[Emily Baroody]

After taking this course I now realize I need to be a lot more verbal with families about what I am doing and why. I also would like to implement more opportunities to share their experiences with the music school, so that I can have some constructive feedback and so that the administration can see how beneficial the early childhood programs can be.

[Emily Baroody]

I have really enjoyed the course content and I want to implement it into my practice as much as possible. The community outreach that this program provides I think is just what the music school that I work for needs to bring in more families and really provide music that gives back to the community. It may take awhile to launch the Sprouting Melodies as a trademark program at the music school, but in the mean time I am hoping that the new knowledge I have will enhance the early childhood programs I am currently offering and that more people in the community will become supportive of the music school’s value and that will in turn help us launch this program. In the meantime I feel like I see my early childhood groups with a fresh perspective, really all of my clinical work. It was really great to be inspired each week with new ideas and concepts that I can use in my music therapy practice.

[Emily Baroody]

Some strategies I am currently using to help each child be successful in the group, is adapting each experience as I go to make sure all the children are able to participate and are engaged in the music.

I also will give parents some verbal directions.

Some tips I got from this weeks content were to give the children that leave the group verbal redirection or choices such as are you all done with the maracas? I have always struggled with how to handle children leaving the group, 45 minutes is a long time and I think sometimes the children just need a break and I want to attend to the whole group without just focusing on one child, but I think I could be doing more to assure the parents and to help bring more engagement to that child

[Emily Baroody]

I am most looking forward to being able to expand the early childhood program at the community music school I work with. I think early childhood groups offer such an important community resource as well as promoting life long music making. Right new our program is really small and its really difficult to even offer just one class per week because I am also doing a lot of other music therapy work, but becoming a sprouting melodies provider could help expand that program and reach more families.

[Emily Baroody]

family sprouts

5 words:Bonding, helping, diversity, cooperation and playful

Hello song

Bonding song: row it faster
with siblings helping support their younger siblings in lap

Songs about me: watch me go

Instrument song: dancing in the middle with the big drum

Movement song: will you come

Goodbye song

Sprouting Melodies 3

5 words: Active, energetic, excited, purposeful and personality

Hello song

Bonding song: My brand new friend

Songs about me: That all makes up me

Instrument songs: I like this song

Movement song: Body rock

Good Bye song

[Emily Baroody]

I think the biggest difference between music for development and music for skill building is that music for development is a holistic approach and I think that’s how I would explain that to parents. The aim of the sprouting melodies music groups is to support family relationships that help nurture families and provide tools to support child development. The best thing that we can offer in our groups is bonding opportunities between parent and child and help support parents as they take an active role in their child’s development. Yes we are providing a music stimulus, yes we are providing developmentally appropriate music specifically targeted toward developmental goals, but really we are just the facilitators, and it is the bond between parent and child that supports the child not the music therapist singing the songs once a week or the chance to play and hold instruments. And further more we are creating community as parents all come together with similar goals. We are providing social moments to help support families and music for skill building is not aimed for those kinds of personal connections we are hoping to foster.

[Emily Baroody]

I think one of the biggest challenged of a multi age group is finding the right energy to stimulate but not over stimulate each child. Some of the older children will crave more variation, more movement, more volume, but some of the younger children might still need more repetition, more consistency, and sometimes more soothing moments. This will require constant adjustment in the moment and a lot of practice to learn how to handle the room.

I think another challenge is working with siblings. If there is only one adult and two children with two different needs, that can be really challenging and also overwhelming for the parent. also sometimes there is jealousy among siblings, particularly with new siblings as they would tend to be at this age. As the group facilitator I think it would be our role to help that parent find a balance and model ways to promote family bonding so that the parents do not become overwhelmed.

[Emily Baroody]

five words: playful, energetic, exploring, variety and observing

five sentences: Make sure to face your little one out so he can see everything, you can help support your child’s development by making sure his or her weight is evenly distributed through the feet when they are standing. Watching is still engagement its ok if he or she wants to watch, its ok for them to move around this is a safe space for exploration, sixty seconds of singing solidifies social synapses ( I heard this one on one of the videos linked to this week’s content and I really really like it)

Hello song-

gathering song
Are you ready for music?

Bonding
wiggly jiggly car

songs about me
just like me

instrument song
in my little hand

movement song
pick your hands up high

Goodbye song-

[Emily Baroody]

I use the instruments that are supplied to me at the music school for their early childhood program, and honestly some of the instruments are reminiscent of the toys on the island of misfit toys in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I have tons of basic beat egg shakers, a few maracas, two octaves of boom whackers, eight cymbals, twenty red and blue rhythm sticks, ten plastic castanets, twelve drums with rubber heads, a few lolipop drums and soft mallets, some plastic xylophones, a parachute, scarves, feathers, and I often bring my djembe to class or borrow the music therapy large gathering drum. I really liked the idea of having a yucky bucket in class and will definitely be implementing that immediately. My sterilization process right now involves a lot of lysol wipes and a lot of time and constantly putting dirty instruments behind a desk so that other kids cant reach for them.

