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Keymaster
Welcome, everyone. What a wealth of experience, education, and knowledge in this group! I’m excited for the community we will build together.
You will virtually get to know Meredith and me well over the next few weeks, but here is just a little of what I’ve been up to. Over the past few months, I’ve been deeply involved with a fantastic team of music therapy researchers to observe, analyze, and attempt to more clearly define the unique musicianship of music therapists. We are in the final stages of writing up the results and I look forward to sharing our findings more widely.
Are any of you attending the virtual AMTA Symposium in October? I’ll be presenting a CMTE on music-centered music therapy assessment, and I’m really excited about that project as well.
In case you missed it, I am now retired from clinical work which is one reason why I now have the time and energy for these projects 🙂
I’ll see you in the forum across the weeks, and look forward to hearing your thoughts. You are in wonderful hands with our course moderators Julie and Erika – they are terrific!
KeymasterWhat a terrific group of music therapists! Thank you all for joining us in this course. We have found in the past that this course often opens up new friendships and networks across the country, and sometimes internationally.
You will get to know Meredith and me well through the videos, but here are a few other details. I’m not only a mother of three adult children and their spouses, I am a grandmother to 5 year old Max and 1.5 year old Shani. It’s been fun for me to make music with this new generation. Most of my kids work in the medical field, and I love to hear about their interactions with music therapy and music therapists in their work settings. Maggie, I also have a daughter and son-in-law who live in Portland and we try and get out there to visit several times a year.
I will pop into the forum from time to time, but meanwhile you are in great hands with our course moderator Erika. Please reach out to any of us if you have additional questions or concerns. Enjoy the course!KeymasterWelcome to the Sprouting Melodies training! I’m looking forward to meeting all of you here in the forum and reading about your unique expertise and interests. You will get to know Meredith and me quite well over the course, so here is a little more personal background. I am a grandmother now, with 4 year old Max and 1 year-old Shani. It is such a wonderful opportunity to revisit all of the songs and music up close and personal with my own family. Shani’s favorite is a song called ‘Ten Little Fingers’ from my new song book – Together with the Beat.
Although I’m retired from clinical work, I still am quite busy teaching at both Molloy and Shenandoah Universities. My latest passion is assessment in music therapy. I’ll be presenting on music-centered music therapy assessments at the World Congress for Music Therapy this coming summer in Vancouver, Canada.
I will be checking in on the forum from time to time, but you are in good hands with Erika. Feel free to reach out to any of us through email at any time. ElizabethKeymasterWelcome to the Sprouting Melodies Training. I enjoyed meeting and learning about each of you in the Week 1 Forum Introductions. It’s great to have such varied training and experience.
I will be popping in to the forum every once in a while, but from week eot week you are in the very expert care of Erika who can navigate any challenges or questions. Thanks, Erika.
As Hally mentioned in her posting, I worked for many years in a wonderful facility for children 0-5 and their families. Now that I’m technically retired, my days (and frankly nights) are spent teaching at both Molloy and Shenandoah Universities. I’ve also finally had the time to do more writing and research.
In the ‘between’ times, I have a lot of fun spending time with our three adult children, and our two grandchildren – Max and Shani. It’s so great to hear them singing some of my songs!
Please feel free to reach out at any time – Elizabeth@RaisingHarmony.comKeymasterThanks for sharing this story, Liz. I sing this one with my granddaughter now!
KeymasterI’d love to talk more about assessment, Liz. It is great that you are learning from Dr. LaGasse. I, too, get frustrated that people are not aware of, nor are using, the new assessment tools that are out there. I have two published early childhood assessment tools (RH has a course on them) and I would be thrilled if you would be interested in using and/or researching them!
Do you know about the International Music Therapy Assessment Consortium? They have been working hard to address the use and study of assessments. https://www.musictherapy.aau.dk/imtacKeymasterWelcome! It’s great to meet all of you, and read about your unique expertise and interests. You will get to know Meredith and I quite well over the course, so here is a little more personal background. I am a grandmother now, with 4 year old Max and 9 month old Shani.It is such a wonderful opportunity to revisit all of the songs and music up close and personal with my own family. Shani’s favorite is a song called ‘Ten Little Fingers’ from my new song book.
Although I’m retired from clinical work, I still am quite busy teaching at both Molloy and Shenandoah Universities. My latest passion is assessment in music therapy.
I’ll be checking in on the forum, but you are in good hands with Erika. Feel free to reach out to any of us through email at any time.
ElizabethApril 20, 2022 at 11:05 am
in reply to: How have you used these four music experiences in your practice?
KeymasterIt has been so much fun to ‘peek’ into the forum and read your responses and lively conversations. I’m always impressed with the variety of life experiences that course participants bring, and I know you learn as much from each other as from us.
These first few weeks are quite content heavy, but I promise more music and practical experiences in the coming weeks.
Enjoy! ElizabethKeymasterWhat an important question, Amy. Thank you for bringing it up. I will need to look for current research, but I think we have lots of annecdotal information on the damage done from adult expectations of skill attainment without developmental understanding. In putting together the Musical Developmental Framework, I was careful to use research that focused on intrinsic musical development rather than learned or aquired skills.
