[Courtney Fanello]

I am excited to put all this new repertoire to use and to start providing early childhood music classes. This was the perfect jump start for me to start my own small private practice.I have been very inspired by the emphasis on functional language in the music and have begun to write my own songs as well. I love Beth’s example of using jazzy songs, modes, and various song types. It really creates variety and exposes children to a whole new world of music and fun, creativity and exploration. This has been a great resource and now I am not as intimidated to begin!

[Courtney Fanello]

I also have to add that when she was very young (0-6months) I was a little at a loss as to what to do with her. Of course I would take care of her, and hold her, but I was so glad that I had music that I could sing to her and play games with her. Even though she didn’t respond much (I didn’t know what to look for though) it was great for me to have a way to connect with her. Singing is better than just talking, because talking to yourself feels a little silly for awhile, but a song is a song and you sing it until its done. I feel that it was a big release and connection for myself as a mother and it was then that i really started thinking about formulating my own mommy and me classes.

[Courtney Fanello]

I have a 15 month old right now, and I used to love experimenting with different sounds and see how she would react. I wish I could post a video I have of her at 3 months. She loved whistling and normal singing, but if I sang in my opera voice, she would start screaming and crying. (don’t worry, I only did it two or three times to see if she had grown out of it yet). I think it had something to do with the frequency beating in her ears, because it was only when I used my full opera voice:) Other than that, I have given her rattles and little maracas since she was little but it wasn’t until about 7-8 months old that she became interested. Now that she is older she regularly tears apart my instrument drawers and explores with all of them. I love watching her explore and shake and dance.

[Courtney Fanello]

As I read these, I can’t help but think of the many people I have talked with who have said, “Oh yeah, my friend does music therapy, she plays piano for people at the rest home.” I feel like I am pretty good at explaining to them the difference between music therapy and what their friend is doing, but as we move into community music therapy, the lines become more fuzzy. In my mind, in that case, we are doing the same thing, just accomplishing it in what I feel is a more informed and evidence based way. This all comes back to the fact that sprouting melodies is similar to many of the programs out there, but we, the music therapists, trained with skills of observation, clinical analysis, and many different styles of interventions, offer a very well rounded package. SO yes, we are creating more jobs, and opening ourselves up to the public, but we are fuzzing the line between our professional practice and what other people are able to do. I still think this is better, because then we, ourselves, get to educate people about our profession as opposed to the “friend of a friend” whose uncle had music therapy in rehab.

[Courtney Fanello]

steady, calming, gentle, slow, connection

[Courtney Fanello]

1. Even if you are self concious about your singing voice, it is your voice your baby is listening for. They know and recognize the timbre of your voice, it is what is familiar to them and what they will best respond to.

2. Startling is very common and is an age appropriate response. We try to keep the music steady and soft to not startle them.

3. Even though they are so small, your baby is responding to the music by choosing to look at it, or away from it, or to move a little.

4. If your baby looks confused or scared, sing it 3 more times! They are just experiencing something new and are trying to make sense of it.

5. Your baby might be wiggly because they are ready for more movement. Help them kick their feet, or move their hands, or hold them up facing the world.

[Courtney Fanello]

Singing:
Awareness: uses pitch in vocalizations
Trust:matches select pitches about half of the time
Independence: babbles with melodic inflection, often when they are on their own
Control: can follow the melodic contour of a familiar song
Responsibility: can sing or initiate an entire song, complete with pulse, and meter

Listening:
Awareness: recognizes timbre of caregiver’s voice, often prefers it, and can recognize change in vocal timbre
Trust: recognizes familiar melodies
Independence:begins to hear the difference of fast, slow, in music and change movements and response to match what they hear in the music.
Control: Can start and stop in response to the music, interpreting auditory cues to cue movement.
Responsibility: can listen to the music of others, more socially interested in seeing what other children are doing.

Moving:
Awareness:may respond to the music by being still or moving more
Trust: may respond to music with repetitive movement (bouncing up and down or flapping hands, almost automatic response.
Independence: Move specific body parts in different ways in response to the music, is purposely initiated by child.
Control: Can imitate learned musical movements by the therapist (clapping hands, stopping feet, etc.)
Responsibility: Can do musical movements in sequence. Prime example: Head shoulder knees&toes

Playing Instruments
Awareness: Responds differently to sedative vs. play music.
Trust: Child may briefly hold and play instruments, using short bursts of tempo or rhythm, but not for a prolonged time and not necessarily as a result of direction or music.
Independence: Child explores many different instruments by holding them, mouthing them, possible throwing them. The child does not often play with the music, but is playing to “the beat of their own drum.” This is what is developmentally appropriate and parents should be aware that they should interact with their child at their own tempo instead of trying to force the child to match the music.
Control: Can start and stop playing the instrument with the music.
Responsibility: Can maintain a steady beat with the music.

[Courtney Fanello]

Since I am not currently practicing, I have used these experiences with my one year old, and it has been great to look at her with a different lens, and really see what she is doing musically. She is not just babbling, she is singing intervals. She has begun to dance and spin and shake her shoulders, and imitate motions. I am so excited to start teaching classes to see this excitement in other children too. I love how Beth takes simple songs and make them so engaging and appropriate for each age level. Although, I think I view listening as a different thing than just sitting and listening for a whole song. I think listening in a session can be that moment when the music stops, and someone has a solo, or when a little baby tries to hear mom’s voice over the sound of everything else, or when a child loves the sound of the bell and searches for it in the room so they can grab it from whoever has it, and the perking of a child’s ears when they are exploring instruments and have just made a new sound. …I feel like everything we do in music has layers of listening built in.

