[Elizabeth Carras]

This course has been incredibly helpful to me in two major ways: information and affirmation. I feel much better informed about early childhood development, and especially musical development, that I was when I began the course. Now that I have a more complete and secure knowledge base, I can plan better, facilitate better, and communicate better as a provider. I also found myself listening to Meredith and Beth in the videos and thinking, “Yeah, I do that.” I’m fairly new to the field (this is my second year as an MTBC) and I’m still finding my footing. Recognizing that my knowledge is better than I give myself credit for, and my instincts as a therapist are on the right track, I believe, will directly impact the success of my sessions, whether it is music therapy or community music groups.

[Elizabeth Carras]

Much of my clinical work is through a local school district, and I provide IEP-Based music therapy services. During the summer, when I have gaps in my schedule because school is not in session, I run more ‘music-ed’ type music groups: beginning ukulele lessons, a hand drumming class, providing music for summer camps, etc. I sometimes feel negatively about taking off my ‘music therapy’ hat for the summer and taking more of an ‘educator’ role.
This summer, I’m using these education-type experiences to spread the word about how music therapy groups in a community setting can be beneficial. I’m trying to look at them as a base to spread word-of-mouth about our programs that support early childhood development. Some of the parents of older children who are taking the summer courses have started saying, “This is great, I wish there were something for my younger kid like this, s/he is only two.” And I can respond that we are offering early childhood music classes for those younger children.

[Elizabeth Carras]

This may be more of a strategy for myself, but sometimes it is helpful for me, as the provider, to reframe what ‘successful’ looks like for each child. Maybe success for the child who seems to be always off task isn’t “Today he will follow directions and be engaged in group music making.” Maybe instead, it’s, “Today he initiated playing with a peer in the group, even though the rest of the group wasn’t using instruments at the time. He made a connection.” Maybe success isn’t “The group will use a cool-down to transition into getting ready to leave music,” instead it is “We will do this energetic music and movement experience five more times, because the group members are so into it and and growing and sharing and connecting.”

[Elizabeth Carras]

I am eagerly anticipating my next music group with young children, because I can’t wait to try out some of the songs, strategies, and “Sprouting Melodies Sayings” that I have learned throughout this course! I’ve already begun sprinkling the songs I’ve learned here, and they are wonderful. I am not certain whether I will take the full plunge and become an official Sprouting Melodies Provider, but I will definitely use what I’ve learned in this course to inform my practice.

[Elizabeth Carras]

SM3: Personality, Choices, Musical contrasts, Imitation, Autonomy
FS: Sharing, Cooperation, Scaffolding, Connections, Together

SM3:
_Hello Song: Call and response structure “Hello everybody it’s good to see you. (x2) My name is _____ it’s good to see you, Hello ____, it’s good to see you.” _Since this age/stage is moving more into autonomy, instead of a lap bounce/bonding song, I might add a finger play song here, such as “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” or “Little Miss Muffet” or “Patty Cake.” Those who need some support can stay by mom, but those who are ready to move away can do that also. _Instruments: Pass out sandblocks, and have them tap them together while singing, “Somebody’s Knocking at my Door.” Repeat and this time rub the surface of the sandblocks together while singing, “Doggies are scratching at my door.” Repeat these two contrasting structures. _Group/cooperative activity: Parachute with “Mr Sun.” Walk in a circle on phrase 1 (“Oh Mr Sun, Sun, Mr Golden Sun”) and shake for phrase 2 (“Please shine down on me”). Repeat walking in a circle for phrase three, and have the group lift up the parachute and hide underneath on phrase 4 (“Hiding behind a tree”). Stay hidden until the word “OUT!” and pop out from underneath the parachute. Repeat the phrases the same ways as in the beginning to end the song. _Movement: “Will You Come?” _Goodbye: A predictable song that they can sing along with; I like to use this one to the tune of Twinkle Little Star: “Now the time for music is done, / I hope that you had lots of fun! / Thank you all for helping out, / That’s what music is all about. / Now the time for music is done, / I hope that you had lots of fun!”