In coming weeks, the training will more fully cover talking to parents, caregivers and other adults about development. I think our sensitivity to development is one reason why music therapists are well situated to provide early childhood music. We also need to talk about music in general. For many adults, they only relate to music as a skill based activity or as something that ‘other people’ can do. The core of this course is that musical development is development and the music self is the self.
One of my go-to resources on all things early childhood development is the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child. Fantastic material! https://developingchild.harvard.edu/. There are a lot of links to articles on young children and stress.KeymasterIt’s always great to discover the depth and variety of experience participants bring to the Sprouting Melodies Training course. Welcome! You will get to know me through the course videos over the next ten weeks, but I like to share a little more of my everyday life. I retired from clinical work in late 2019 after well over 30 years in early childhood but still enjoy teaching as an adjunct professor at Molloy College and Shenandoah University. My three children are all grown and scattered around the country. but I do try to make music as much as possible with my grandchildren – 3 1/2 and 4 months.
I also love the connections! Amy, I started out in music education at Ithaca College (back in the early 70s)before finishing at SUNY Potsdam where I got to train with Clive and Carol Robbins at a school for the deaf in Rome, New York. Clive and Carol remained friends and mentors throughout my career.
Emily, we are an airline family! My husband recently retired from a major airline based in DFW ;-). In a strange coincidence, I now work with a music therapy colleague at Molloy College who came to music therapy after a career as a flight attendant. She actually met my husband when they were flying together, and later was my student at Molloy.
Meredith and I are always available through email so please feel free to reach out at any time. Throughout the course, you will have the expert guidance of Erika Svolos. She is a terrific resource. I’ll be popping in to the forum, and look forward to getting you know you. Thanks for joining our Raising Harmony community.KeymasterWelcome! and thank you for joining our Sprouting Melodies community. You will get to know me well over the next ten weeks as you work through the course. Early childhood music therapy has been a very big part of my life, but right now I have another way to make music with small children – my 3-year-old grandson, Max. Although we have not been able to be with him much in person due to the pandemic we sing alot together on face-time. One of his favorites is ‘Row it Faster’ from the ‘You and Me Make…We” songbook. I recently received a video of him stuffed with his Dad in a small laundry basket as their boat singing it 🙂
Meredith and I will be jumping on the forum to check in with you, but your go-to person for weekly questions is the terrific Erika Svolos. Thank you, Erika.
Enjoy the course, and enjoy the music!
BethKeymasterDear SMT colleagues,
I have really enjoyed reading your posts and getting to hear your thoughts over the past ten weeks. Please know that we consider you part of the Raising Harmony community, and we are committed to being here for you now and in the future.
I’d like to give a special shout out to our course moderator, Erika Svolos, who is instrumental in keeping the course running and providing support and guidance.Erika has sent you a reminder on requirements for finishing the course and receiving your CMTE credits.
I’d also like to ask you a favor. Most of our participants come to the Raising Harmony trainings through word of mouth. We would appreciate it if you could share your comments about the course with your colleagues, friends, interns, or students. The next session begins March 31, and there are still openings.
Once again, please keep in touch with question or comments. Once we are through this difficult time and get to see each other again in person, please come on up and say hello.
Thank you again for your belief in us and in the power of music and music therapy.
ElizabethKeymasterWelcome! I am always excited to begin a new Sprouting Melodies course and see the amazing variety of music therapy experiences and expertise. I know you will enjoy learning from each other as much as you learn from the course.
You will get to know me well over the next few weeks, but here are a few facts about how I currently spend my time. I actually retired from clinical work a little over a year ago after over 30 years at a wonderful therapeutic preschool on Long Island, New York. However, I don’t think of myself as retired since I am still doing a lot of teaching, presenting, researching, and writing. This semester I will be teaching three courses at Molloy College here on Long Island, and one course at Shenandoah University (yea, Kelsi!) My three adult children and their spouses are scattered around the United States, and I am so happy to have one amazing grandson who will be turning 3 next month. To our new mothers taking this course, know that Meredith, Erika and I have all been there and we get it!!KeymasterWelcome, all. I am always excited to open up the forum on week one and meet new colleagues. You will get to know Meredith and I well over the next ten weeks, but here is a little more about me. I retired from my clinical work last year after over 30 years at a therapeutic preschool but am so pleased that there are four awesome music therapists to continue the music therapy program without me.
I continue to teach music therapy courses on both the graduate and undergraduate level at Molloy College in New York and at Shenandoah University in Virginia. Being ‘retired’ has also freed me up to write on music therapy topics and to continue to compose therapeutic songs. And I still get to immerse myself in early childhood music with my 2 year old grandson, Max!
Meredith and I will pop into the forum and you will soon meet Erika who is our forum moderator. Erika is the ‘go-to’ person for questions or concerns.
Enjoy the music!
BethKeymasterSo glad that you are enjoying and using these songs. Look for a new songbook to come out later this year!
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