “Yes!”, then I may have redirect and show them the proper way to play.

I think it’s important to create as many “teachable moments” as you can.

[Barb Blackburn]

I am most looking forward to working with infants and young children. Other than nannying I have never had that opportunity. They grow and develop so quickly, that it’s an amazing opportunity to literally see it happen before your eyes. I’m excited about the groups (we do individual sessions only) and seeing everyone learn and interact with each other. I’m also excited to share my knowledge with parents, and maybe learn a thing or two from them before I have kids of my own.

[Barb Blackburn]

I’ve used a keyboard/piano in a group before during my internship. It was with school age children. The piano can definitely be a barrier but with the keyboard if you sit on the floor and and have it in front of you it’s no more of a barrier than a guitar or a large drum would be. I recommend a keyboard. When I used the piano, I tried to stand up so that I was looking over the piano and still making eye contact and interacting with them. It’s tricky though, and these kids were in chairs so they were closer to my level than if they were sitting on the floor. If they are sitting on the floor, I would try having them sit to your right or left that way you can angle your body to interact with them as well as play. It would be best to have music memorized so you’re not turning back and forth from the music to the kids.

Hope that helps a little. Piano with groups is definitely tricky!

[Barb Blackburn]

I always tell people (especially parents) that musical skills are not a requirement for music therapy, or for sprouting melodies. We are not teaching your children to play instruments and sing, rather we are teaching them functional, developmental skills through music! Most kids, especially in therapy, don’t realize that they are working when they are doing music. I also mention that remembering a rhythm or a melodic tune is easier than remembering a list of things. Singing songs about body awareness, academic concepts, following directions etc. are better learned through singing, it’s easier to recall, and more fun. Through music, children are enhancing motor skills such as coordinating movements (clapping and stomping together, or using a two handed instrument). The children are also working on their cognitive skills by making choices. Which instrument would you like to play? Do you want to play fast or slow? Loud or quiet? Jump or skip? Children are also learning communication skills. By including sign language within a Sprouting Melodies session the younger children can learn to express their needs earlier in life. They are also learning appropriate social skills, such as learning to take turns, share, and respond to requests appropriately. All of these skills are very important for a child to learn at a young age, and what’s a more fun way to learn these important developmental skills than by making music!

[Barb Blackburn]

Five words to describe Family Sprouts: Sharing, cooperation, helping, support, and busy.

Session plan/songs for Family Sprouts:
Gathering Song: Hey Everybody chant (I really like that, it was fun for all ages! Simple yet fun.)
Bonding Song: Hold on Tight (good idea for older kids who are learning to ride a bike or even learning safety concepts). Older kids can also help out with the little brother or sister.
Singing: Songs about me (some of the 2 and 3 year-olds are all about ME! and they also love to help out baby brother or sister.) Also allows for big kids to show off.
Instruments: (can be hard!) “Shake with me”, or “I like this song”.
Movement: (Can combine instrument playing and movement) “I Can Move Around” – parent/caregiver can dance and move around with younger kids while the big kids dance on their own!
Goodbye: “It’s Time To Say Goodbye”

Five words to describe Sprouting Melodies 3: Active, intentional, personality, accepting, and creative.

Session Plan/songs for Sprouting Melodies 3:
Gathering Song: “Sit down with me” – very rhythmic and fun.
Bonding Song: “Swimming with me” – very catchy – “swimming is really cool, at the beach or at the pool”
Singing: Love the book with the monkey’s drumming! Chanting it is a great idea, we do that with clients often to work on reading comprehension. (You could also create a melody.)
Instrument Playing: “You play a little, I’ll play a little” – Great turn taking song.
Movement: “Leaves Fall Down” – You could change the words too depending on the season: rain, snow, breeze, sunlight…
Cool down: Playing on a pentatonic scale is a fun idea, there are no wrong notes! =)
Goodbye: “Music Time is Finished”

[Barb Blackburn]

