[Noelle Larson]

We as music therapists have such an incredible value to offer children and families, really in a class apart from the programs and offerings of other professionals and community members who provide programming that make look similar. I think that many of these differences are foundational: the guiding principal of music therapy is to use music as a vehicle to help clients meet non-musical goals, in ways that generalize in their lives outside the music setting. Another tremendous value is that we as music therapists are client-centered and value the changing needs and abilities of our clients far more than maintaining a pre-determined structure or routine. We adapt the music and ourselves to meet the needs of the client, in the moment, and chose musical interventions to support specific needs and encourage appropriate growth and development. We have a rich educational background in human development, psychology, and exceptionality, and have thousands of hours of experience working with clients of a wide range of ethnic, spiritual, mental health, medical, socioeconomic, and developmental needs and abilities. We understand that the child is a whole person and that music offers a unique and powerful avenue to support him in self-discovery, the exploration of his world, in building meaningful relationships with peers, adults, and caregivers, in communicating and experiencing emotions and ideas, and so much more.

I believe that other music professionals and community members who provide early childhood music programs may be doing an incredible job to provide high quality, developmentally appropriate services, but only a music therapist will bring the above training and skill set to their clients and families. I believe that this uniquely positions us as music therapists to provide services and resources that our communities desperately need, in a way that best serves the long-term well being of the children and their families.

[Noelle Larson]

Singing
Awareness: child will engage in pitched vocal communication with caregiver (Ex: child makes vocalization, caregiver responds by matching, echoing, or reflecting vocalization).
Trust: child will approximately match high and low pitches in caregiver’s musical communication.
Independence: child will use basic pitch and melodic inflection in musical babble to create independent musical experiences.
Control: child will reproduce significant parts of a familiar song and may wish to share it with caregivers.
Responsibility: child will reproduce or play with entire songs from beginning to end, using recognizable meter, pulse, and melodic contour.

Playing Instruments
Awareness: child will listen to the instrument playing of caregivers and respond differently to play song and sedative styles. Child will begin to explore and interact with instruments through touch and mouth.
Trust: child will engage in touching and holding instruments and begin to intentionally explore playing it in different pulses, meters, tempi, and durations for a short time. As child develops further, his/her instrument pulse/meter/tempo, etc. will begin to more closely match those of the caregiver and song.
Independence: child will intentionally and independently explore a variety of instruments in their own way and time.
Control: child will play instruments with great interest in starting, stopping, and waiting.
Responsibility: child will maintain a steady beat and adjust his personal beat to match that of his caregiver or the group.

Listening
Awareness: child will recognize the timbre of caregivers and familiar people as well as respond differently to various changes in timbre.
Trust: child will begin to recognize and remember familiar melodies as well as attend to variations in the melodies.
Independence: child will begin to use her body and face to match the intensity of the music as she listens and attends to it.
Control: child will exercise ability to stop their body movements in order to listen to the music.
Responsibility: child will begin to appreciate and attend to the music of others and desires for others to listen to their musical contributions, as well.

Moving
Awareness: child will move rhythmically and naturally responds differently to sedative and play music.
Trust: child will deliberately respond to music with repetitive movements engaging his whole body, such as bobbing head, lifting hands, or moving feet.
Independence: child will begin to intentionally move specific body parts in response to music.
Control: Child will begin to meaningfully imitate the musical movements of caregivers and peers in some synchrony with the group.
Responsibility: child will begin to use musical movements in a meaningful sequence.

[Noelle Larson]

I love how this lesson focused on the four areas of singing, playing, moving, and listening as distinct categories–it’s so easy to plan a session that is “heavy” in one or two areas, and forget that all four offer valuable opportunities for our clients and families! I really like to think about the pacing and energy contour of my sessions in advance, and then adapt it in the moment if needed; I can see how thinking of songs in terms of these domains will be really helpful as I plan future early childhood music experiences. In my music groups this past summer, I think I most consistently included all four experiences in my group of 4 year olds. Cognitively and motorically, they were ready and excited for instrument play of greater variety and complexity than their younger peers. We often used rhythm sticks in place of clapping to keep our beat and add variety and some complexity to favorite songs; some songs used fairly basic rhythmic/stick patterns and others required a little more coordination. The boys seemed to connect really well to those more challenging stick exercises! We explored the differences between songs in 3/4 and 4/4 and would sometimes speed up or slow down, based on the content of the song or verse. They really loved changes in tempo like that.

For singing, I tried to choose songs with words that were engaging for the kids as well as melodies and musical contour that were artistic and fun. We sang songs in a variety of styles and meters, some with more syncopations and rhythmic and melodic variety and others that were more familiar and predictable. We had one song in particular that used the same simple form for each verse, but would change qualities like speed, timbre, and key to match the theme for that verse. The kids did a great job keeping the melodic contour recognizable, even with the “dramatic” changes.

