[Mary Carter]

Like Cynthia I’ve been working at getting all my promotional material ready. The website, facebook, twitter and pinterest are all running as of this week and I just got my business cards and brochures in the mail. Farmers markets are HUGE for families in my area so I’ve got a few contacts and I’m hoping I can either set up a table or a music area at these in the coming weeks to connect with local families. I have a church gig where the priests are very supportive of my work and they’ve offered me a room to use for some classes for our parishioners and a spot in the bulletin to promote my practice and services. I’m hoping that once I get the parishioners involved they will spread word of mouth to other families that don’t attend our church. The other place I’ve been able to connect with all kinds of locals is at the restaurant I waitress at. We have a great returning cliental who have been hearing about my practice and have been giving me all kinds of names and numbers to call of schools their children attend, or places where they are on the board, or taking my pamphlets to pass on to friends they think might be interested. In the next month I’m hoping to connect with mom groups and support groups in the area and offer in services or blurbs for their newsletters.

[Mary Carter]

I as well am hoping to launch my private practice within the next couple weeks. I will be offering a music course for babies and caregivers and toddlers and caregivers and have just found a great location that I am really excited about. I think the refresher in developmental levels will certainly impact my work as a music therapist and my song choices. I’ve enjoyed learning new material and will get the song book so I can keep using the songs that were presented.

[Mary Carter]

I love the information that I have gained from this Sprouting Melodies program and I intend to use the skills I have honed and the information I have gained on developmental levels when leading my own music sessions for babies and toddlers and the people who take care of them. I do not intend to become a Sprouting Melodies provider at the moment but I see how having a support system of other music therapists who do what you do and understand your questions and celebrate your successes is a wonderful resource. I rely greatly on learning from the experience of others as I’m in the process of starting my own practice. In addition to the resources you course mates will get from becoming a Sprouting Melodies provider and the resources that provides, I would urge you to look into joining the Early Childhood Music Therapy Network and the Music Therapy Business Owners groups on Facebook. They are also great resources for music therapists. I love how music therapists are willing to help each other to grow and strengthen our profession.

[Mary Carter]

I can agree with what everyone has said so far, I try to assure each child succeeds by having a plan, then a back up plan, then another backup plan and being flexible and attentive to the needs of the children in the moment. I also try to make sure that I am in the moment, that I myself am well prepared and practiced in the material I plan to use, that am well rested and that I am not distracted by things that may be affecting me outside of the session. I think that if I am present and confident it helps create a space where the children and the parents can be present and confident as well.

Some strategies I have used when leading sessions with the kids I worked with in the classroom setting was to give a quick (and I do mean quick!) rundown at the start of the session to let the adults know what I would be doing in the session and what was expected of them. This made the session predictable for the adults (and come on, adults like predictability as much as kids) and they knew what I was expecting of them. I think it gave them confidence and helped them understand what I wanted them to do to model and support for the kids as opposed to doing it for them. This in turn helped the kids be supported and led to more successes.

[Mary Carter]

I think the challenges of providing a music session for multiple age groups is similar to that of providing a music therapy session for a group of multiple developmental levels. I think my work in a school for kids with special needs has well prepared me for leading this kind of group. Sometimes I’d have 18 year olds with a typical developmental level but body restrictions along with 18 year olds at a 3 year old developmental level. I think your challenge as the group leader or the music therapist is to be aware that you are not overstimulating the younger (or more sensitive) ones while making it challenging enough for the older ones. I like to use the older ones as leaders or do more improvisation where the skills of each level can be displayed.

[Mary Carter]

I’m a little late to this discussion, was on vacation. Laura said pretty much word for word what I was going to say! I think when explaining things to parents it’s good to use a direct approach with few words without having to go into all of what we do as music therapists. They are busy and overwhelmed with info so I’d probably just stick to, “Music for development focuses on the process where music for skill building focuses on the product.”

