[Kate St. John]

5 words: authentic energy, playful, exploration, free movement, timbre variety.

5 sentences: Welcome to Sprouting Melodies 2! In this class your child will develop communication, motor and social skills through active music making and music listening. Your child may appear to be watching in class which is great because we know from research that they are learning through observation and they will begin to participate more in class over the next few weeks once they have processed the information and practiced it at home. It’s ok for your child to explore and visit other people and instruments and they like to come back to you as a safe place. And it’s ok if your child moves or plays an instrument a different way than the directions of the song, because they are making musical choices and learning about themselves.

Session Plan
Instrument exploration with instruments around the room while checking everyone in.
Greeting: “Hello Everybody” or “Hey Hey Come and Play” and greet each person.
Bonding: “Wiggly Jiggly Car” to encourage bringing arms together, looking for responses to surprises and balance, and foster trust and independence.
Songs About Me: “Can You See Me” or “Just Like Me”. For hands, position my/parent’s arms underneath the child’s armpits and against trunk so that the child can feel the sensation of clapping when the adult claps or brings hands together. For feet, position feet flat on the floor and provide grounding with flat feet during assisted jumping because the feet receive a lot of sensory input (do not bounce on heels as this is not organizing).
Instrument Song: “Sit With Me and Shake” – It’s ok if children are not following the directions of the song because they are making musical choices and learning about themselves.
Movement Song: “March with my Baby” which can be done with the parent holding the child or for older children, they can move around themselves.
Good-bye: “Good-bye” followed by “Thank You Very Much” which is a good transition out of the room at the end of class and a great way to encourage respect and thanks.

[Kate St. John]

I agree with everyone about the need and value in community-based music therapy. I have to think about “community-based” differently than the way it sounds to me because my practice is purely clinic-based rather than providing community-based therapy in client homes or other community settings. So all our clients come to the clinic. But when I think of “community-based music therapy” in how it relates to my clinic-based practice, I think it still works in the sense that it is accessible to the community of Colorado Springs, just like they have to drive to the park or the library to access those within the community. Since Colorado has almost the lowest funding in the country for special needs services (we’re 47th out of the 50 states), it’s very difficult for families to access affordable music therapy services. If there was more awareness (and our state is working very hard on this), then we could gain more support and therefore more funding, which in turn makes music therapy more accessible for everyone. It’s definitely a need and I hear a lot of families express interest, but our biggest barrier is lack of funding.

[Kate St. John]

5 words: soothing, slower, gentle, bonding, nurturing

5 (6) sentences: Welcome, we’re so glad you’re here! SM1 is all about bonding and the senses so we will use songs that are slower, softer, and more soothing and gentle. Some ways in which we encourage bonding between caregivers and their babies as well as teaching babies about their sensory environment are singing softly to them, repeating their vocalizations, rocking, swaying, and moving with them. Repetition is very important for learning, so your babies will need and love to experience the same songs again and again. Everyone learns at a different pace and everyone has different needs, and that’s ok. Through songs, instrument playing, listening and movement, your babies will learn all about themselves, their senses, and the world in which they live in a way that is fun and nurturing for the whole family.

Session Plan:
1. Instrument exploration: Have instruments in a structured format around the room for babies to explore while waiting for everyone to sign in and get situated. May also play recorded music during this time.
2. Hello: Hello song to greet each baby, learn everyone’s names and signal the start of music time.
3. Body percussion: Parents’ hands providing a steady beat or helping the baby tap/shake a steady beat on a drum or shaker to bring sensory awareness to the baby’s body parts. May use with “songs about me” or “gathering” category of songs like “Hey! Hey! Come and Play!”
4. Lap ride/tickles: Lap songs or tickle songs to encourage bonding such as “Wiggly Jiggly Car”.
5. Instrument play: Use of frame drums, shakers, and maybe bells for sensory stimulation with a song like “Sit With Me and Shake”.
6. Gross Motor: Movement exploration with a song like “As Big As Can Be”.
7. Cool Down: Maybe do “songs about me” category like “Where is My Face”.
8. Good-bye: Good-bye song for closure/ending of music time and transition to the rest of their day.

