[KJ Miller]

I think a value music therapists bring to the table that is so important is our approach with holistic care. We are interested in the entirety of the person mind, body and spirit. And we often reflect those in so many of the interventions we use both directly and indirectly. As well as treating the person, we often recognize and reflect on the fact that all people come from a number of different systems that affect their lives and incorporate systems theory into our work whether or not we’ve specifically studied it. I am personally a huge fan of systems theory and it is one reason I am very excited about this program. We have a chance to apply this care with knowledge and support from legitimate healthcare perspectives, research, and education. We have a chance to change the perspective of music therapy as being ancillary and not just superfluous.

[KJ Miller]

I tend to use these in my practice as a way to effect dynamic and pacing in the group. These can all be adjusted using the iso-principal to affect energy and mood throughout the course of the session and keep a good flow, while also mixing the session up with different ways of engaging with music throughout the session. I haven’t been working as a therapist for a little bit so I haven’t had a chance to do any sessions since this course started.

[KJ Miller]

Singing Awareness- imitate pitches and reflect deep breaths with audible sound (audible breath in and a pitched sigh on the way out) Trust- directed sound (an upward inflection with a smile when their parent sings their favorite song) Independence- repeating a small piece of a song they know over and over again. Experimentation with their voice which leads to developing control. Control- listening skills and vocal exploration have started to inform how they can produce sound. Responsibility- Matches discrete pitches in the high and low range.
Playing Instruments Awareness- tactile stimulation with instrument from therapist and then with their own action ./ Trust- uses body to create music without stability or control (putting sleigh bells on their limbs as the move around or holding an instrument as they explore it)./ Independence- intentionality in their interactions with the instrument (if there’s multiple drums in front of them thinking “I want to hit that drum” and hitting that drum) ./ Control- structure forms in their playing in some manner. Maybe not the most musical but that is okay. Responsibility- responding to/listening/ and playing with and to peers and adults. There is more than just me and these instruments now, others are also engaging.
Moving Awareness- body movements based on needs and environment. A lot of unstructured and loud noises can cause squirming and irregular breathing Trust- body responds to music in more structured movement ways but isn’t completely voluntary (moving to 1  5 alternating bass line). Independence- awareness and control with movement. Intentional response to musical stimuli and maybe to the music that they are beginning to create themselves. Control- body is now moving in individual pieces rather than some movement and the rest of the body following, or it all just moving together. Responsibility- maybe the beginning of dancing! Imitates learned movements and can begin to associate to song/tempo/ and melody
Listening Awareness- discrimating timbres of known peoples. Trust- remembers music and may respond accordingly from the other stages, which can be difficult for them not to do because it may be a natural response. Independence- will acknowledge changes in music often through affect Control- theyre actually aware of following the music but it can be hard to maintain. Responsibility- active listening and selective attention. They are now choosing to listen.

[KJ Miller]

I worked with a young boy who had some developmental setbacks from spending the high majority of his life in the hospital. He wouldn’t really babble or make many noises, he couldn’t hold himself up and had some difficulties supporting himself with his arms when I first met him, and wasn’t engaging much in anything. Until I came along!! I opened up the space after our first few session to get more into this trust phase allowing him to explore the instruments and start learning that certain behaviors will get responses and he began to engage and communicate with me with some vocalizations, head movement, and responses with instruments (mostly a small chickita shaker I would leave in his room.) his mom said it was the first toy he ever held and played with on his own. The family always had to do hand over hand to get him to play with anything. With this child who was kind of stuck in the awareness phase, I was able to allow him to continue his development using the music as his motivation while still in this place that was causing the setbacks. By the time we finished he was able to support himself with his arms using some of my larger instruments, and was almost able to sit independently and had begun babbling quite regularly (depending on how he felt that day).

[KJ Miller]

I love the “songs about me” categorie and I consistently incorporate songs such as these into my practice. I try to make some of them as multifaceted as I can incorporating individual expression and the identity of self with things like identification of body and body parts for developmental needs. I even once improvised a song with a young teen (the music was more age appropriate than some of these songs) who suffered a TBI about not know what she wants or she is sometimes or forgetting things. It was super repetitive using only a feeble words and she absolutely loved it and we ended up incorporating movement into it also (which I think PT was happy about). So this song, which came from her being upset about her current deficits in memory and identification, became a super expressive song she could do that was and identification of herself. So my point is I personally love songs of identity or “me” -ness. And with these songs I saw so many opportunities to use them and modify them or use them as a template for creating so many other opportunities.

[KJ Miller]

I also had this book and believe I lost in it somewhere in my recent move which I am very upset about because it was a great book! I hadn’t pooped it’s open in a while but seeing this post made me mad at myself for letting it slip away. Fingers crossed it’s just buried with some of my other books.

[KJ Miller]

I was raised in the greater Cleveland area in a family with abolsutrly no musical background. I am still the only musician in my family. Music was primarily just used in during different kinds of activities such as cleaning or driving in the car. The music was mostly country and worship music as I grew up in a small non-diverse town mostly of blue collar workers and farmers. Rap/hip was highly frowned upon in the community and I exclusively listened to country until middle school where I listened to some rock, and in high I fell in love with rap/hip-hop and began doing theatre and choral music. We took our music out into the community and actually we’re allowed to leave school to go out and perform with and for the community. Theatre brought the community all into the same to enjoy a give them all a shared experience. And after a traumatic event in my community, we used to heal together and learn to move forward and let go while binding with each other. As I went to college the music almost never stopped between all my classes and being with friends who highly valued music. We would always be listening to and sharing music as a way of expression, bonding, creativity, analysis, attention, and sometimes to fill the space when we’re in such close proximity all the time. I did research(and am still working on it because college ate up all my time) in the Cleveland with exclusively African American and black persons in the community. Nearly all of the music collected was hip-hop, rap, worship, and jazz with some pop and outliars including classical, theatre, choral music.

[KJ Miller]

This week was a great refresher course for on developmental psych. It was nice for me as I am moving on to start new work. My biggest takeaway from Thai week though was really starting to think about how I’m going to communicate with parents what and why things are happening he way the way are in therapy in terms of developmental psych, and ways they may be better able to conceptualize it.

[KJ Miller]

The entire “jumping exercise” about the freedom of using your body is something I feel comes very naturally for me. I’ve really connected with kids and I believe that’s because I have an easy time empathizing with them through their experience of freedom with their body, their constant need to learn (which is more of an evolutionary thing to survive the world as a child), and their constant exploration. I’ve always kind of done these things and I believe it is what connects me to children in such a strong way. Especiallyy when we can do these with and through “play.”

[KJ Miller]

Hello Everyone!

Sorry I am late to the party. I currently live in Pittsburgh and making my way to Boston here soon. I have been working intense hours to make money to begin doing some early intervention work here shortly with Roman Music Therapy Services. This will be my first Music Therapy Job as I am a new professional which is very excited. I completed my undergraduate degree at Duquesne University and did my internship with UPMC spending half my time at an inpatient psych hospital and the other half of my time at a pediatric hospital. I love whatever population I’m working with but kids are closest to my heart. I look forward to be learning more ways to provide opportunities for families to build relationships and work together as a system to create a stronger unit, while also finding ways to create more accessible services to the community. Looking forward to learning with and from everyone.

[Author]

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