[Natalie Condon]

Musical Development Sequence: Singing
Awareness: Vocalizing pitches/ Prefers higher pitches/ Audible breathing.
Trust: Matches pitches/ Melodic spontaneous babble.
Independence: Melodic inflections that mimic inflections in music or world of child/ Vocalizes to themselves.
Control: Vocalizes with melodic contour to a familiar song with a loose grasp of rhythm and melody.
Responsibility: Can sing entire familiar song with appropriate rhythm and melody.

Musical Developmental Sequence: Playing Instruments
Awareness: Explores instruments with mouth/ Looks toward source of music.
Trust: Can play instrument briefly with one or two purposeful beats.
Independence: Explores several instruments.
Control: Starts and stops along with the music.
Responsibility: Can continuously play with the steady beat.

Musical Development Sequence: Moving
Awareness: Instinctual rhythmic movements.
Trust: Moves to repetitious music.
Independence: Can move select body parts independently to repetitious music.
Control: Can imitate learned musical movement with independent body parts.
Responsibility: Can move in sequential body movement. For example: Pat knees/ jump/ touch head.

Musical Development Sequence: Listening
Awareness: Looks toward source of sound/ Can recognize parents timbre.
Trust: Recognizes familiar songs.
Independence: Matches intensity in music to intensity in body/facial features.
Control: Stops actions in order to follow music.
Responsibility: Child engages in another person’s music.

[Natalie Condon]

I haven’t begun working in early childhood development, but I have found myself paying close attention to infants and toddlers I come into contact with and observing their reactions to the world around them and where they might be in these developmental stages. I know that all four musical experiences: Singing, Playing, Moving, and Listening are all important to a child’s development. I was fortunate enough to observe a Sprouting Melodies class and all four of these experiences were prevalent. It was also helpful to be able to identify where the children were in relation to the stages of development and what that looked like in a Sprouting Melodies class. Putting actual faces and actions into context with what I am learning really put the concepts into perspective and helped me deepen my knowledge of the material.

[Natalie Condon]

As I have mentioned I haven’t worked with children in early childhood, but I could 100% relate to these stages when working with children with developmental disabilities. I very strongly recognized the development being both vertical and horizontal and that some individuals may not always be progressing at a vertical rate, but that their own successes are achieving a broader horizontal growth.

Specifically, I remember a certain group of students I would sing “Here Comes The Blue Bird” with. Most were in the Responsibility stage and would be able to go over to a peer and ask them to dance in the circle with them.

Reflecting back on the class, I could see students in various developmental stages in that group and in many groups I did music with. This was in a school setting for children with developmental special needs where there placement in a class was more to do with their age, and while I reflect further it makes me think about the different children I worked with and their different abilities in and out of the music room. A few students in particular were interesting to me because I saw some drastic characteristics that differed in and out of music and these stages helped me put a name on what I was seeing back then.
Just because a child shows signs that they are Independent outside of music does not automatically make them Independent in music… Or on the opposite side, a child may not of shown the signs of being in the stages of Responsibility outside of music, but in music they are cooperating with peers and following directions.

This prompts me to ask: Can a child reach a limited number of markers for one stage, but not all? Would this mean a child could be Independent in self-care, but in a stage of Trust musically?

I apologize as my inquiry isn’t based on early-childhood music therapy, but on developmental stages of adolescence with special needs. This was assuming I could apply these stages to that population.

[Natalie Condon]

My main experience practicing Music Therapy in my area was at my internship in a school setting. The children I worked with were older (9-22) and most were from my surrounding suburb area (Boston) and had strong preferences toward American pop, rock, rap and country. Others enjoyed classic American oldies or folk music their parents sang. Overall, the musical preferences appeared to center around english-spoken/main-stream-enforced music. I am sure if I was to work (in my immediate area) in early childhood music therapy, I would be in much closer contact to the children’s families and would perhaps experience a more worldly or broader representation of musical values.

[Natalie Condon]

I really enjoyed reading about the different categories of songs and each one’s purpose in relation to the developmental stages of the child. Like others, I am drawn to using major keys and I found the minor keys and modes to be refreshing. Learning about the child’s natural inclination toward the natural minor was enlightening. I haven’t had the chance to work with children of this age yet, but I’m looking forward to putting these songs (or variations of them) into practice. I found the physical movements with the songs to come naturally and as I sang them I could visualize using them in classes and sessions.

[Natalie Condon]

I think it’s very important to have goals and structure, but I think it’s even more important to be able to meet a child where they are at and interact with them in a flexible way that fosters their natural creativity and curiosity. When learning about how children under four may not really understand the full concept of “sorry”, I could see how they are often equally unapologetic in music, and it’s a wonderful thing. Having that freedom of expression without the adult-like consciousness, (questioning ourselves, how we appear to others, whether or not we are doing things “right”), is a frame-of-mind I feel I could bring to an early childhood music therapy group, but with the wherewithal to use this information and our music therapy skill set in support of the children and their families.

[Natalie Condon]

In my personal and professional life I have had little experience in early childhood. Because of this, I found ALL the information very valuable, specifically the red flags. Reviewing and absorbing this information is important to me as I would like to properly aid parents that are feeling unsure about their child’s development. Searching online can often be an overload and there is usually conflicting information. Using the information from this week I feel as though I can supply at least a basis for parents in search of knowing specific milestones or developmental stages.

I also valued learning more about how infants and children test objects with their mouths. I can see how they may be using it to test and explore their environment at a fundamental level, using just the most primal and instinctive methods. I’ve often seen biting in our culture as a behavior that gives parents a lot of concern so it was encouraging to hear its reasoning and how much of a natural behavior it is. It’s information I feel I can pass on to parents who appear to be overly concerned with the behavior.

[Natalie Condon]

My name is Natalie Condon and I live in Boston, MA. I am a recent graduate of Anna Maria College. While completing my undergraduate degree I worked in geriatrics, adult groups with special needs, and completed my internship at a residential school for those ages 9-22 with behavioral, intellectual, and emotional disabilities. I was never able to do work with younger children or infants so I am excited to begin filling that educational gap with Sprouting Melodies. I am looking to start a marketable program within my community as a beginning Music Therapist. This program will hopefully give me the structure and knowledge-base to have a confident start in my community.

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