[Kate St. John]

I don’t think I’ve ever worked with children between 0-9 months, maybe 9-12 months being the youngest. The experience I’ve had has been in early intervention up to age 3 but they all had developmental delays, so although they were older than the Sprouting Melodies 1 group age, some of them were developmentally around that age. I remember instinctively being more gentle, slower and softer for them and noticed startle responses sometimes which made me immediately tone things down for them. I have never worked with typical children in this age range.
I really appreciated this week’s video sharing specifics about the way to interact with these babies and their parents as well as the structure of the sessions.
Meredith and Beth: This will probably be addressed later in the training, but I was wondering when and how you talk to families about their needs (their “stuff/gear”, having to soothe/feed/change the baby in the middle of the session, etc.)? This was talked about a few times in the video, how we as therapists should encourage those needs coming first and tell the families it’s ok, but I was wondering if this is addressed with families in some kind of initial meeting? I am envisioning families coming to sign paperwork to get started and the therapist explaining the ground rules as well as letting them know that their needs listed above are perfectly fine? Or do you wait until the first class of each series to talk about this with the families as a group as they’re coming in and getting situated?

[Kate St. John]

I agree with everyone about the training of MT’s enabling us to be more knowledgeable about development, the needs of the child, adapting to what they need at their level and for the behaviors and other needs in the moment, being able to professionally and effectively work with parents to explain and recommend things, not to mention the fact that we are trained musicians so we are able to make really good high quality music that is appropriate for the kids’ needs!
I really appreciate hearing from Nancy about Kindermusik because for years I wanted to go through their training but timing and finances never worked out. I knew that they said they are research-based but didn’t know that they didn’t or maybe couldn’t point to any actual research. Not sure if other music programs are like that or not (Music Together)? I was surprised to hear Nancy’s experience with Kindermusik when she tried to play the guitar or when the parent didn’t know what the foundation for learning meant, which Nancy could explain only because of her background as an MT but other Kindermusik providers probably couldn’t very easily explain it. I had no idea that Kindermusik was that regimented and you can’t add or change even minor things to make it better. Thanks for the insight Nancy.

[Kate St. John]

I think our community in Colorado Springs is pretty motivated to participate in programs that will help their children learn. We have 5 military bases here too so there are a lot of families who move in and out and military moms are usually looking for connections right away for themselves and their children. That group may be one the main groups I target for marketing Sprouting Melodies since it provides them not only with great enrichment and friendships for their children but the adults can also make friends themselves. We also have a wide range of socio-economic needs in our city ranging from low income to millionaires. I like the ideas that a few others have had in the discussion about grants and getting schools involved, etc. to help make this accessible for lower income families.

[Kate St. John]

I use all four experiences (singing, playing instruments, moving and listening) in my practice. I use singing, playing instruments and moving the most but I also use listening. This week I was working with a 5 year old with an anoxic brain injury that resulted in global delays. He can’t sing, but we do a whole language approach with musical interventions to encourage word approximations, picture communication and sign language. He has been vocalizing a lot more since beginning music therapy and is starting to say more words! For instrument playing, he has a very difficult time grasping instruments so we are working on increasing his fine motor grasp strength. He can grasp instruments for anywhere from 2 seconds to 2 minutes. He cannot strike a drum or shake the bells since he is using all his concentration and strength just to grasp items, but he shows enjoyment with hand over hand instrument playing. He loves to move around the room and will get fussy if he is sitting still too long. He needs assistance to position his feet correctly and prompts to get started walking, and needs full support for his trunk to stay upright when walking. Once he gets going, he can take a few steps independently and kick a large ball, which is one of his favorite things to do. I always give him opportunities to get up, move, walk and kick throughout the session. Sometimes I also do hand over hand movements with him such as clapping, arms up and down, etc. This week we worked more on listening. He loves musical surprises so I do ascending and descending glissandos vocally and on the glockenspiel, start and stop, etc. This week he squeeled with laughter when I used fermatas, rests, and chord structure for “one….two……..three………..GO!” when I kicked a ball to him or when I helped him played an instrument.