[Mary Carter]

Sprouting Melodies 3
5 Words: Independent, control, experimenting, music makers, imaginative

Gathering: Hello to our Friends (original) Bonding: Walk along the River (Laurie Berkner) Songs about me: Head and Shoulders Baby (Sharon Lois and Bram) I adapt this for more body parts, also good for movement Instrument: Bumblebee; Buzz Buzz (Laurie Bernker) instead of singing “And I saw a bumble bee” I say “I was thinking of the ______(instrument)______ then in walked ____name____ and she went______(shake shake, ring ring etc.) Movement: Lets Shake (Dan Zanes) Goodbye: Time to say goodbye (original)

Family Sprouts:

5 Words: Togetherness, connecting, bonding, modeling, inclusive

Gathering: Hi, hey there, Hello (Original) Bonding: Jump Josie/Skip to my Loo (Sharon Lois and Bram) Songs about me: All of this is me (EKS) I liked the idea of doing it faster for the older kids Instrument: I am a fine musician (Traditional?) Movement: Rig-a-Jig-Jig (Sharon, Lois and Bram) obviously I’m on a SL&B kick this week… Goodbye: Thank you for your music

[Mary Carter]

Five Words: Exploring, excitable, testing, lively, learning

Five Sentences: The work of the children here is to play. It’s alright for them to leave the group for a while and then come back. Let your child face the center so they can see their peers. Just because they are quiet and they seem like they are not participating does not mean that they are not learning from what they see and hear. Place your arms under your child’s arms and hands to model while we clap together.

Opening Song: Hello to Our Friends and Welcome to Music (My friend came up with this one…don’t have a link to share 🙁 )

Bonding/Lap song: Ha Ha This Away I think there are many ways to adapt this old folk song. I typed it into youtube and found a music therapist giving some examples. This is not necessarily how I would do it in this context but I think it’s good enough to share and to show how you could use this song in other ways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTCNFPb1dE4

Songs About Me: Oh what a miracle! (Hap Palmer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFlVciz8aGs

Instrument Song: How You Gonna Shake It? (Don’t remember where I learned this one…it goes through, loud, soft, fast, slow)

Movement Song: I’m gonna move to the music (Again, don’t remember where this came from…)

Goodbye Song: Time to Say Goodbye

[Mary Carter]

I have mainly worked with 3 year olds to 21 year olds so, in my personal collection I have lots of djembes (mainly remo) bongos, congas and professional percussion stuff that my percussion friends donated to me so I would have more appropriate instruments for the older kids I was working with. The school that I worked in had a bunch of random maracas and bells and some paddle drums that I could use with the littler ones. I do have a big ocean drum (remo) and some nice chimes that are good for using with little ones and a few ukuleles. I did obtain a few of the remo kids drums and some lollypop drums from a guy on Craigslist (where I get most of my instruments…) as he was retiring from teaching kindermusic classes. I know I need to get a bunch more shakers/maraccas and little tambourines now that I’m venturing out on my own so I am anxious to hear what brand people are using. My birthday is coming up in a couple weeks so I know what I’m asking for! Oh! And I do have a bunch of scarves that I got from Lakewood Learning Supplies.

[Mary Carter]

I think it would depend on the age of the group, if you do have little 6 month olds in the class loud drumming may be too much stimulation, so obviously it’s a case by case basis. I think you can read if you have enough stimulation by the interest that is shown in the activity/song by the children. If they focus on the activity, whether that be by participating, by coming to the activity or by active listening there is probably enough stimulation. If they are avoiding the activity by staying away from the group for long periods of time or really clinging to the caregiver or they seem to startle easily there may be too much stimulation. Lots of unexpected surprises may be too much stimulation for this age so you probably want to alternate surprises with familiarity.

[Mary Carter]

Many of you have mentioned the benefits (which I do agree with) of what Music Therapy can do FOR a community in a community based setting so I’m going to approach this question from a different angle and say what I think the role the COMMUNITY can do for music therapy in the community based setting. I think by expanding your practice and offering community based programs we become advocates for our field. We are able to reach more people, show more facets of what we can do and as such the people who attend our programs become advocates for us and for Music Therapy. More people are able to answer the question, what is music therapy? can provide support for us which may open more jobs for our field and help when it comes to things like passing legislation for licensure or reimbursement.