[Courtney Fanello]

I definitely understand your feelings, Lisa. My community has Kindermusik and Music Together, but they are really struggling to fill classes. ( I know some fellow music therapists that teach them). I would love to offer a high quality music class that is more affordable, but I also don’t want to sell our profession short (as happens everywhere in Arizona right now). I will soon be moving to Utah, where families are typically bigger and families would have multiple kids to bring to classes. A sibling class would probably be a great option for that area.Another popular program is Let’s Play Music, which is more geared toward teaching musicianship and theory.

I have also noticed a lack of music groups for children with disabilities here. I have talked to several parents that have expressed a desire to have their children participate in choirs, or performing groups, but no one is willing to accommodate their child’s special needs. I think I mentioned this before, but I would love to create an inclusive children’s choir that does interactive performances. When Meredith mentioned that the community needed good children’s music, it was right in line with my dream. I would love to get ideas on doing audience participation in performances. I see this group as a natural extension for me to reach out to those kids after they have progressed past Sprouting Melodies.

[Courtney Fanello]

Like others have mentioned, I think the two things that set us apart are our developmental approach and our flexibility within a session. The ability to observe, process, and change directions in a session and understand why we are doing it is key. Also, I think our ability to accept people and children where they are and meet them at their level is very important. Sometimes people call us “musical therapists” by mistake, and expect everything we do to be a beautifully orchestrated session. Sometimes there is chaos, most of the time not everyone will be playing on beat, but as music therapists, we can find the beauty and greatness in everyone exploring music in their own way. Like Meredith said in the video, its ok for a kid to be silent, or to go sit by themselves, or to be grabbing every single instrument they can. We can help parents to understand why it is ok to just let their kids be kids, and give them tools and experiences to help them meaningfully engage with their child.

[Courtney Fanello]

I loved learning about these stages, especially awareness and trust. I feel like I missed these musical stages of my daughter because I didn’t know what to look for. ( Sorry I talk about her so much, but I love that everything I am learning can be applied directly to her). She is definitely currently in the stage of Independence as she loves to open my instrument cabinet and get out all of the maracas, egg shakers, and tambourines. She will shake them, get excited, and start dancing whenever I sing to her or when she hears any music or beat. She will either bounce her legs, clap her hands, or my personal favorite, shake her shoulders while she is sitting in her high chair. She definitely has favorite songs and gets very excited when I sing ” slippery fish” or five little monkeys.  I also get to observe a music group at church where I play the piano and the whole group is more in the control stage. It is very interesting to note their responses to the music are completely different from my daughter’s. I have to admit, my mind is sort of spinning considering that we have so many things to be watching for, especially in a mixed group.

[Courtney Fanello]

In Arizona, there is a large Hispanic population, so mariachi music, reggaeton, and hip hop are pretty popular. There are  also many people who love country western music, and of course whatever is currently topping the billboards. This is also an area with a lot of Mormons, and I found many times when I was working in the hospital that patients and parents would request favorite songs from the children’s songbook at church, like Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, or Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.  I also grew up going to many “battle of the bands” as garage bands are pretty popular here is well. In fact, Jimmy Eat World and Scary Kids Scaring Kids were two bands that were from here.

 

 

[Courtney Fanello]

I really resonate with Emily’s response.  I have always valued, loved and enjoyed music, but as I became a music therapist and realized the impact and power music has on so many different levels, I feel the need to share it with everyone. I want parents to understand that no, this is not singing time, or just shaking maracas, everything we do has a goal behind it. That is what I hope takeaway and bring to my own practice. As for what I personally bring to early childhood music, I really am a child at heart. I love the light in children’s eyes when they find the maraca, giggle at the duck sound, or peek out from under the blanket. I love the energy of a session with young children and all of the silliness. I used to be a summer camp counselor, and have always had plenty of nieces and nephews to play with. I almost consider it my personal mission to get a smile out of every child that I meet, especially when I was interning at the hospital, and I am looking forward to a lot more smiles in my career:)

 

[Courtney Fanello]

I also appreciated the red flags to look for in development, the trading instead of sharing, and to remember to support and encourage the parents when their children are in difficult developmental stages ( teething, throwing fits, biting, throwing things.) As a mother of a one year old, I am very aware that sometimes, I have no idea what to do in a situation and am worried others are judging my parenting skills. When I go to the pediatrician, I am always asking about developmental markers, but all they typically do is give shots and look in her ears. Sometimes I don’t know the questions to ask, and this information is very valuable to me as a parent and as I can share that information with other parents who are looking for the same thing. I also solved the reminder that make believe is difficult to differentiate from reality. I had two nephews that fought all the time, because the younger one would tell stories about his adventures at the zoo, and the older one would get upset and say, ” that’s not true, he’s lying!” It would have been helpful to try to explain to the older brother, and his parents, that it was a very developmentally appropriate behavior.

[Courtney Fanello]

Michelle,

I am very interested in your mention of intergenerational  programs. For my future endeavor with a children’s choir, I want to do interactive performances at retirement homes or care facilities. There is also a music educator in my community that does free lasses for tfor, parents, and residents at a rest home because she is trying to gauge interest in a program like that. I would love to hear more about your program. And I’m sure learning about Family Sprouts will be great info too.

 

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