[Leslie Aldrich]

What are your key takeaways from this course?
My main takeaways from this course are the child development stages and musical development stages. This was so interesting to me especially having been years since I’ve worked with children regularly. I feel like this was the perfect review of child development and really how they interact with the world and with music.

How has this learning changed your perspective on development, your approach to the work, or the way you use music in your sessions?
I loved the information about educating parents and how important of a piece of these classes that is. I think encouraging that bond between child and caregiver is a really beautiful thing and I love that is built in there. The “Sprouting Melodies Sayings” are really helpful to me; things to say repeatedly to help solidify concepts for parents so they can take the material home and know why it is helpful and important for their child’s development.

How will you share this information with colleagues, administrators, and families?
I am planning to reach out to the public library and see about partnering with them to start a program for children. We have a wonderful library and some pretty big gaps in the programing so I think this will be a great opportunity to start building this into our community.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I haven’t started leading these groups yet, but one thing I’m going to start with to assure success for the people who participate is doing a lot of community footwork and finding out what parents/caregivers want out of their programing. I think setting up a booth at community events and just chatting with parents would be a great way to feel out session length, pricing, ages of the children where programing is needed would be really helpful before launching.

[Leslie Aldrich]

What excites me the most about bringing these ideas to my community is that there is really nothing else like this in my community. I see a real need for children and family friendly programming and I feel really good about offering this to help meet that need in the community because it’s not only fun, but it’s really developmentally appropriate and helpful for growing little ones and the relationship they have with their caregivers.

[Leslie Aldrich]

5 words: Intentional, Active, Creative, Compromise, Movement.

Create a plan for songs and music experiences to use in SM3:
Gather song – Come Sit with Me
Hello Song – Original
Instrument exploration – All Night! All Day!
Movement – Will You Come?
Transition – What do you want?; transition to lap ride song
Bonding song – Row Your Boat a little bit faster
Song about me – Sit Down with Me
Transition – Time To Go
Goodbye Song – original

[Leslie Aldrich]

5 words: Busy, Connection, Joyful, Helping, Adjusting

Create a plan for songs and music experiences to use in Family Sprouts:
Gather Song – Come Sit with Me
Hello Song – Original
Movement – I Can Move Around; encourage dancing with your sibling/friend
Group instrument – Music Is the Way; gathering drum
Transition – Clean up
Instrument – I Like This Song
Bonding – Row It Faster; scarves for older kids
Songs about me – All of This Is Me
Transition – Time To Go
Goodbye Song – original

[Leslie Aldrich]

My first thoughts about providing multi-age groupings is just that different age children are at such different places in their development that it makes choosing interventions more challenging so that we can have the maximum benefit for each person in the group. I would imagine it is difficult to keep older kids engaged when using experiences that are more directed to younger children, and difficult to engage the younger kids to engage with experiences that are beyond their developmental skills.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I would explain that the difference between this program is that it was created by music therapists. Music therapists have training in whole person care including assessment, emotional support, social skills, language development, movement and can really create music experiences that work to help facilitate this growth in your child. Sprouting Melodies is more than a fun music group; each music experience provides the foundation for learning and development on some level. Parents can also feel safe knowing that as a music therapist, we can assess for stimulation level and group safety so that each child’s needs are being met and they are being encouraged to grow from where they are at.

[Leslie Aldrich]

The kinds of instruments I have and can see myself using with this age group are Remo egg shakers, West Music small maracas, West Music scarves, and small hand-held instruments like plastic bells, rattles, mini rain sticks that I got from West Music, again.

[Leslie Aldrich]

For this age group, it seems like a great time to add elements of surprise to your songs. Like AJ gave in his “come and sit with me” song example. The surprises aren’t scary, but just enough stimulation to be intriguing and different for the children to start processing that. I think it would be important to be very observant of the kids in your session. Watching for signs that the stimulation is too much so you can adjust for them.

[Leslie Aldrich]

5 words: Energy, Exploration, Playful, Spontaneous, Surprise.

5 sentences:
1. Your baby might be ready to move around now during the music, that’s awesome! 2. This is a great time to be playful with your kiddo, watch what I’m doing so you can do this at home with them. 3. Introducing elements of surprise in these songs can be a really fun way to start helping your kiddo branch out in this music. 4. Learning how to stop and start playing the instrument takes a while, so when we pause, we want to give them enough time to process that. 5. It’s great if you kiddo wants to face you or if they start wanting to face out to the other group members too, they are curious!

SM2 Plan:
Gathering Song – Are you ready for music.
Hello Song – Original.
Sit and Shake with Me – maracas and shakers instrument exploration.
In my Little Hand – Instrument exploration.
Transition – All Done and Clean Up song.
Wiggly Jiggly Car – Bonding song/lap ride.
Scarf Song – movement.
That all makes up me – Song about me.
Transition – gathering to finish the class.
Goodbye song.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Gosh, I bet winter is tough there! We are kind of in the same boat during the winter really because most things just shut down until spring, so I could see this being pretty successful during the time of the year as well.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I love your last sentence! A nice reminder to just “be” in the moment. 🙂

[Leslie Aldrich]

5 words: Gentle, Unhurried, Joyful, Inclusive, Loving

5 sentences:
Your baby wants to hear your voice. Really take the time to enjoy this period because it goes by so quickly. Sing these songs slowly so your baby has time to respond. It’s ok to use your natural tone of voice to sing to your baby; they don’t care about a performance. We like to use a nice soft voice especially starting out so we don’t startle anyone.

SM1 Session:
Gathering
1. Hello song: original – Transition
2. Sit Down with Me – Gathering
Bonding
1. Wiggly Jiggly Car – Lap ride
2. Row it Faster – Lap ride
Instrument Song
1. I Like This Song – Exploring sounds
Movement
1. Pick Your Hands up High – Scarves
Songs About Me
1. Just Like Me – Touch
2. That All Makes Up Me – Touch
Cool Down/Goodbye
1. Music Time is Over – Transition
2. Goodbye Song: original

[Leslie Aldrich]

I agree with the sense of fascination at this age range! I loved how the gentleman in the video shared how he takes the opportunity to remind the parents how small their baby’s world is. It’s very true and a great chance for some education on tone, timbre, dynamics, etc.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I definitely resonate with your post as well. I haven’t worked with this age group much outside of the NICU/PICU, so that fear of overstimulation is a lot of what I think about as well. In a way, that must be good experience even in thinking about these community classes because you do have to be aware of the surroundings so some babies are not getting startled or overstimulated; just with a lot lower steaks. You will be very prepared to keep those kinds of observations in mind for children outside of the hospital 🙂

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