I think the biggest challenge that I’ve been thinking about is that when we begin to offer Sprouting Melodies at our facility, what if there are only 2 or three families and we have a newborn, a 2 year old, and a five year old? Or what if it’s just a newborn and a 5 year old?! That is such a big age gap! If the group is bigger and we have a variety of ages, I think that wouldn’t be as intimidating or difficult. But, if I show up to teach a Family Sprouts Class and there is only 2 families with extremely opposite age children, how do you keep them both entertained? My first thought was to possibly gear the class more toward the older child and the parents can modify the instrument playing and moving with the younger child by helping them to hold on or move around. Or do more bonding songs, or songs where the older child can help their younger sibling (if the two children are related, and not from separate families attending the class).

[Barb Blackburn]

I do think there is such a thing as too much stimulation! Too many colors, movements, and sounds can be overwhelming. They say (whoever “they” are) that you should not allow your child to watch television before the age of 1-ish, because it’s just too much stimulation and they cannot process it and it typically just ends up upsetting them. I’ve seen this first-hand when I was a nanny. We have some of the lollipop drums at our clinic but I would not personally use these with Sprouting Melodies 1 or 2, I think they can be too much sometimes.

I really like how Elizabeth mentioned being authentic, you can overdo your excitement and silliness and children can sense that. It is very important to be real with the kids. Surprises are also a GREAT way to interact with the kids, they do love that so much but again, like Elizabeth mentioned, it’s easy to overdo it and we don’t want to scare the kids. It’s not necessarily the “scare” that they like, it’s the anticipation of what is to come. When you pause, or hold a note longer than the typical duration the kids get excited, there’s no need for the big finish, just the finish in general is exciting for them.

We do a hello song in session where at the end we sing “Hello everybody, hello everybody, hello everybody, it’s time for music today, ooooohhhhhh yeeeaaaaahhhhh. And the “oh yeah” part is everyone’s favorite because we’ll extend it out longer for that anticipation period before finalizing the song with the closing chord.

I also agree with Laruen too, the kids will let you know how much is enough and too much. =)

[Barb Blackburn]

Five words to describe Sprouting Melodies 2: Playful, authentic, energized, exploratory, surprising.

Five sentences to use when speaking with parents: 1. It’s okay that your child moves around the room, they will come back to the group and to you, you are their safe place. 2. It’s okay, and encouraged, that your child explores all the instruments that are out and available to him/her. 3. It’s okay that the child wants to participate with other kids/moms, me, or themselves, this is the age where they are learning their independence. 4. The bottom of your child’s feet is a great way for them to take in information, and can help them process quite a bit. 5. Don’t worry too much about your child “mouthing” an instrument this is still pretty common at this age, we always wash everything after every session!

Plan:
Instrument Exploration prior to session starting
Hello/Gathering Song: “Hello Everybody” I love that “whoa-oh-oh” part of the song. Those kinds of things are always the kid’s favorite parts of the songs.
Lap Rides/Bonding Song: “Wiggly Jiggly Car” and “Row Your Boat Faster” I think that kids this age would really love the tickles that come along with these songs.
Singing: Songs about me – “Can you see, see, see”
Instrument play: “Sit with me and Shake”, gathering drum songs so that children have the opportunity to play with other children.
Movement: “March with my Baby” – I like the different movements. I also like the lots of stand up, sit down, move all around the room, get that energy out! (I totally agree with practicing some of the movements prior to the group, there are definitely things that are harder than they look! I learned this the hard way learning a motor intervention with a client when I first started working at the facility that I’m with now)
Cool Down: scarves, relaxing song, “Thank you very much”
Goodbye: “Bye, Bye, Music Time is Done”

[Barb Blackburn]

Honestly, I’m not sure of the brand names for the instruments that we bought. We plan on starting our Sprouting Melodies program in September and so we’ve been purchasing some instruments for our groups. We currently don’t have any clients under the age of five, so we were pretty limited on children’s instruments. We already had animal and fruit/vegetable shakers, animal tambourines, shape drums, lollipop drums, also a children’s percussion kit as well, and stuffed animals. We just recently purchased “baby” bells and “baby” shakers, “baby” tambourines (baby meaning that the bells and jingles are encased withing the plastic so that it doesn’t pinch or cut anyone), and Basic Beat egg shakers with handles.

