[Jordyn Shaffer]

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[Jordyn Shaffer]

When I was completing my undergrad in music therapy including during my internship, I strongly felt that it was “wrong” to provide services for people if it wasn’t specifically music therapy. As I have grown as an individual and as a therapist in the real world, I realize that this isn’t always possible, but also that you are really limiting your educational experiences to the the community. I do still believe that it can be tricky to provide non-music therapy services for people but tell them you are a music therapist because that could continue to blur the line between what music therapists do verses what regular musicians or what music educators do. With that being said, I do think that the role of MT in my community is to provide excellent music and music therapy services to families, individuals, and groups within the area. Our role is to use our musical, educational, and psychology backgrounds to provide STELLAR music interventions to various populations INCLUDING people who are well. As a music therapist you learn that while yes it is important for people to understand what music therapy is, at it’s most important, you want people to utilize our strengths and really do everything you can to make people’s lives easier through music, no matter how it looks or what we are called…but that’s just me!

[Jordyn Shaffer]

It is encouraging for me to see that we as music therapists are all on the same page in understanding our role and our value within these services. It is exciting for our field!

[Jordyn Shaffer]

Stephanie,

I love that you bring up the harsh reality that parents and caregivers are often so busy and stressed. It often takes away from their ability to play and be with their children. this course is a great way to reconnect child with parent!

[Jordyn Shaffer]

From my own experiences, I have seen that the biggest need for families within my community is a music group where kids are free to be able to move around, touch instruments without being scolded, and experience the music in their own way without being told “no” or expecting them to be following exactly what the instructor is doing. So many people have come up to us and said that they would love to be in a group where their child can just be a child and run around and not be asked to sit in a lap “politely” for an hour. I think that society as a whole has put on these extreme expectations of children taking away their time and ability to just be children. So often the playful side is stripped away before they’ve even had the opportunity to explore. What does that do to one’s creativity? I love seeing more and more parents coming back to the idea that we should allow kids to be kids.

I strongly believe that the needs for my community are to continue to saturate it with the knowledge of music therapy.
Not just for Sprouting Melodies but for the career as a whole. If we as a company can do that, than I think it will become even more clear the benefits of coming to sprouting melodies verses another kids music group. HOWEVER, spreading the name of Sprouting Melodies is important too because if they don’t know what that is, they are more likely to put their kids in something like “baby zoomba” because everyone knows what Zoomba is.

[Jordyn Shaffer]

The value that music therapist’s provide is the information and knowledge of a board-certified professional in the study of music and psychology. We also have training in all stages of life which help inform our therapeutic skills. The parents want to see their children having fun, engaging with other children, and learning. We as music therapists can provide that but can then take it another step forward and explain what we are seeing, what’s typical, what isn’t, and also incorporate the parents into the groups which I haven’t often seen from other programs.

[Jordyn Shaffer]

Singing: Awareness; imitate their pitches, they use pitch in vocalizations, prefer higher pitches, Trust; vocals are the beginning for of speech, match pitch game, Independence; “Secret Singers”, don’t interrupt their independent exploration, repeat two pitches, Control; Proud of themselves, can follow pitches up, down, and the # of steps, Responsibility; will still switch in and out of of key, minor 3rd.

Playing Instruments: Awareness; body moves in response to music but isn’t on purpose and not intentional cognitively by child, Trust; shake an instrument once or twice, begin to alter tempo, Independence; plays instruments “to their own beat”, Control; enjoys “start and stop” game but brains need time to process request, Responsibility; enjoys making music together and notices when playing with others, plays with two hands

Movement: Awareness; kick feet toward instrument, Trust; roll toward objects, open hand to grasp and maintain for brief period, Independence; grabs and pulls objects to self,difficulty relinquishing grasp, Control; claps, pats, moves up and down with you, Responsibility; plays in a specific “style”.

Listening: Awareness; recognizes moms voice, sensitive to other people’s timbre and volume, Trust; baby bop, moves arms up and down but NOT intentionally, musically responds but not necessarily “intended” action, Independence; matches facial expressions and intensity, Control; engaged when not playing, brain doing action even if not seen, Responsibility; Notices that theirs matches others, maintains attentiveness.

[Jordyn Shaffer]

Marisa,

Within our groups we typically bring maracas, scarves, a story, drums (shape or paddle), and a parachute. We have found these to be the most successful for this age group and for transportation. You can usually fit all of these items in one larger bag!

[Jordyn Shaffer]

I have used these four experiences during my early childhood development group. instrumental intervention examples include maracas; shaking up and down, side to side, stop and start, fast and slow, and drums. Movement experiences include the parachute, body orientation songs, dancing and singing is within every intervention. For listening interventions I have used singable stories and sensory songs. After watching this week, I have realized that it might be good to incorporate more listening experiences into my practice. I will also encourage all adults in the room to engage in the music making whereas before I usually just focused on the kids.I have seen many different developmental stages within my groups. It gets difficult because we have all of the stages within one group at the moment due to numbers. Because of this, it can be very difficult to observe all children and bring in interventions that are suitable for everyone. It makes it that much more important to remind the parents what we “expect” of their children depending on their age.

[Jordyn Shaffer]

I really enjoy the idea of questionnaire. It would allow us to make sure we are being all inclusive and remind us not to assume that “traditional” nursery rhymes are useful to all of our clients!

[Jordyn Shaffer]

Within our private practice, we always strive to ask and use client preferred music as well as discuss with the client and family where applicable, the elements of their culture they wish to include in the therapy sessions. For example, we do have a relatively large Hispanic culture in the Frederick community. Do you wish for us to sing and speak in Spanish or English or both? These questions are all an important part of our intake. During the child development courses these questions haven’t come up as much but I do try to speak with the parents about the type of music they are using with their children at home. I do like the idea of having the parents fill out a questionnaire form to make that connection even more in depth! As for the community as a whole, I would say it is pretty musical. Every Thursday during the summer we have something called “Alive at 5” where people gather downtown to listen to local bands play, socialize, and drink. their are also dance clubs and many places to engage in karaoke! The community of Frederick is small but engaging!

[Jordyn Shaffer]

I have used the bonding song “Wiggly Jiggly In my Car” during a session. It was very fun to watch the children sitting on their familiars lap, laughing, and bouncing. I noticed that when it was the child’s first time in the group, they appeared a little unsure of the experience, sitting on the lap but not engaging in the movements or engaging in facial expressions such as smiling and laughing. The children who have been in the class before, did present with these facial affects. I have also noticed that the children appear more centered and calm after these bonding experiences. Since our practice has the book, I have learned many of the songs. Though the keys are generally high, they are easy to learn and are easy to adapt! I particularly love the transition songs.

[Jordyn Shaffer]

While leading a early childhood music therapy group, Like Shannon, I had a child who was clearly in the independence stage. His parents were worried about him because he kept coming up to me during the music making , standing in front of me while I sang the group song, and was reaching out to play the strings on my guitar. When we switched instruments he often grabbed multiple switching them from the right and left hand. His parents would try to stop him and I would reassure them that he is exploring and that it’s a natural part of his development!

[Jordyn Shaffer]

Stephanie, I also found the information on ‘answering kids questions simply’ helpful as I was listening to the slides.

[Jordyn Shaffer]

Shannon,

I love how much you wish to incorporate play into children’s lives. So often parents want to fill their children’s time up to the brim with activities and it takes away from their time to just be kids!

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