FS:_ Hello Song: “Come Sit with Me and We Will Sing” followed by “Good morning” or “Hello to You!” _Lap Bounce / Bonding song: I’m actually not sure about this one: I’ve seen parent/child pairs sit facing one another holding hands and push/pull to rock forwards and backwards during Row Row Row your boat. The kids and parents both love it, and parents are careful not to pull too hard or too fast. I am wondering whether this could be an activity to do in sibling pairs? Or might the older sibs get too rough? _Instruments: Boomwhackers! “I Can Play” model different ways of playing individually, tapping it on different body parts, the floor, etc, and end with finding a partner to tap gently together. _Movement: “Just Like Me” and “The Sneaker Song” where smaller children can sit and tap their feet while older children can march, skip, jump, tiptoe etc as the lyrics cue. _Cool Down: “Music Is the Way.” _Goodbye: Now the Time for Music is Done.

[Elizabeth Carras]

I think it is important to advocate to parents for music for development, and remind or educate them that humans are innately musical beings. We can talk about the stages of *musical* development that we learned in sprouting melodies, and share that through interacting with the music of others and making music themsleves, children begin to develop a sense of ‘self’, and what I can do, and a sense of ‘other’ that is different from myself.
Through these musical experiences, children will rehearse and develop specific skills such as sustained attention, listening, sharing, language concepts, and social skills. A lot of times we validate engaging in music by saying “It will help with x, y, and z,” and we do this with the best of intentions. As music therapists we are trained to use music to help our clients meet their non-musical goals. But there is something of value in engaging with music for music’s sake. Not for the skill building, not for emotional awareness, not for language concepts or social skills, but for experiencing something beautiful. That will help us – not just children, but anyone – develop.

[Elizabeth Carras]

One of the challenges of multi-age groupings is providing music experiences that are developmentally appropriate, stimulating, and challenging to all participants without being overwhelming. It is easy to get pulled along in the energy of older children and forget to modify your timbre for the younger ones, or easy to repeat simple songs for the young ones and notice that the older children are getting antsy or silly. I have also found that, when I work with multi-age groups I tend to reinforce the more overt behaviors of the older children, and neglect providing reinforcement for the more subtle behaviors of younger children. I will praise a child for matching how I play on the drum and offering his own musical ideas, and let opportunities to praise looking or orienting toward the sound pass me by.

[Elizabeth Carras]

Explore, Energy, Autonomy, Contrasts, Imitation

“Even if your child is not moving or playing with his peers, he is doing a great job of observing the other kids and learning how to interact with this music.”
“Don’t worry if your child is not following the exact instructions given (e.g. stomping feet instead of tapping knees), it is important that she is engaging with the music in her own way and expressing her choices.
“Your child is starting to make music on her own! As they develop that sense of self, they are learning what they themselves can do.”
“It is great to see your child facing toward and interacting with you, and also starting to face toward and interact with other kids/parents in the group.”
“There are lots of cool instruments to explore in this room, your child is okay to walk away and explore a new instrument and then come back to you.”

_Hello Song: Let’s sing hello hello, sing hello to everyone, it’s time for music now. Let’s wave hello hello, wave hello to [child 1] it’s time for music now. Let’s high-five hello hello to [child 2] and repeat with different motions for each child. Let them think of their own. _Bonding Song: Wiggly Jiggly Car, _Instruments: give each family a soundshape and a mallet, and encourage parents to hand over hand assist their child playing, or allow the child to hold either the drum or the mallet while the parent holds the other, and play together. Tap along to a steady beat in “Ants Go Marching” _Movement: “Colors in the Sky” Have children listen for high sounds (move with your scarves up high) and low sounds (move with your scarves close to the ground. Wave scarves to this slow song with an ABA pattern: a section with higher pitches about seeing colors floating by and seeing a rainbow in the sky, and then a section with descending melodic lines about rain falling down. _Cool down: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” have children return to their parents’ laps and rock or sway to this familiar tune. _Goodbye: To the tune of Goodnight Ladies, sing goodbye to each child and offer them an opportunity to strum the guitar.

[Elizabeth Carras]

We use soundshapes quite a lot, usually with remo foam mallets. We also use rhythm sticks/lumi sticks. I’m not sure what brand they are, but the type where a set of two has one smooth and one grooved stick so you could tap or scrape. We have some chime balls from Kindermusik. I occasionally use a set of colored handbells, but you need to watch these. I have found that kids in this stage respond well to boomwhackers!

