[Leslie Aldrich]

I was working with kids of this age regularly during my internship. The children were either in the NICU or in the PICU and were dealing with some pretty significant medical issues. My sessions with them were all about watching for overstimulation, heart rate levels, and respiration levels. I was very much more guarded in providing music than I imagine I will be in providing these community classes for infants outside the hospital because there won’t be those same issues to consider. I do remember being pretty fascinated by how responsive those tiny babies were and how little musical stimulation it took to get a response. There was also a pretty big focus still on bonding between parent and infant. Helping the parents feel like they can interact with their baby through music without being able to hold them even if the music was very quiet and simple and soft. I remember doing a lot of educating on how the parent’s voice was the voice that baby wanted to hear regardless of musical skill level.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Yes! love this. Like Meredith mentioned in the videos for the week, a lot of parents are feeling isolated and not confident in their parenting skills. I think these music therapy groups can help them find that sense of confidence and community within themselves and as part of a whole.

[Leslie Aldrich]

These are good points. I think the isolation piece is huge in my community since we are a lot more rural. There isn’t a lot of groups for children period, let alone tailored, developmentally appropriate groups like music therapy can offer.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Music therapy in community-based settings is a real gift in my opinion because it’s very specialized programing. In my community specifically, there just isn’t a lot of things to do for very young children. Having a music therapy led music program would be wonderful because it’s entertaining for children and parents, but it goes deeper in catering to the children’s developmental needs as well as a bonding opportunity for caregivers and children. Being able to provide entertainment AND education on some important topics is really valuable.

[Leslie Aldrich]

The needs of families in my community are just developmentally appropriate resources for kids in general. We are a fairly small community so there are no childhood music classes in the area at this time, and there’s not a lot of parent/child bonding activities here in general. Music can meet these needs by providing a space for kids and the people who love them to learn about their development both in and out of the music world, to bond with the children, and to bond as a family.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I feel like the value music therapists bring is everything a music enrichment class can be but elevated to a higher level. Taking the concepts of development as the foundation and using music as the vehicle to promote those concepts is a point of value. A group for young families can be more than singing a silly song, which in itself is pretty fun, but it can also be really focused on the child’s specific needs and meet them where they’re at developmentally. Young parents can have the chance to watch and learn about those development stages during the group as well. I feel like learning about how to interact with your child through music is a great benefit and a great way to bond with your child.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Sing –
Awareness: Alters movements in response to singing voice.
Trust: Make changes in their pitch in response to changes in singing pitch.
Independence: Uses vocal glissando.
Control: Using different vocal timbres; shouting vs whispering.
Responsibility: Matches pitches in high and low ranges.

Play –
Awareness: Turn eye gaze towards instruments sounds.
Trust: Reach out to touch instruments.
Independence: Strikes instruments with hands.
Control: Uses a mallet or striker to play an instrument.
Responsibility: Plays rhythm patterns on a two-handed instrument.

Move –
Awareness: Makes repetitive movements intuitively; sucking.
Trust: Move body parts with internal rhythmic beat.
Independence: Claps hands along to music.
Control: Combine movements in a repeated pattern.
Responsibility: recall and reproduce simple dances.

Listen –
Awareness: Alter movement in response to silence in the music.
Trust: Look toward the face of the person singing.
Independence: Seeks out the source of music.
Control: Sings along with peers.
Responsibility: Adjusts the quality of their singing to blend with a group.

[Leslie Aldrich]

During my internship, I was responsible for creating music therapy groups for kids on the different hospital units. I would use this type of concept when planning those because we separated them by age groups. What was developmentally appropriate for the older group was not going to work for the youngest group. The musical developmental sequence worksheet was really helpful in breaking this down. I wasn’t previously thinking about it in these exact terms, but I will be using this moving forward with my community group. I think it could also be helpful in assessing your group as well and making sure your interventions are hitting helpful points for all the participants.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I sang the “Just Like Me” song to my niece. At 10 weeks, she is too young to understand the words, but it was cool to see her eyes widen at the higher pitches and my facial proximity etc while I sang to her.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Awareness – Turning toward music or sounds they like, settling/calming for familiar melodies, reaching out toward the music.
Trust – Matching your pitch some of the time, making rhythmic repetitive movements, exploring instruments with their hands or mouth
Independence – Making repetitive sounds, plays/strikes instruments with hands, vocalizing with some melodic inflection but no tonal center
Control – Dancing to the music/imitating dance moves, singing the words of the songs even if they are not on pitch, plays instruments loudly and quickly.
Responsibility – Maintain a steady beat when playing an instrument, can participate in musical rests that happen in a song, plays instruments and sings in loud and soft dynamics.

[Leslie Aldrich]

This sounds like such a beautiful experience you had with her. The reminder for silence and quiet really stood out to me as well, and sounds like was very important for this client.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I spent some time with my 10-week-old niece this past week and I had gotten her some of those soft wrist rattles. It was really cute to see her much more aware of those rattles; making them move more purposefully and turning toward them and engaging with them. Definitely in her awareness level.

[Leslie Aldrich]

Our communities sound very similar. Classic rock is popular here as well!

[Leslie Aldrich]

I am in a fairly rural community. Lullabies, and traditional children’s songs are popular here for kids, and country music is popular with adults in this area. Culturally, many people in my community are of Irish and Scandinavian decent and those traditional songs are popular as well.

[Leslie Aldrich]

I love your focus on empowering the caregivers and that being directly linked to the littles feeling as supported as they can.

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