[Diandra Doble]

Music therapy plays a very important role in the community. It is accessible to everybody and is unique in the way that we are trained professionals doing this work. We not only help build upon that bond between a parent and their child, we educate the parents on the development of their child overtime and we can give resources to parents who may be struggling with something in their own lives. We can point them in the right direction and give them any resources they need. I also liked how Elizabeth worded what we do. We “promote healthy development” and we don’t “get rid of symptoms” from disabilities.

[Diandra Doble]

An experience I had recently I was leading a group of approximately 12-18 month olds. I am still a fairly new presence to them, so they present in the state of uncertainty like “who is this person?” “Why are they here?” I have been working on making sure the staff in the room understand that I want the children to be able to take their time, to get used to my presence and feel comfortable enough to eventually engage independently in the music when they feel ready. The staff tend to resort to hand over hand to make them engage “the right way.” I make sure to verbalize as I go throughout the group what I do, why I do it and what I loom for as I observe the children and their responses. Once I spoke this out, the staff heard me, understood me and let the children respond however they will. For about 10 minutes, about 75% of them were just staring at me and the other 25% began to explore the movements that I was facilitating. As the session went on and I focused more that week on repetition, the other children began to engage and try out these movements with smiles on their faces. I made sure to point this out and praise the children that engaged when they felt ready to. At this stage, children need more time to process what is happening before they actually can try it themselves. It was overall such a great session because I advocated, educated and I got great responses from the children once I did this!

[Diandra Doble]

I was on the a similar page as you in my response! Advocating for our field is something that we will have to do for our entire career. It is so important! Especially the financial piece. That is a tough hurdle for a lot of families who would love to receive services and can’t or that start services and have to discontinue for a financial reason.

[Diandra Doble]

The communities that I work with could absolutely benefit from more advocacy for the field. Not only do most families not know about music therapy like Elizabeth was saying. In certain cases they have heard the term before, but do not have a complete understanding of what music therapy is and what we do. Providing communities and families with the education on what it is that we actually work towards using music as the method I feel is so important. When provided with that education, I feel as though families and communities will value music therapy even more. The more I realize this, the more I work to advocate in my practice. I am working more on verbalizing what it is that I am doing and why I am doing it as I do it in the session. The littlest thing we do in music can be working on such an important goal in the child’s development, and that is something that I would like for staff, family members, caregivers, etc. to understand. Advocation can go such a long way.

[Diandra Doble]

Music therapists can provide so much for parents and their children. Through music, MTs can create a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere for children to engage and for parents to learn about how their child is developing. I love that us music therapists can provide a fun but also educational experience to families. This is so valuable. Parents gain a deeper connection to their child through these musical experiences while also creating a deeper understanding of their child through the education they are absorbing from the MTs. Also, giving parents the ability to take home what they’ve learned and apply it outside of the music room is so beneficial.

[Diandra Doble]

I love that you have varied the pitches for the children in the responsibility level. It’s a nice balance of challenging them with those advanced pitches and rhythms while also making it so they can engage and not feel overwhelmed and discouraged at the same time.

[Diandra Doble]

Singing Awareness: uses pitch in vocalizations Trust: matches selected pitches about half the time Independence: babbles with melodic inflection Control: follows melodic contour of familiar song Responsibility: uses pulse and meter within melodic contour

Playing Awareness: different responses to sedative and play-song music Trust: briefly uses pulse and meter and this will increase with time Independence: explores instruments intentionally Control: starts and stops instrument play with the music Responsibility: maintains a steady beat

Moving Awareness: natural rhythmic movements Trust: responds to music with repetitive movements Independence: isolates body parts to move rhythmically Control: imitates learned musical movements Responsibility: uses musical movements in sequences

Listening Awareness: recognizes changes in vocal timbre Trust: recognizes familiar melodies Independence: begins to match intensity of movements of intensity of music Control: Stops actions to listen to music Responsibility: listens to other’s music

[Diandra Doble]

I have used playing instruments in relation with reaction time and observing the client’s responses. I felt that it was so helpful to hear them talk about how grownups may sometimes may think children are “not following directions” when in actuality, they are just jumping into the music developmentally and exploring. I am going to use the knowledge I have gained here at a site that I work at where a lot of the staff believe that the children need to be doing that right action and at the right time or they are not appropriately engaging in music. Overall, I want to more accurately and directly work on these children’s development by advocating for them and letting the adults know that exploring, listening and watching are all very much appropriate responses!

[Diandra Doble]

I loved the “Car On My Knee” song so much. Like Meghan said, it definitely has space to change the lyrics and body parts that you can place the car on, or whatever object is used, to work more on body identification. I would love to use this song with my kids at the daycare center!

[Diandra Doble]

Awareness: turn head towards the musical source, reach hand towards musical source, turn away/fidget/try to get away

Trust: recognizes familiar melodies, creates spontaneous melodies, responds to music with receptive movement

Independence: uses repeated sounds, briefly uses pulse and meter, enjoys musical surprises

Control: likes to pound and bang, dances spontaneously to music, imitates learned movements to music

Responsibility: listens to the play of others, maintains play of instrument within a group, maintains a steady beat

[Diandra Doble]

Yes! I am sure he definitely heard the triads. Children in this developmental level prefer that consonance!

[Diandra Doble]

I notice that the children in some of the groups respond well to glissandos. During the hello song that I use, I hold out my vocalization of “hellooooooooo” and initiate a glissando with my voice getting higher and higher in pitch. The children respond by shaking their heads and vocalizing “ahhhhhhh” or “ohhhhhhh” along with me as they start to giggle. I match the vocalizations with my body movement as well by wiggling back and forth as I hold out that note.

[Diandra Doble]

That observation is correct! The goodbye song we use was created off of the melodic structure of “American Pie”! It’s one of my favorites!

[Diandra Doble]

Similar to Holly, the music I have in repertoire and utilize depends on the age group and generation. For younger children, I adapt the song “Better When I’m Dancin’” and use it as a movement song. I also use “Shake It Off” and adapt that as an instrument song. I think it is important to give that feeling of familiarity to help with making the client(s) feel safe and build that trust.

[Diandra Doble]

My biggest takeaway from this week is associated with imaginary and make-believe play. I think it is important to allow the child to explore new objects and things they came across in any way that feels right to them. As long as they are not harming themselves in any way, I feel as though children should have the freedom to explore however they please. There is no right or wrong way when a child is exploring an object for the first time. Especially thinking about this in a music therapy context. I will see a child in a music therapy session exploring a shaker for the first time and the staff in the room will use hand over hand to make them play it “like it is supposed to be played.” There is no right or wrong way to play an instrument and I want to work on that advocation; assuring that child that however they are exploring that instrument is great!

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