[Flora Whitmore]

Singing: Awareness- kiddo has melodic babble/ involuntary vocal response
Trust- Increased babbling, increased (but still very loose) structure, some pitch matching Independence- musical/ melodic babbling (I think this was the stage where Elizabeth mentioned Secret Singers emerging)
Control- Kiddo starts taking on songs in their own ways- songs have….lots of holes, but intent and interest are there and song is distinguishable
Responsibility-car sing along level. Most of the words, most of melody. Might rush the end of the alphabet song into one single fast blur, just because they can.

Instruments: Awareness- exploring instruments with mouth, patting
Trust- very brief, intermittent tactile exploration of instrument, play with beat and pulse briefly start to emerge
Independence-“this is a shaky egg and I can shake it!”
Control- kiddo is starting to be able to start and stop play with music
Responsibility- kiddo can keep a beat on a drum, demonstrate some contrasting musical elements and start and stop when cued

Listening: Awareness: responds to vocal timbre. Turning towards sounds which are favorable.
Trust: familiar or high preference melody halts tears and eases transitions
Independence- kiddo starts to responds favorably to mode and tempo modulation
Control- a favorite song or instrument sound will bring a kiddo running and engage their attention
Responsibility-kiddos can appreciate each other’s music, listen and acknowledge other performers

Moving: Awareness- infant may calm to mother singing lullaby, breathing may deepen in response to melodies with certain meter
Trust- baby bop! Involuntary music bouncing
Independence- more purposeful movement with music, feet kicking or lap patting
Control- kiddo starts to be able to imitate contrasting musical elements and imitate visual cues ( shaker up up up) Responsibility-kiddos can follow sequential directions in music (this is more where head, shoulders, knees & toes becomes more plausible)

[Flora Whitmore]

I have watched my step daughter, who is six now (she had her birthday) come into the resonsibility stage, shaking shakers when she hears the word “shake!” in the lyrics, or choosing a motion, a color or a body part to complete verses of her favorite song. She also invents sung verses like “daddy has a kangaroo on his head” adapted from songs she has heard me sing. She will melodically match when I hum and copy short phrases I plunk out on the piano. She’s my favorite plant for library group because she’s a great model for other kids.

[Flora Whitmore]

I grew up learning a great deal of Yiddish, Hebrew, French and American folk songs with a sprinkle of Broadway, Sesame Street, Sharon Lois & Bram and Raffi. I lived in Vermont but my parents were from the Midwest so I got all the traditional nursery rhyme songs too, but the populations I work with now all, as many others have said, tend to lean heavily into the pop and Disney categories. KidzBop. All my under six crowd are obsessed. There are also a great deal of musical entertainers out there now, like Laurie Berkner, Elizabeth Mitchell and Tom Pease, and many I have yet to discover. Often I find families have their own preferred ‘kids music cd’ or music from a specific TV show. I constantly feel the pressure to stay media savvy to keep my music knowledge current. I do work hard though, to throw in and teach songs from my childhood as well, because I think there is value in building and sustaining a cultural legacy beyond the music of this digital age.

[Flora Whitmore]

I haven’t got a chance to try these songs out with kiddos yet, but just singing Good Morning to myself was very soothing- I liked the interval, and I could imagine using this in a space like a library, where the music could still come across as gentle but assertive. I also liked “are you ready for music?” Very jazzy! I could see all sorts of applications for this with different instruments, movement and adaptation for age level.

[Flora Whitmore]

While I have been a music therapist for almost 5 years, and worked mostly with children, much of my understanding of developmental stages was through observation of my friends’ kids and working with children with developmental delays. I have a good understanding of how disabilities present, but actually a very limited comprehensive understanding of normative behavior broken down the way this course presents it. Our prof in Dev psych did not spend a lot of time, for example, on the major details of the 12 months of life. I found myself thinking about the children I knew, as I watched the video- my four year old niece and six year old step daughter, and it put a lot more in perspective for me! I think this will be incredibly useful in application to both becoming a more effective music therapist and also helping to advocate for and support parents with questions.

[Flora Whitmore]

My takeaway from this week’s segment was a better understanding of each developmental stage- I especially found the inclusion of ‘red flags’ and the break down of developmental markers by domain very helpful. I have worked with children for a long time, and did take developmental psych in university, but this was the clearest breakdown I have encountered. I found myself applying the different stages in my head against the developmental functioning of some of my clients to test myself.

[Flora Whitmore]

Hello!
My name is Flora Whitmore, I’m a MT-BC from Burlington, Vermont. I graduated from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia in 2009, and did my internship at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. I am one of three music therapists in Music Blooms Music Therapy, a small private practice that provides support to the local VNA, several school districts and area nursing homes. My areas of interest and expertise are music therapy with youth at risk and autism and developmental disability.
I enrolled in Sprouting Melodies to expand my professional repertoire and knowledge base.

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