[Debrah Evans]

Currently, I am not working with families per say, but the needs of the groups that I am working with are similar. The children have developmental needs, and the older adults I work with need the support of the resulting relationship that forms from having the group.

In the future, I could really see this working in my surrounding community at a community center such as a library or YMCA. I do not know of any early childhood music groups in my area so I think that a music group like SM would help fill a need for more music. Also, the areas in which I would be looking to practice is not as affluent as some other communities, and consequently parents may not have access to the resources and materials other may have. SM is an opportunity for anyone to learn even if they do have those resources and I could see a SM really being useful in connecting the communities and being a helpful resource to parents to promote healthy relationships and development between families and within families.

[Debrah Evans]

I think music therapist bring a lot of unique skills that engage families of young children. The skill that I kept coming back to as I wrote this out was our ability to adapt. As music therapists, we are trained to create an accepting safe place for individuals to come and grow in whatever way that they need. Often times that requires that we adapt our experiences and songs to match the child/family at any point in their development. We are trained to match families and children where they are and use music to connect them and promote that growth. If we find that someone is struggling, we can adapt our meter, tempo, or pitch to reflect the emotional or physical state of an individual. Additionally, we get to use such an engaging (and fun) medium to promote this development both developmentally and within the relationship.

Additionally, as a music therapist we are used to working within diverse groups of people with different strengths and weaknesses and bringing them together through music. This can help create bonds not only within families, but between families to create its own SM community which in turn could give parents a feeling of community for those times when they just need another parent to talk to (as I imagine raising a child is no easy task).

[Debrah Evans]

Unfortunately, I don’t get the opportunity to interact with kids group often enough where I have had a chance to use these songs. Because I have only interacted with them once since week 3 of training, I haven’t been able to put these songs into practice yet, but I look forward to using them going forward. I have been trying to incorporate the elements that were discussed in creating those songs into my practice with the children including the use of robust strong rhythm with a clear structure for gathering and movement, the use of the octave interval as a welcoming interval that draws attention. I’ve really enjoyed using the Good morning to you song throughout my entire practice.

I love hearing the stories of the use of Wiggly Jiggly Car for transitions and I can’t wait to use that song on my own.

[Debrah Evans]

Sorry that I forgot to include these, and I can no longer edit my post above!

As for singing and listening, I find that they go hand in hand with the movement experiences that I have been doing as well. I normally incorporate movement into every experience – especially singing – to engage the children more. Often times, I rely on the older adults to help with singing, and don’t expect much from the children because I only see them two times a month. I have found that the most successful singing experiences that I have led involve call and response, and I have found myself heavily relying on the interval of a minor second. </p>
<p>Currently, I don’t have a lot of listening experiences built into my practice with children, unless they are instructions for movement found in a song. I don’t often involve instruments in my activities because I haven’t figured out how to work them into my academic theme, but moving forward, I’m looking forward to incorporating more music for music’s sake (rather than for academics as I mentioned above) into my groups

[Debrah Evans]

I grew up here in the Pittsburgh area and most of my culture from music came from the media as well. Growing up, many of the songs that I was introduced to were through TV shows including Barney, Sesame Street, and Disney shows and movies as well as those children’s songs in the Christian faith. Folk songs are very familiar to me, as they were often used on TV shows and other cassettes that were played. I feel as though children growing up today experience music in the same way, but when I interact with children I find that they don’t know the familiar folk songs that I grew up with, but are more aware of pop music. Like so many others they really enjoy songs by Laurie Berkner and Greg & Steve.

[Debrah Evans]

Most of the children that I have worked with are between ages 3-5. At the time that I was interacting with them, I remember thinking about how much of a difference there was in the children developmentally. When I had that class most of the children were in the control stage because they were able to imitate the words of songs, following the melodic contour but still lacked the tonal center for singing. I could use song structures and I could see that they were starting to learn turn taking. Additionally, some of the students were in the responsibility stage as evidenced by listening to others, follow directions, and following the melodic rhythm of songs, as well as maintaining a steady beat. I know understand why it was at times challenging engaging this group because of the wide array of developmental levels.

[Debrah Evans]

In my practice in the past, I focus a lot on movement because of the age of the children, and the ability for the older adults that I work with to follow along with adaptive movements to model for the kids which goes hand in hand with what was said about having everyone join in to engage the children. Looking forward in my groups, I am definitely planning on prepping my older adults more to encourage them to engage in the activity so that they can model for the movements for the children to even more further their development.

I have only ventured on instruments a few times in the groups because of how much structure is needed to make that experience successful for the children and still beneficial for the the older adults. Because most of the children I work with are between control and responsibility stages of development (preschool age), I now understand that I need to give them time to process start and stop. With this understanding of developmental levels, I now want to try those experiences again with a new understanding of they function developmentally.

As I continue in practice, I’m looking forward to reframing the way I think about the music experiences that I provide, so they are helping children grow developmentally, rather than only academically and cognitively. I can’t wait to incorporate these new ideas into my groups and share them with the “grandfriends.”

[Debrah Evans]

Personally, I feel that I am often very energetic and youthful personally, at times almost to a fault! I think that this will help in groups with children to really engage with them through music.

Some of the ways that I hope to incorporate this into practice involves really focussing on creating activities that target what a child can do developmentally at their age. In addition, knowing that I have to set clear boundaries will help me to create successful experiences for children and their parents if I do start a sprouting melodies program. If not, it’s helpful to know how to create experiences that can engage the older adults in our intergenerational group to interact with the kids in a way that will help them developmentally.

[Debrah Evans]

My most valuable take away from this week was really digging in to the different markers of development for each age. I am not a parent, so understanding the specific markers for each age was helpful, and will help parents and others to know if a child is not typically developing when they are hitting some of the “red flags” that were mentioned. It also helps to really get in the “childlike” mindset to know what I can expect from children of different ages in a group that is developmentally appropriate. Additionally, I can already start to see some of the ways that music and various experiences could be used to help further a child’s development.

[Debrah Evans]

Hello! My name is DeeDee Evans. I am a relatively new music therapist, with most of my professional experience in assisted living facilities working with older adults. I am from Pittsburgh, PA and currently work primarily with older adults in an assisted living facility. My early childhood experience is limited to a two clinical placements, and the work I did in my internship with the intergenerational music group at our facility. Now that I am working in the facility full time, we continue to run the intergenerational group bi-weekly with preschoolers aged 4-5. Additionally, we recently received a grant to extend music therapy services to the community which includes the preschool and day care located within our facility. With this in mind, I wanted to complete the Sprouting Melodies training to gain a better understanding of how to work with young children (3 and under), and hopefully extend the model to working within the intergenerational groups. I’m also hoping to be able to create new groups with the infant and toddlers groups in the daycare to further fulfill the needs of the grant. If I find that I’m having success in running the groups at my facility, I may even try to assess the need to provide group services in my own community as well! I can’t wait to dive into the course and gain a better understanding of how to lead groups in early childhood music therapy!

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