[Jennifer DeBedout]

5 words: “so glad you are here!”…gentle, touch, swaying, bonding, calm

5 sentences: I am so glad you have come to music and you will spending this special time with your baby. We will be gentle in this class and I hope that you’ll see your baby watching and listening as we make music together. Your baby loves the sound of your voice so, while I will use my voice to help guide you, please sing to your baby and respond vocally by imitating sounds your baby might make. We will use a lot of repetition in the class so you can relax and now that the songs will become familiar and predictable. This class is about exploration and time together and I’m so glad you have joined us for music.

Hello/Gathering: A simple song is best for singing hello, this is a great time to establish eye contact with the babies, sing out their names, give lots of smiles and the singing should be gentle throughout.
Lap/Bonding Song: This song gives the chance for gentle movement and touch from parent to child, this is a great opportunity for hugs which can be helpful if a baby or babies are feeling unsure or not quite settled in yet
Song About Me: I love the song that Meredith and Beth shared with the lyric “just like me”, that continues the bonding between adult and child, this section of the music time would promote interaction and awareness with the babies, touch and repetition would be important
Instrument song: Instrument selection for this section is really important, sounds that fit into the gentle nurturing environment and can be easily explored by the little ones are needed
Movement song: A song that promotes movement appropriate to where the babies are, guided movement or babies moving themselves. This song and movement time can be more upbeat and care would be taken to avoid startle response
Cool Down: Approaching the end of class and following movement, this song should take the energy down while helping the group focus and relax
Goodbye: Like the beginning greeting, I find the goodbye to be another time to individually check in with each little one, saying goodbye, making eye contact, giving a smile, letting the babies and the grown ups know that you are glad they came. I agree that repeating the same goodbye song helps bring closure and routine to the end of the music time.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I have two children so I have the experience and memory of being a new mom, mom again and caring for my own babies. Last year I ran “Baby Musician” groups through two local Parks and Recreation. In these groups I had babies from 6 months to 9 months. Through this experience I am able to relate to the way Meredith and Beth described being gentle with the babies and nurturing to parents. It was wonderful to watch parents celebrate their babies through interactive songs and finger plays and to see the babies come “alive” as they grew more familiar with me, the singing, our setting and the music each week. I agree with the “everything comes in” that was described, the parents needed their “stuff” to feel comfortable in our groups…diaper bags, blankets, “loveys”, all the things needed to feel comfortable. I also observed the interaction between brand new parents with parents of multiple children (myself included) and the mentoring that came in to place between parents weekly when the group would gather.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

The young music groups I have run so far here in my town have provided families with a meaningful way to engage with each other in class and at home. The parents that have attended my classes seem to “eat up” the resources I provide with my classes, the suggestions I give about the use of music for development and the activities we share in our music sessions. I’ve also watched students and their families start friendships that have grown beyond the music group. One group even spawned a Moms Group that meets monthly now. Looking broader and to what I would love for my community: Burlington, Vermont is quite diverse. I mentioned in an earlier post that we have a large number of refugees that have moved here as part of resettlement programs. I also live in an area that is socio-economically diverse. While I have tried to keep the cost as low as possible for my young children music groups, I have found that we are not able to offer the group to families without financial resources. Our local schools and community groups do a wonderful job supporting refugees and their families, as well as lower income families, but I have long thought that music could be an important part of the services offered to our diverse community. I wonder if we could get grant funding or local schools could sponsor music groups for the young. In particular, an early childhood music group that was designed to bring in refugee families would help kids and their families in all the great ways we have been discussing but also help young children and their parents make connections, help celebrate and share music from their native and provide a positive and meaningful experience for families new to our area. I think providing high quality musical offerings in the diverse community here, under the guidance of a trained music therapist, would provide a great benefit to our overall community!