[Barb Blackburn]

Calm. Consistent. Exploratory. Engaging. Fun.

“It’s important for you to sing along as well. They will recognize the timbre of your voice.”
“It’s okay if their child cries or turns away from the music. Not everyone likes every song.”
“It’s important to move instruments and scarves slowly so the child can process what’s happening.”
“Even though your child is very young they can still explore instruments and hold on to them.”
“It’s okay if the child falls asleep. Some music has that calming effect.”

Hello/Gathering Songs – I like the one of Nordoff Robbins hello songs. It’s very simple: Hello, hello, hello. Hello, hello, hello. Hello, hello, hello to (name) today. Hello to (name), hello to you. Hello to (name) hello to you.

Bonding song – I like the lap ride songs. It’s important to keep your child close and engage with them in a fun play song towards the beginning of the session to “wake” them up/get their attention.

Instrument playing/exploring – I like the “In my Little Hands” song. Or we use the tune to “La Cucracha” while singing about playing the instrument on certain body parts.

Movement – I like the “Just Like Me” song. Something where you can move the child’s body parts as you sing about them.

Singing – Children loved to be sung to! Any children’s song could work here.

Cool down – Scarves are a great idea!! Or even a book or another song.

Goodbye – I like that you keep the goodbye song the same throughout all classes. Do you keep the hello song the same as well?

[Barb Blackburn]

I have a little bit of experience with children at this age level. Prior to my job that I have now as a music therapist, I was a nanny when we first moved out to Colorado. When I first started nannying, there was one child, age 1.5, and one on the way. Once he was born, I was able to be apart of his life from just a few weeks old through his first birthday! I don’t have children myself (yet) and I currently don’t work in early intervention, so this was a new experience for me. It was amazing to watch him grow and become aware, and to begin to move around on his own as well. The parents were thrilled that I was a music therapist, and I would sing with both children, play musical games, and bring over my instruments to play with them (I brought over a keyboard, guitar, and some drums). I taught both children little songs about anything, brushing their teeth, taking a nap, eating lunch, even going potty! It made them more excited to do these things, and they looked forward to singing the songs with me everyday. The oldest child remembered almost every song I taught her, sometimes she would say things like, “Barbie sing the shoe song!” when we were getting her shoes on to go outside, and I would think to myself, “Shoe song? What shoe song?” And she would start to sing it to remind me.

I’m very much looking forward to doing music with children at this age!

[Barb Blackburn]

When I think of community based music therapy, I think of a mobile therapist throughout the community seeing individuals in their home or school. It seems like your definition is a bit different. From what I understand that the first video said, community based music therapy is simply offering music therapy to the community at large. Either way, our role as music therapists is to is help individuals to enhance their quality of life, whether is be through increasing communication and language skills, cognitive, social, emotional, behavioral, or physical skill enhancements. Most of our clients don’t even realize that what they are doing is “work”. They are having fun and enjoying playing and making music. Most are completely unaware that each musical intervention that they take part in has a function. That particular intervention is helping to improve attention, language skills, motor skills, etc.

[Barb Blackburn]

I’m not certain how unique the needs of our families would be to anywhere else. To be honest I don’t really know much about the community needs. I don’t live in the same city/community that I work in. I do know that Colorado Springs has a lot of military families due to the city having multiple military bases and academies. I can really only speak to the needs of the individual families that come to music therapy at our facility. I do see Sprouting Melodies as a need in our little community. While all of my clients that I am currently seeing are school age or (much) older, almost all of them have a younger sibling or two. We have one family that believes that their youngest child may have some delays similar to big brother. They were thrilled when we mentioned Sprouting Melodies to them. Many of the families are looking for a group setting for their child that will fit their needs. Sprouting Melodies, as well as music therapy, is a safe, fun, non-judgmental place for children to interact with their peers and learn as well!

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