I think that the area of Listening is one that I enjoyed the most in my groups this summer, mostly because I felt that helping the children listen to and appreciate the music of their peers was a unique experience I could provide as a music therapist. As I may have mentioned in a previous week, I started every session with an invitation for each child to say hello by playing a special instrument that I brought in that day–perhaps a dulcimer, lap harp, seed pod shaker, or ridged frog. It was a special time for the group as a family of different members to focus on the solo of one child at a time and sometimes make a comment like, “I like how you…”. It was hard for some children to wait during the listening time, but I tried to keep the pacing of the activity fairly upbeat so each child had his turn.

Moving with the four-year-olds was a blast! We used a variety of movement songs, from songs with looser movement structure (“Shake My Sillies Out” to more complex sequencing (“Father Abraham” or “There Was a Great Big Moose”). For the songs with more complex sequencing, I was really happy when I could find songs that had repetition or some logic to the movements. We also really enjoyed march around the room songs with various directions to follow, such as “I’m Gonna Get You” or “We are the Dinosaurs” by Laurie Berkner.

[Noelle Larson]

Thanks for sharing about neuroplasticity, Erika! It such a great hope (and comfort) for us all, as well as our clients, to be finding that the brain can still change and learn even beyond the “typical” parameters we have come to understand.

[Noelle Larson]

I echo all of your comments about the joy of moving beyond I-IV-V! When I think of my own early memories of being delighted by music, the first songs that come to mind were minor, modal, used 7th chords (especially major 7th chords, so pretty!), and might have had captivating melodies. I appreciated during the video when Beth mentioned that there is a time and a place for songs about “Something,” such as “Wheels on the Bus,” but I was really thrilled to flesh-out so many other categorize and experience examples of lovely, fun, or introspective music that went beyond what we may typically categories as “children’s repertoire.” One thing that I especially appreciate about Beth’s songwriting is the dignity that it gives to the child as a person. “I” the child am singing and experiencing the music, emotions, instruments, movements, etc., and “you” my parent/adult may wish to know what I have to tell you. I am capable of playing out and of looking inward, and I may need words to help you understand my world. As facilitators, it is so wonderful for us to keep an open mind as we let our children welcome us into what they are experiencing (as Beth mentioned, a certain action by a child might be for a completely different reason than adults might think!) and their musical preferences/delights/insecurities. They are ready to teach us, if we are ready to listen!

[Noelle Larson]

Thanks for the clarification, Erika! There is a pretty big difference between the music of my childhood home/community of origin and my present community where I live and work. My earliest experiences of community were through my family’s church and the Christian school I attended, which contributed to the musical atmosphere in our home being a mix of positive/encouraging Christian radio/worship music and some general kids repertoire focused on learning, bonding, etc.–overall, a pretty mellow musical environment. I still find that that this musical base of music with positive themes and life lessons is a big foundation for me and something I return to as when working with young children. We moved when I was in elementary school, which helped broaden my community music experiences in a city with greater cultural diversity and musical interests. I worked in a pre-kindergarten in this community a few years ago and found that the kids generally connected with a range of music, from traditional to modern children’s repertoire (Laurie Berkner Band, Gemini, Raffi) to age-appropriate pop songs (I am a Gummy Bear, Disney). About 40% of our kids were English language learners (Spanish spoken at home) and they were thrilled every chance we had to sing songs in Spanish that they could teach to their peers. I am still exploring the traditional/preferred music of kids in my new home community here in Boston and look forward to learning what kinds of songs and musical cultures my future clients and current students connect with the best!

[Noelle Larson]

Over the summer, I had groups of three, four, and five-year-olds come to my summer camp music groups every week day, some children coming for several weeks in a row and others just for one week. It was incredibly interesting for me to experience group bonding, song preferences, levels of engagement, and social/emotional needs with what was often a fairly consistent composition of children but also had weekly additions and subtractions. As I think about the musical developmental levels, one child from my 3-year-old group particularly stands out to me as being in the Control stage. He was a quiet child who liked to experience his world extensively through observation from a safe distance before taking most risks. In my music groups, we had a ritual of singing “hello” and then passing around a special instrument to help us each say our names and greet each person individually. Many children in this group were curious and a little uncertain about touching/playing the special instrument at first and especially saying their names, but most members really grew to enjoy the experience and couldn’t wait for their turn to come. This little boy, however, exercised his ability to make choices by refraining from both playing and saying his name for days and even weeks. I did my best to create a safe environment for him, hopefully free from pressure to get involved before he was ready. He typically engaged discretely in other aspects of our music making, until one day he came alive! We were singing a play song about animals for the first time and it unlocked the most wonderful laughter and silliness that I’ve ever seen! Much of his former reserve melted away, not only for the rest of that day but also in days to come. He started choosing to play certain instruments that appealed to him and participate more physically and vocally in our groups. He created rhythms on a drum and seemed really pleased with himself for doing it. I think that this little boy is a great example for me of the Control stage because of his journey from making choices about whether or not to sing/play, to making choices about how loud/which instrument/how fast to sing/play. I would love to see how this child’s musical development has progressed these past several months and hope that he has continued to enjoy his journey of musical, emotional, and physical development.