[Emily Baroody]

I think you can best gauge the right amount of stimulation needed by observing the quality of engagement the children are displaying. If they are passively are actively participating in each music experience they are probably receiving the right amount of stimulation. If they are avoidant of the interaction they are either receiving too little or too much and you can judge by adjusting what you are providing. Children at this age are still prone to startling especially when there are loud unexpected noises. As the music facilitator of the group I think we should be cognizant that even though these little ones need more stimulation to grow and learn about the environment than their friends in SM1 are still babies and may need a break from all the sights and sounds, or need more from you to enhance their experience in music.

[Emily Baroody]

I think the role of music therapy in community based setting is in fulfilling community needs. As music therapist we are able to support and address many diverse community needs whether its providing opportunities for families to engage in developmentally supportive activities or serving a community that maybe just faced a trauma and needs help working through that and healing. Music making is often a community experience. People of all different backgrounds and cultures enjoy making music in groups, listening to music in groups, dancing to music in groups, it is an enjoyable social experience. And I think that’s why music therapy lends itself to a community setting. Offering music therapy as a clinical service is an important thing we do. We are helping people change their lives by providing them with clinical tools and support. But music can be an accessible healing or supportive tool for everyone, even those not seeking clinical therapy and as music therapists we can provide that support in general way outside of the clinical setting and that also helps to legitimize our profession within our community. We are a valuable part of the community and we have something to offer to almost everyone.

[Emily Baroody]

Five words to describe the music in sprouting melodies one:

quiet
soothing
supporting
lilting
caressing

I think the primary objective of the sprouting melodies one groups is to promote bonding between parent and child, support development through awareness into trust phase, and create a supportive community for parents. I think the music reflects that by creating a calm, quiet space and promotes participation without too many stipulations.

[Emily Baroody]

The last time I worked with babies as young as 0-9 months was during my internship which was in a pediatric hospital setting. The patients in this hospital were international. Because of this I had the opportunity to work with a small baby who was brought to the United States from another country and was not allowed to be accompanied by parents. This was this was the first time I had spent a significant amount of time with a little baby not only in my career, but also personally. Music was used to provide procedural and ot support, engagement in developmental activities and comfort and bonding with myself and the hospital staff as temporary caregivers. It was almost an exhilarating experience to be able to sing and sway and cuddle a little baby and to provide comfort in an otherwise uncomfortable setting. It was my favorite thing to allow the baby to just fall asleep and take a micro nap in my arms while I was singing. If this experience was so exciting for me not as a parent I can only imagine what a music group for babies can provide as far as bonding for the parents not only in the group but at home.

In my more personal experience with infants, one of my best friends has just had her first baby. She is the first of my friends to have a baby and so this little one gets a lot of attention. I have been able to witness the stress of being a first time parent. The uncertainty of fulfilling the babies needs and responding to her cries. I can see how overwhelming every cry is for my friend. And I also get to see those great moments of pride when she finds something that works to soothe her baby or does something that makes her smile. And how her confidence is increasing with each passing week. I think that providing a music group to my community for infants could help enhance the experience of first time and new parents.

[Emily Baroody]

Like everyone else I will restate the above comments about our community because it is a really really good point. We don’t just bring our individual strengths as music therapists into music making with us we bring the strength of our community. I also want to take a second to totally agree with Cynthia. It is really hard to talk about my value. I feel valuable, but how do I articulate it? I also think that one of the more important things that we bring to music making as music therapists is that we see with a clinical eye. Sure what we are doing with SM groups is not music therapy, but what we are doing is still backed my clinical research to be as supportive as possible to developmental needs. We are not just singing kids songs 100x over because babies like it. We are implementing musical activities and experience to help support families. We are also offering expertise about children from what we know and are learning about development to families who need that kind of feed back. And lastly as a music therapist I think I offer flexibility to music groups. I am prepared to throw out my plans in a second if they do not feel right in the moment and that is something my music therapy training allows me to do.

[Emily Baroody]

I have found so far that a lot of the parents in my communities are looking for opportunities to bond and play with their children, and also for their children to have the opportunity to play with children. Some of my early childhood groups are held on a weekday morning and most of those parents are home with their children all day and are so excited to have an opportunity to socialize with their children. To meet other families with children the same age, and see their kids running and playing and sharing instruments with other children. My groups also contain families with children who for whatever reason are not considered to be “developing typically.” Some maybe have confirmed diagnosis some not yet. And for those families the social interaction of the group seems to be their first need as they verbally state. But I have also noticed that for those families coming to groups and having moments to bond together is a need they didn’t realize they had or if they did realize it didn’t verbally state that it was something they were hoping to get out of music. I also feel that there are families whose needs I have yet to see or try to address. And these would be the working parents. Last week I had a summer camp group that consisted of preschool aged children and their parents coming to the music school and getting a worth of introduction to different musical instruments and musical concepts, such as rhythm, melody, volume etc. These families actually took a week off from work to be able to experience two hours of music a day with their. They were telling me that there were not a lot of programs to the working parent who wanted to spend time with their child doing something fun and creative. They felt that those opportunities were for stay at home parent only. And that seemed really sad to me. I want to be able to offer more to my community.

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