[Jennifer DeBedout]

Board-certified music therapists bring their knowledge, experience and training to the early childhood environment. Music therapists have a knowledge base that extends beyond our musical training that help us understand the little ones and their behaviors. Our training also helps us communicate with the “grown ups” to enhance the overall experience in our musical groups and beyond. We bring the ability to adapt and change while we’re in the musical environment in order to make the most of the musical experience. Music therapists are also trained to engage a variety of ability levels and manage behaviors to maximize participation. Music therapists can use their expertise to articulate ways that music can benefit non-music goals like motor coordination, speech development, pre-literacy, social skill development and academic learning. Lastly, music therapists make music interactions fun and engaging for the children and the families! Often, the children and their families are having so much fun they don’t realize all of the many amazing things that are happening at the same time!

[Jennifer DeBedout]

Catching up with these posts…I agree with others that the qualities and training of music therapists can benefit the environment of an early childhood program. I will combine my music therapy training with my background in music education to design an early childhood program that is “in tune” with the developmental stages, musical stages and musical responses of the little ones I am working with. This course will help me to remember that at each stage the little ones are gaining new skills, abilities and behaviors that can be explored and celebrated in the musical setting. As others have mentioned, the red flags are good to keep in mind and we can be especially sensitive and aware given our training as music therapists. As music therapists, we also understand the importance of creating community with everybody involved in the setting. Our profession promotes wellness, stress reduction and increased communication which can not only benefit our little kiddos but also the loved ones attending our groups too.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

Catching up with these posts…I agree with others that the qualities and training of music therapists can benefit the environment of an early childhood program. I will combine my music therapy training with my background in music education to design an early childhood program that is “in tune” with the developmental stages, musical stages and musical responses of the little ones I am working with. This course will help me to remember that at each stage the little ones are gaining new skills, abilities and behaviors that can be explored and celebrated in the musical setting. As others have mentioned, the red flags are good to keep in mind and we can be especially sensitive and aware given our training as music therapists. As music therapists, we also understand the importance of creating community with everybody involved in the setting. Our profession promotes wellness, stress reduction and increased communication which can not only benefit our little kiddos but also the loved ones attending our groups too.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I also use all four experiences in my music therapy sessions and in my little ones music groups. I would agree with the Kate that I use listening the least of the four experiences but I do integrate listening from time to time. I find many of my students need movement for regulation and I typically integrate some form of movement at the beginning of sessions (following greetings) and then mid-way through sessions (usually following focused work on academic concepts or academic learning). I like to vary and combine what I call “free” movement with structured movement as I find it helps kids regulate and organize. So we might shake or turn and then clap or stomp our feet within a movement intervention. The more I work one on one with kids I find that they love to simply sing favorite songs. I use a “Jukebox of Favorites” with some of my students where I keep picture symbols of favorite songs we sing over time. The students can make a song choice (or choices) at the end of our session and this gives them some control of their environment while also serving as a reinforcer for their hard work during the session. In my little one groups, I find that the “grown ups” love to sing familiar childhood songs in the music group. Near the end of the group I take “requests” and the parents/caregivers often chime in with a song or too. This helps me to know favorite songs for future groups as well. When we sing these songs, often times the “grown ups” smile and seem happy to share part of their musical memories with their little ones. This week this course is inspiring me to do more stopping and listening, following the stop with response time. That discussion was a good reminder! The kids love that and do tune in when we stop and wait… Thank you for the demonstration and reminder!