[Mary Carter]

The only clinical experience I’ve had with babies of this age was when I was doing my internship in pediatrics. We would go down to the burn unit (the largest one in Jersey) whenever they had babies going in for their debriding treatments where they would remove the dressings, wash the burns and redress them. This is a very painful and traumatic experience for the babies and parents are not allowed in the tank room where this would take place. We as music therapists would go in with our guitars and voices to sooth and calm the babies through this treatment. I learned the importance of where to place my pitch, how to really use my guitar to create a steady ostinato and the importance of taking big, long audible breaths. The burn technicians all agreed how helpful this was to the treatment as it helped to keep the babies as calm as was possible in this situation. I can not stress how helpful and important big breaths and sighs were in calming the babies and lowering their heart rates.

[Mary Carter]

5 Words: Learning, accepting, soothing, stimulative, connecting

5 Sentences: Your voice is perfect to your baby and they want to hear you. Take this time to ignore whatever else is happening in your day and have fun being present with your child. It’s fantastic that you’re here! Feel free to let the child experience different positions, sitting, standing, cuddling or moving. Use these songs outside of the music class, deep breaths and slow singing can help calm your baby.

Gathering: Hello, Hello

Body Percussion: I’ve got the music in me (Margie LaBella, great MT with lots of original songs that are easily adaptable) Here is her webpage with lots and lots and lots of resources http://www.musictherapytunes.com/wp/author/mtt/

Lap Ride: Baby goes Bumpy Boo Here’s a link to a youtube video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=27&v=CfRovVgCXLc

Instrument Play: Shake my sillies out (Raffi)

Movement Song: Let’s all Clap our Hands Together (Hap Palmer) Here’s a video (super 80’s I know!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2cuy0HCnxU I think it’s adaptable enough for movement with babies, I’d probably use a little less synthesizer 😉

Cool Down: Way up in the sky. Ok I found this when I was looking up the Margie LaBella link to share with you, but I think this is great too with her actions the parents could adapt with their kids. I think I’d make the lyrics a little simpler, or not use all of them. Her youtube link does not work so here’s a version of it for the melody if you’re interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdFPj-4Rmi4

Goodbye: So Long, Farewell To You My Friends. Here is the video where I came across this song. I just use the chorus, you can speed it up or slow it down depending on the ages and I’ve added a tag after the chorus where I include the child’s name. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0SUEMGZU04

[Mary Carter]

I think that what I can bring personally to Early Childhood Music Therapy based sessions is my adaptability. From what I’ve heard, there are many early childhood music programs that are rather scripted. You stick to a formula and a set of songs and there is less room to play with. From my work as a therapist I’ve learned that sessions don’t always (if ever) go exactly as planned and you better have a plan B, and a plan C, AND a plan D. And then if none of those back up plans work, you make something up on the spot to fit what your client is giving you. I like to think that every aspect of my life is organized and planned (super type A over here…) but I do find I am really good at going with the flow of a session and using my abilities to constantly re-assess in the moment.

I think my work as a music therapist and my work as a leader of developmental children’s music classes will compliment each other as each experience brings a new trick that you can rely on in other situations. The more repertoire you have and the more interventions you practice the easier and more efficient your job will become.

[Mary Carter]

Corie, I had not considered your answer although I think it’s one of the greatest resources I use as a music therapist! That of the willingness of my peers to help, support and collaborate with me along the way. Of course we have education in developmental approaches, the creativity to adjust activities on the spot if they are not going the way we planned or we see a way in which they can better attain the goals of our clients, or the desire to connect with the client on a really humanistic level. This could be true of many types of therapists.

I think as musicians we are taught early on the value of collaboration. When you play in an orchestra or sing as part of a choir you learn to listen to the people around you, to work as a group and to practice with others. I can not tell you the number of times as a new music therapist I called my college friends on a Sunday night panicking for a Monday morning session that I had been stressing about all weekend and that friend would help me work through the idea until it was something usable and I could get to sleep! My downstairs neighbor in my apartment building is also my best friend from college who is a Music Therapist as well and we implemented Music Therapy and Martini Mondays where we would have a fancy cocktail and share new songs, interventions, practice and talk about how we could better serve our clients. Now that I am starting a private practice, the Music Therapy facebook groups for business owners, private practices etc. is a fabulous resource when you have questions about what the heck you are doing when starting a business or other things that they NEVER went over in college, and other groups that share their songs and interventions, successes and stresses.

So yes, in agreement of the above statement, I as a music therapist do not just bring my personal knowledge and skills to the families of young children, but I bring an entire community of music therapists and their knowledge to the classes that I facilitate.

[Author]

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