[Lisa Spall]

I totally agree with the others that it’s hard to identify the cultural music in this area. There are so many different preferences, mostly around popular and/or american kids music in the population I serve particularly. In my town, I’ve definitely noticed a strong Asian demographic in the southern Boston region, and I think I may be able to assume quite a few Greek people live here since I’m down the street from a HUGE Greek church. That’s solely demographically what I’ve noticed, but the music seems to vary as much as the integrated population. The first language at home for one of my students is Arabic, so I wrote a hello song with some simple Arabic words for “Hello, how are you?” and he smiles and giggles whenever he hears it. I really try to pay attention to the details of my student’s home and social life. If they hear a different language or style of music most of the time, I try and incorporate it into my practice to see their reaction. Learning a few new vocab words never hurt anyone!

[Lisa Spall]

Working for sprouting melodies has given me so many of these experiences that it’s hard to share just one! I led classes ranging from very young infants to 3-5 year olds. There were so many times I referenced this material as I saw them learning and growing throughout the several weeks in class. A great example would be in one of the moderately young classes of 8-12mos or so, in which I had a set of twins. One of the girls displayed some developmental delays, while the other was experiencing some social setbacks. With this information of what I should be expecting to see at that age and all the time I had spent with many other typically developing children, I was able to see characteristics and indicators of delays without being informed of them beforehand. Just some examples from the more delayed child I observed: sitting up straight, but no crawling, lack of baby babble, no protective reflexes (great to see during the lap songs), and very minimal instrument exploration. What was wonderful was to see this little girl move through the stages as we had music together over a few months time. She began to display independence as she crawled about the room, exploring other people and instruments, transferring them from one hand to the other. She developed trust, smiled more, tolerated (and loved!) activities such as the scarf canopy, and made much more musical baby babble. Her whole body moved to the music and she even screamed in excitement frequently. It was truly a moving experience to see her develop these skills over time and know that music and the musical environment created in this group played a part in facilitating that development. Every time I think of her, it puts a smile on my face and reminds me that every song and every activity I do has a purpose.

[Lisa Spall]

I agree! I’ve definitely found this information (I’ve been studying with Meredith for a while before the course as well) to help me so much in discussing music therapy with parents and other professionals. I’m so much more articulate and knowledgeable in my assessments, and that is what is important to the people you work with. Since I’m still a pretty new music therapist, I can only imagine what more time and education on the subject will do!

I am not a mother, but I’ve always had a really close connection to working with young children. I adore them and sometimes I feel like more of a child than an adult, haha. In some ways I wish I had the first hand experience you Mom’s do, but I’m in no hurry! No harder job than being a parent… I don’t mind really not having the parental experience, I think because this work and the kids I gain an understanding of now will make me a better parent AND music therapist in the future 🙂

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