[Elizabeth Carras]

I think that there is no good answer to this question; I guess my answer is that it varies from child to child and from group to group — and even from day to day. In general, though, I like to think of a parabola when I do early childhood music classes. The energy/stimulation starts out low, to gently introduce the music, and then builds as the children become more comfortable and confident during the group, and then decreases again as we cool down and get ready to transition into going home.

[Elizabeth Carras]

I attended an early childhood psychology seminar recently (it may have been at an AMTA conference) where it was pointed out that a child’s relationships with adults during their formative years can have a huge impact on the child, and that it just takes one positive adult relationship to have a beneficial impact. That one adult may not be the child’s parent or primary caregiver. That one adult might be you, the Music Therapist, for the 45 minutes you are seeing them as part of an Early Intervention program.
I think that same philosophy can be applied to Sprouting Melodies groups, and to all community-based music therapy settings. We see these families for the brief time they are in our music classes, and do not know what else is going on outside of class for that family. Coming to a sprouting melodies class may be the one positive relationship – with you as the provider, with other parents/children in the class – that has a powerful positive impact on that family.
I think it’s also important to look at the role of community-based music therapy services from a Wellness model. Engaging in music can be a preventative approach, not a treatment approach, and speaks to potential need areas across the board.

[Elizabeth Carras]

I have worked quite a lot with children of this age and level; when I did my internship at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh I had many patients on my caseload who were in the NICU. When infants are in the hospital, music therapy frequently follows one of two paths: soothing and pain management, or developmentally appropriate sensory stimulation. Many of my patients had NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) and were experiencing so much pain and trauma that they were crying constantly. It is common for hospitalized infants to be unable to fall asleep and get the rest they require in order to grow and develop and heal, so as a Music Therapist one of my main tasks was using the Gate Theory, entrainment, and the ISO principle to help infants manage their pain and fall asleep. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, a child’s main task during this age and stage is to interact with his or her environment in order to grow and develop. In a hospital setting, babies seldom have opportunities to engage with their environment because (1) they are too ill to do much except rest and recuperate, or (2) they are swaddled tightly to prevent them from pulling out their lines and then left lying on their backs in their cribs for the whole day. This can cause delays in the infant’s development, so I would provide appropriate developmental stimulation. Things like moving a shaker or instrument around the swaddled infant’s field of vision to check if they can track it, playing music in different positions around the crib so they can orient toward the sound, if the nurses say it’s okay to support an infant to sit up and encourage them to sit independently and reach for an instrument extending their range of motion, encouraging them to shake or tap or babble along to the music.

[Elizabeth Carras]

The biggest need for the families I have worked with is the creation, through the early childhood music classes, of a network of parents and families whose children are in similar stages of development – they can come to class and share, oh, my child does the same thing, here is a way we approach this at home. We already know that singing and making music together creates a bonding experience, which I think makes it easier to set up those mutually supportive relationships between families. Yes the music therapist can offer education and knowledge of how and why interventions work for child development, but ultimately each parent is the expert on their own kid. So these classes are really a gathering of top experts on each child, and sharing that wealth of information is incredible.

[Elizabeth Carras]

Music therapists bring a perspective of using and working through music to ‘get at’ the development of the whole child, the physical, emotional, social, behavioral, and spiritual aspects of the growing child. Kid music programs that are facilitated by a music educator or a parent may hit on these developmental goals, as music intrinsically facilitates development, but a music therapist is trained in and looks for these goals.

[Elizabeth Carras]

I have come to recognize that some of my personality traits will help me be a better provider when working with early childhood. I have great amounts of patience, lots of energy, and an active imagination — all great to have in your arsenal if you will be working with young children. I do not have too much experience with ‘typically’ developing young ones; my experience with early childhood music therapy was working in a pediatric hospital, where many of the patients were delayed due to illness or extended hospitalization. I think this training will be very helpful in refreshing my knowledge of child development, so I can answer questions that parents and providers have, and I can plan developmentally appropriate experiences.

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