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I also use all four experiences in my music therapy sessions and in my little ones music groups. I would agree with the Kate that I use listening the least of the four experiences but I do integrate listening from time to time. I find many of my students need movement for regulation and I typically integrate some form of movement at the beginning of sessions (following greetings) and then mid-way through sessions (usually following focused work on academic concepts or academic learning). I like to vary and combine what I call “free” movement with structured movement as I find it helps kids regulate and organize. So we might shake or turn and then clap or stomp our feet within a movement intervention. The more I work one on one with kids I find that they love to simply sing favorite songs. I use a “Jukebox of Favorites” with some of my students where I keep picture symbols of favorite songs we sing over time. The students can make a song choice (or choices) at the end of our session and this gives them some control of their environment while also serving as a reinforcer for their hard work during the session. In my little one groups, I find that the “grown ups” love to sing familiar childhood songs in the music group. Near the end of the group I take “requests” and the parents/caregivers often chime in with a song or too. This helps me to know favorite songs for future groups as well. When we sing these songs, often times the “grown ups” smile and seem happy to share part of their musical memories with their little ones. This week this course is inspiring me to do more stopping and listening, following the stop with response time. That discussion was a good reminder! The kids love that and do tune in when we stop and wait… Thank you for the demonstration and reminder!

[Jennifer DeBedout]

I had the hippy parents too, Kate! The soundtrack to my childhood at home was Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Harry Chapin, etc. My mom was wonderful at singing traditional children’s songs with us and my parents exposed us to classical music growing up too. I grew up singing in the church choir and a community chorus. Through that I was lucky to sing some rich choral music that I carried into my college career at Westminster Choir College. What I love about my turn to music therapy is that it opened the doors to lots of different music in my life. Following client’s preferred music led me to hip hop, country, pop and other genres. Here at home with my family now we listen to many different types of music. My husband is Colombian so we listen to lots of Latin music but both my husband and I are big fans of all types of world music. Our city, Burlington, VT is one of the largest refugee resettlement locations. Therefore, we are lucky to have people from very diverse cultural backgrounds/homelands in our local community. My children have learned songs in many different languages in school, including Bosnian, French, Spanish and some African languages. I do try and integrate world music into my music group for little ones.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

Hi all! I know I’m joining a little late here but in catching up I wanted to participate in the weekly forum topics.

My name is Jen DeBedout and I live in Burlington, VT. I got my undergraduate degree in Music Education from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NH and my masters in Music Therapy from Florida State University. I’ve been board certified as a music therapist for about twenty years now. After my internship in Leon County Schools, Talahassee, FL, I worked as a full time music therapist for several years in the Fulton County Schools District in Atlanta, GA.

After my husband’s job required our move to Vermont I took some time off from the music therapy profession to become mom to my daughter and son. I started a private practice called Music Blooms Music Therapy when I moved north but I mostly did consulting and presenting for the first several years of my practice. About four years ago, I started taking contracts with local school systems serving individual students as part of interdisciplinary team addressing IEP goals and objectives. Currently I provide music therapy services students in three area school systems and clients through The Howard Center, a local large human service agency. I’m also employed by the Franklin County Home and Health Agency as part of their expressive arts team providing music therapy services to children in the Pediatric Palliative Care program.

Two years ago, I was approached by two local Parks and Recreation departments and asked to do 6 week music series through their program year for children 0-5. As Meredith and Beth mentioned in the introduction to this class, these groups are not considered music therapy but the directors setting up the classes have asked that I talk about music in relation to early childhood development. These classes are really fun and I love making music with the little kiddos and their families. I love the idea of gathering new ideas for these groups and learning/reviewing information that I can share with the kiddo “grown ups” related to development and growth. I am also considering opening a music therapy office/clinic that could host groups and I would love to offer groups for young children in any potential music therapy space. One thought I’m having is to offer groups specifically designed for little ones with different abilities and their families.

I look forward to catching up on the material and learning more about the Sprouting Melodies program! Not to sound like an old lady but I have to say that when I did my internship a little over 20 years ago…we used records, we got song ideas from books in the library and conferences were often the only time to learn from others in the profession. It is amazing to me how new technology is now providing amazing resources to our profession! I’m floored by what can be accessed now and I think it is incredible! I’m also grateful for the opportunities being in Vermont. We have a very small (but mighty) group of music therapists here. It is great to be able to connect and learn from music therapists around the country in this (and other) format(s). Thank you Meredith, Beth and your great staff for making this course possible.

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