[Kate St. John]

Singing
1. awareness: prefers higher pitches and familiar vocal timbre
2. trust: generally uses descending intervals
3. independence: uses glissando
4. control: tessitura is from D to A above middle C
5. responsibility: uses pulse, meter, and lyrics along with melodic contour

Playing Instruments
1. awareness: monitors dynamics
2. trust: differentiates tempo changes from rhythmic changes
3. independence: uses hands to strike drum/tambourine and to shake maracas/bells
4. control: likes to pound and bang
5. responsibility: imitates simple rhythm patterns

Moving
1. awareness: actions and motions are rhythmic in nature
2. trust: movement is rhythmic but not synchronized to the music
3. independence: bounces, rocks, and uses whole body rhythmically. claps hands
4. control: dances spontaneously and has fast internal rhythm
5. responsibility: maintains steady beat and groups beat into duple and triple

Listening
1. awareness: can demonstrate different durations in sounds
2. trust: processes absolute pitch in short-term memory, and processes relative pitch when storing melody in long-term memory
3. independence: vocalizes in response to music
4. control: uses descending and ascending pitches equally
5. responsibility: controls dynamics of play to match music and discriminates talking voice from singing voice

[Kate St. John]

I grew up in southern California where we always sang nursery rhymes and traditional children’s songs. My parents are still hippies, and they always had classic rock playing all the time so I grew up learning a lot of that too. Once I started singing in choir more seriously and taking voice lessons in high school, it was always musical theater and opera. The classical/operatic vocal training continued through college while I was doing my first music therapy degree.

[Kate St. John]

I enjoyed reading the sheet music and singing along during the video. I love the structure of the songs, with concrete words that the kids can really relate to, and all the wonderful uses of the elements of music such as form, meter, tempo, rhythm, dynamics, melodic contour, etc. A lot of the time with the little ones I sing a capella, usually because I need both my hands to help them with movement or playing an instrument, etc., or to write the data. I don’t usually have the luxury of two therapists in the room where one can play guitar or piano while the other assists the client. I was pleasantly surprised by the dramatic difference in the music in the video when I sang it a capella compared to when the piano accompaniment was present. It was like a whole new song! The chord structure, style and accompaniment completely changed it! I have not yet had an opportunity to incorporate any of these songs with my 1 client who they may be appropriate for.

[Kate St. John]

I haven’t worked in early intervention for a few years but I do have a 5 year old client who had an anoxic brain injury that caused global delays. He seems to be in between the trust and independence stages. In the trust stage, he recognizes changes in the music, can locate sounds from far away, makes some verbal approximations, and makes a lot of choices about whether or not he wants to explore instruments with his hands or mouth. In the independence stage, he tries to grasp instruments, makes a lot of choices about which instrument or activity he wants, shows clear preferences for his favorite instruments and songs, and especially loooooves surprises in the music!

[Kate St. John]

I’m confused by this post assignment; I did not see a worksheet about the 4 music experiences (singing, playing, moving and listening). The musical developmental levels were in this week’s power points, but it doesn’t sound like that’s what this post is asking about. In the agenda for this week it says, “describe a moment in your practice when you saw a child in one of the developmental levels.” Please clarify the post assignment. Thanks

[Kate St. John]

I echo what Sarah and Katie said about specific examples of how music therapists are uniquely trained to bring another level of professionalism, expertise, and research-based methods to these music groups. We are able to compose appropriate songs as needed on the spot, adapt, address an individual’s needs within the group, etc. These skills along with the knowledge on early childhood development will help me in music therapy practice to more effectively work with children. It will also help me understand developmental milestones and how to foster healthy growth all around for my own future children.

[Kate St. John]

Not sure where the best place is to bring this up, but did anyone else have a difficult time being able to read the text in the 2nd video? Video 1 was clear and I was able to take notes and fill in the blanks, but video 2’s quality was a lot lower so everything was difficult to read. Not everything was spoken so I had to try to guess at some of the fill in the blanks. Is there any way to improve the quality of the video so the text is readable?

[Kate St. John]

There was a lot of good information this week and a good refresher for me on child development. One of the most valuable things I took from it were the red flags, but also along with that were caveats about development being different for each child, so just because a child may show a red flag, that doesn’t mean he/she may have a diagnosable developmental delay. I also appreciated the comments about what concerns parents often bring up and how we can explain things and put their minds at ease.

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