[Gina Greeson]

I like Joanna’s statement, “Music therapists provide opportunities for growth and development without being threatening or invasive.” Music therapists can communicate without words and use the music and body language to communicate. It can provide families with a safe environment to connect. Music therapists are flexible and adaptable to the group needs/individual needs.

[Gina Greeson]

I may even be able to work with the music therapist who has her own private practice in Maryland as I am about 45 away.

[Gina Greeson]

The community I live in is very rural. I am also 35 minutes from the beach. At the beach, they have a school for children/teens on the autistic spectrum. They will not hire a music therapist for some reason. I am currently not working and did not work with children. There are only two music therapists that work with teens/children in my area. One has a private practice, and works at a music school, and another works at the other school for children with special needs. Kent County has a music therapist but she does not work with children. There are other schools in that county but they hire music teachers with special education certification. There are a lot of stores for infants and children in my area and kent county that would may benefit from these music classes. My schedule is very flexible too, so that would be good. We are just starting to advocate in the area. The school of music hired the other music therapist with a private practice, so I may talk to him about offering these services for his practice. I may even be able to contact the early intervention services and work with families.

[Gina Greeson]

Yikes! I thought I posted but didn’t sorry!

Singing Awareness: looking in direction of singer/caregiver and giving a deep “sigh” Trust: makes a few similar pitch sounds to the singer or caregiver. Independence: Sings and imitates sounds of the singer/caregiver Control: Sings parts of familiar songs Responsibility: Sings most of songs and picks his or her favorite song.

Playing Instruments Awareness: holds instrument or looks in direction of instrument. My son is in this stage and puts the maraca in his mouth and hits it. Trust: shakes instrument to a beat or hits an instrument. Independence: shakes instrument to the beat and holds in both hands. Control: maintains the beat and follows changes in the beat. Responsibility: Can play instruments at given times (i.e. when cued) and follow dynamics and tempo changes.

Moving Awareness: moves body during music. Sometime my son will move in a “bouncing” motion and laugh. Trust: Moves body in response to the music. Independence: moves entire body and bounces during most of the song. Control: Can tap knees or head to the music. Responsibility: Can follow songs with different movements and chooses movements

Listening Awareness: looks in direction of caregiver singing/turn aware if does not like pitch. Trust: begins to recognize different sounds and attempts to imitate them. Independence: Listens to mother sing or possibly sits next to leader of group and listens to him or her sing pitches and possibly chords. Control: Watches others in group sing different parts of the songs. Responsibility: listens to others sing his or her own songs.

[Gina Greeson]

I have seen these stages in my clinical work. Thank you for the suggestions! During my internship there were a lot of four year olds in the intergenerational group as well as a few three-six month olds. I used a lot of start and stop instrument play and movement for the groups and they loved it! I sang a lot of familiar songs as well and the children would sing a few of the words. For “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” The children loved to yell “toot!” The older adults did too. With what I have learned I would choose different songs and look for different responses. I would target more songs for the younger ones in the awareness and trust phases.

[Gina Greeson]

Hello!
I am in the same scenario. I am currently not working and when I was working I was working with older adults. I am using this course to start working with children again in small groups. Thanks!

[Gina Greeson]

My husband is a band director so we love to listen to all types of band and orchestral literature. Are favorites are Chopin, Mahler, and Shostakovich. We met in drum and bugle corps so drum corps is very important to us as well. We first introduced music to our son RJ by singing a lullaby before bed. Sometimes, if RJ was fussy during the night we would put the second movement of Dvorak on softly and rock him. We love The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Duke Elllington, and John Coltrane and also celtic music. As a child, I was introduced to many different composers and genres. As a child, I really enjoyed klezmer music. I sing to RJ every day. I took the music together training so I sing a lot of music together songs with my son. I sing to him when it is time to get dressed, eat, and take a bath. We can’t wait to introduce more music as he gets older.

[Gina Greeson]

the songs are a lot of fun. I tried the bonding song with my son and he laughed and smiled. I am going to try what Lauren does with her child with getting in the car as my son does the same thing. I can’t wait to sing them more!

[Gina Greeson]

During my internship, I helped co-lead an intergenerational group. The children were ages 0-5. There was one child in particular who exhibited behavior in the independence stage. The song was “A Ram Sam Sam!” He was very quiet for most of the group, but when we sang this song, he laughed, followed the hand gestures and laughed when song got faster and stopped. It also slowed down and when it slowed down and we said “A….. and stop he stopped, and even would sing “ram sam” a few times.

[Gina Greeson]

Learning about the developmental stages outlined in the module and some brief music examples were very helpful for me. I want to start a group in my area so recognizing these signs and being aware of safety is extremely helpful. I also liked how the module provided helpful hints as to how to interact with the parents. Being aware of the red flags was also helpful. Learning about the developmental stages with help to chose appropriate music for groups.

[Gina Greeson]

Hello everyone! My name is Gina Greeson. I live in Milford, Delaware. Milford is about thirty-five minutes north of Rehoboth Beach. I am currently not working and staying at home with my six month old son RJ. I have been a music therapist since 2007, primarily working in long term care facilities. I also received training in music together. I am a graduate of Immaculate University. I am very excited for this course for many reasons. One reason is I would like to improve/increase my knowledge of using music in early childhood. Another reason I am excited is because I would like to possibly offer early childhood music programs to my community. I feel as though I do not have enough resources in terms of music and instruments that go along with the program.

I am looking forward to learning over the next ten weeks and getting to know all of you!

[Gina Greeson]

Thanks so much! Just created an account so here’s to a great learning experience!

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