[Noelle Larson]

Tracy and Kristen, I agree with what you said about being silly! There can be such emotional and expressive magic when we “go the extra mile” with our energy, intentionality, expressions, and inflection. It always amazes me how ready young children are to giggle at and to imitate “silliness”–we might feel a little self-conscious while doing it, especially with other adults present, but I think it’s a fantastic tool for building group rapport, bonding, and for setting a precedent for what kind of place music therapy is–a place where we can love learning and making friends!

[Noelle Larson]

I have another thought that I would like to add, as well. Physically holding the scarf baby was an unexpectedly emotional experience for me and I think offered some insight into many of the emotions that our children’s parents experience. When I cradled the scarf at the beginning, I was moved as I thought about holding my own baby in a few weeks. It was difficult to transition the next minute to having the scarf on my lap, and then beside me and out of sight. I think that many parents struggle with having conflicting feelings–wanting their children to grow, meet milestones, become more engaged in the world, etc., but yet wanting them to stay “little” and dependent. I think that it is important as music therapists providing services to young children and families to keep this in mind while providing services and support, especially to encourage parents who may be having mixed emotions about their child’s growing independence.

[Noelle Larson]

I am very thankful to be learning this material about child growth and development while working in a school with two to five-year-old students; it has been fantastic to see real-world examples of many of the concepts and milestones, as we’re learning about and discussing them! The information directly supported how I conducted my music groups with young children last week by helping me to set more realistic expectations regarding my students’ emotional needs and abilities. Music therapy is such a perfect medium to promote healthy exploration and personal growth for young children because in it, we can create a safe and familiar place with appropriate risks, rewards, and challenges. I think that up to this point, I have made many musical and facilitation-related choices based on what is most comfortable for me or what will make me “look good” or “cool” to the children and their adults. As I continue to learn and grow in this course and personally, I am striving to push far beyond my own needs or image, embrace a childlike attitude and humility (we don’t have to have it “all together”), and enjoy the journey of discovery along with the children.

[Noelle Larson]

One concept that resonated with me from this week’s content is the validity and importance of young children’s experiences of their world and how vital it is for us as music therapists and caregivers to be aware of these experiences. For example, I appreciated Elizabeth’s encouragement to lay on the floor, sit up, jump up and down, and engage with our bodies and environment in the ways our children do. Seeing the world from their physical hight and with similar limitations is very humbling and a good reminder of many of the emotions, joys, and fears that accompany different stages of development. I related to Elizabeth’s story about asking children to jump up and down while only “pretend” jumping herself; I’ve done that, too! I applied the concept of childlikeness at work today and tried to jump the same distance as my 2.5-year-olds–I found it quite physically challenging! That experience of fatigue helps me to be more understanding when my students fatigue, as well.

[Noelle Larson]

Hello again, everyone! As one of the newest music therapists in this class, I’d like to say how inspiring it is to see all of you with more experience and training still passionate to learn more and expound on your skills and practices. It sounds like we have a good mix in this group of people who have worked primarily for institutions, regional music therapy providers, and private practices. Since I’m about to enter a less traditional working phase of my life (I probably won’t be doing a 9-5 for a while), it’s really encouraging to hear how many of you continue to engage with your passion and pursue professional development while still maintaining a balance with personal/family life. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to soaking up any tidbits you might share along the way!

[Noelle Larson]

Hello everyone! My name is Noelle Larson, I live in Dorchester, MA, and I became a freshly-minted music therapist this past summer. I earned my bachelor degree from Berklee College of Music and completed my internship at Sherrill House Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation last spring. I was blessed to have a steady stream of work following my internship, starting as an early education substitute teacher for the remainder of the school year, transitioning to the “music fun time” instructor for 3-5 year-old day campers at a local summer camp, and then starting full-time work in the activities department of my internship nursing home. I have since transitioned away from my full-time work and resumed substitute teaching as my husband and I get ready to welcome our first child into the world this March. I am particularly interested in taking this course for both personal and professional reasons. Personally, I’m really looking forward to having new skills and resources that I can use as a new parent myself in the months to come. Professionally, I am excited to be in a field where I can use my strengths and skills to contribute meaning to my community as well as income to my family while still maintaining a flexible schedule. I love making music with young children and I can’t wait to learn how to better use my training and the research available to equip parents and caregivers to support their child’s developmental journey. I really look forward to learning and growing along with all of you these next few weeks!

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