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Throughout my career, I have worked in the Chicagoland area and have had the opportunity to work with patients from a variety of ethic and cultural backgrounds.
Early in my career, I worked in a therapeutic day school that consisted primarily of white (primarily non-hispanic) and black students from English-speaking homes; however, I had at least one student who was Arabic and would share about the Muslim holidays that she celebrated at home. While working for the state, I was assigned to Spanish-speaking/mixed units (due to the availability of Spanish-speaking staff). But because we were located near an airport and served individuals who did not have insurance, but needed to hospitalized due to acute mental illness, we served patients from all over the world. One of the state hospitals I worked at also had a unit with several staff who were fluent in ASL (for long term care patients who were Deaf) and an acute unit with staff who were able to speak Polish and various eastern European languages. Chicago In my current position at the VA, I work primarily with white (hispanic and non-hispanic) and black Veterans, but currently have one patient on my caseload who is Puerto Rican/primarily Spanish speaking.
I would say that throughout my career, majority of my patients have enjoyed listening to music that is considered popular in American culture or was popular during their teen/young adult years. When working with patients from cultures that are different than mine (white, non-hispanic, English-speaking, raised-Catholic), I have relied heavily on recorded music, but do make an effort to learn about what music the patient enjoys (i.e. preferred artist, style of music, preferred radio station, etc.) so that I can help the patient access this music. I definitely have a long way to go as far as being able to play music from cultures and traditions that are different than mine.
I am currently involved in a research study at my work and have included the following question in my music preference assessment: “Are there any cultural considerations or is culture an important aspect to your music selection? If so, please explain.”
ParticipantI was not able to use any of the songs in clinical practice this past week, but I was able to learn the songs and practice at home. What I can say is that “Just Like Me” is quite the ear worm! I would imagine this is because of the highly repetitive nature of the song (especially the melody lines). This quality will make the song easier for the child and parent to learn (and used outside of session/classes).
ParticipantDisregard, I was able to locate the notated music in one of our packets, but I don’t think it was covered in the videos!
ParticipantI’m not familiar with this song, but this sounds like a great plan. Is there a specific version that you can recommend for me to look up on youtube?
ParticipantI just finished getting through the week 3 content. Wrong week to get behind… that was a lot of content! I will continue to work toward getting caught up with the rest of the cohort this week.
So I’m not currently working with young children (the youngest student I currently teach is 6 y/o) and it’s been while since I have worked with 3-5 years olds, but I can describe a memory and have a video of one of my nephews in/demonstrating musical characteristics of the developmental level trust.
I have a now 2 year old nephew who loves music and, around the age of 18 or so months became a big fan of “Ha Ha Hoo” (his way of saying the “gack-gack-goon” portion of Little Green Frog). While I was passing through the house with my trumpet in hand last summer, I decided to play the melody on my trumpet (to see if he could recognize the song without the words). He immediately began to “bop” rhythmically to the music. I think his movement and need for repetition (request to hear that song over and over) are both characteristic of the developmental level trust.
ParticipantAs a Music Therapist who has recently returned to working with children (after having spent the past 8 years working with adults), I’ve realized how important is it to follow the lead of the child/children with whom you are working. Unlike many of the adults I work/have worked with in recent years, young children or children with developmental delays may not be able to communicate their wants/needs. Working with children over the past 3 months has reminded me that we can put all of our time and energy into session planning, but sometimes the best way to “session plan” is to observe the child and adjust your session/session plan accordingly. I can imagine that this type of flexibility is key to working in early childhood music therapy-based programs.
ParticipantHi Everyone,
I’m a little behind, but will work on getting caught back up! I know that there is even more content in week 3!
Learning about all of the milestones and developmental markers this past week was a great refresher of the human development class that I took over 10 years ago… so, yes, much needed!
My biggest takeaway this past week was that it is important to have a clear knowledge and ability to explain the developmental markers of children within various early childhood age groups… not just for planning session/observing for behaviors in session… but also for being able to educate/advocate to employers. I actually had this experience and was able to explain to my boss (at a local music studio) the developmental differences of an 8 month old and a 3 year old and why it is important to offer multiple music sessions for children within these very different stages of development.
As you can imagine, I’m so grateful for signing up for this course, as I am already putting the knowledge to good use!
ParticipantHi Anne,
Welcome! Wow! 32 years as a Music Therapist! That is no easy feat! What I have learned in my 11 years as a Music Therapist is that this profession is not for the faint of heart… so much to learn, so much advocacy to be done, etc. etc. I love that even though you have been working in the field for 32 years and even supervising other music therapists, here you are in this training with the rest of us! That is one of the wonderful things about continuing ed… we get to connect and learn with Music Therapists with a wide range of backgrounds!
ParticipantHi Jess,
Welcome and congrats on becoming Board Certified last August!
I remember realizing how much I still didn’t know when I got out of school and joined the working world in 2011, so hopefully this training will complement the work that you are already doing and what you already know!
ParticipantOk. Let’s try this again. I think I remember the word perseverance being mentioned in one of this week’s videos.
ParticipantHi Everyone! It’s nice to meet you! I am looking forward to learning with and from you over these next 10 weeks!
My name is Maggie and I live and work in the Chicagoland area. I have been a board certified music therapist for 11 years now. I graduated from Arizona State University in 2010 before returning home to Illinois. Over the past 11 years, I have worked in a variety of settings: a therapeutic day school (child/adolescents/young adults 3-21), an inpatient psych hospital with adults, and currently at a VA hospital (with a variety of clinical populations). Because I have been working in the broader scope of activity and recreation therapy these past 8 years, I was interested in getting back into music and music therapy and pursued an opportunity to provide adaptive music and early childhood lessons/classes on a part time basis at a new music studio in my hometown. I looked at the many early childhood music training out there and this seemed to be the perfect fit!
Aliza/Erika- I am also experiencing issues accessing the video.s I will try the suggestions provided above.
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