[Sabrina Stafford]

To be honest, I don’t interact often with the parents of the children I currently work with. I have interacted with parents during graduation ceremonies which music is a large aspect of. During this time, families are looking at their children with pride; taking pictures and even some crying with joy. I pick songs that highlight the skills for the children that are “movin’ up.” I choose the songs that will show the child’s engagement with music; songs that children respond most to.
Looking at this specific example, I would say that the families need to see these skills being showcased; they need to see the potential their child has rather than their deficits.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Music Therapists bring not only the power of music to families of young children but the empathy and training of a therapist. This is not to say that musicians that work with young children don’t have skills in being empathetic, but as a music therapist we have been trained to create a safe and welcoming music environment for the children AND families to learn and grow in. A Music Therapist doesn’t open up anything they cannot contain in the musical space.
It is through our continued educational and experiential training that Music Therapists can provide the best learning opportunities for young children and their families using the various aspects of music: singing, playing, listening, and moving.

[Sabrina Stafford]

My apologies for my formatting! I can’t seem to figure out how to space things correctly when posted.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Singing
1. Awareness: Child turns head towards MT when she begins singing
2. Trust: Child begins to make noises along with MT
3. Independence: Sings the melody on “ah” syllable
4. Control: Chooses when to sing and when to listen
5. Responsibility: Sings melody of song with MT

Playing Instruments
1. Awareness: Child puts instruments in mouth
2. Trust: Child shakes maraca when verbally prompted by MT
3. Independence: Child shakes maraca without prompting
4. Control: Says “stop!” and “go!” to conduct the group’s music making
5. Responsibility: Plays at steady beat with the group
Moving:
1. Awareness: Child watches MT sing and move her body in a sequence of motions
2. Trust: Child briefly moves body when MT begins singing movement song
3. Independence: Child stands up and dances during the entirety of the song.
4. Control: Child begins to mirror a couple of the MT’s motions
5. Responsibility Child mirrors all motions of MT’s movement song
Listening
1. Awareness: Reacts to dramatic music changes such as quiet to loud or slow to fast.
2. Trust: Smiles when MT sings familiar song
3. Independence: Sways body to rhythm of song
4. Control: Remains seated in chair to listen to entire song
5. Responsibility: Motions for others to sit down and listen to the song with him/her.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Rylie- I really appreciate the approach you used to answering this question. I’m personally having a hard time with this weeks question because I am such a visual person and needed to think about this question in a more concrete way. After reading your post, I feel much more confident answering this question because I can directly relate it to my current practice! Thank you!

[Sabrina Stafford]

Hilary- Thanks for bringing up the idea of silence. I have such a struggle using this in my sessions, and often fill the void of silence with talking. I actually had an interesting moment of thought today that relates to this idea of silence. I had an ocean drum in my house this morning with me to bring to work. When I use the ocean drum in my practice, I try to elicit relaxation/calmness through the sounds. Usually when I introduce the drum to the group, the classroom is already filled with noise from the clients and staff. This morning, I accidentally startled myself by how loud the ocean drum was when I picked it up. I began playing around with it and realized even the quietist sounds from this drum are actually really loud. I realized that it seemed so loud in that moment because I was so used to the silence of the early morning. I think it would be interesting to try using the ocean drum in a group of clients who are quiet and assess if their responses are different.

[Sabrina Stafford]

In my songbook, I actually categorize my songs by what type of music experience they are. I have quite a few singing songs that leave space in the music for the kiddos to finish the musical line as well as create their own vocal melody.
I use group instrumentation a lot in my practice as well. For this, I enjoy using more open ended songs that don’t dictate how the children should play. Although, some of my groups need that structure of how to play and in that case I can add more direction. I adapted the song “Listen to the Music” by the Doobie Brothers to be “Listen to Our Music.” It has become a hit at one of my sites and has opened up to the children vocalizing “oooh” during the chorus back and forth with me.
With movement songs, I use more structured songs such as “Twist and Shout” and lyrically directing the children to clap their hands, move slow/fast, etc. Movement songs are newer to my practice and I believe they do serve a purpose to help calm children down and help with body regulation. I also find it helpful to incorporate another form of participation in the songs, such as singing during the “ah” section for children who are less mobile or who do not want/need to move their bodies.
I find listening to be a big portion of my sessions with some of my medically fragile children. For these kids, any kind of outward response is huge (reacting to dynamic/rhythm changes, smiling, looking towards sound). Although I focus mainly on listening with my medically fragile children, I do also add a social aspect to my listening experiences. Closer to the end of my sessions, I like to pass around an ocean drum for each child to play. Although this experience mainly focuses on turn-taking/sharing, I believe that this also teaches the children to listen and appreciate the music of others.
I found this exercise helpful because sometimes I feel like my sessions are so similar week to week. Reflecting back on the types of experiences I use, I have realized that I do have a wide variety of different styles and music experiences.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Thanks, Amanda! I didn’t even think about it like that. I felt kind of guilty changing the style or melody of some of Beth’s songs, but I was making it more comfortable for me to sing and to meet the specific needs and goals of my groups.

Rebekah- That’s so great to hear you already lead a parent/infant group. You must have a lot of insight into this population. I’m looking forward to hearing how this training has helped to grow your practice.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Laura-Maria- Wow! What an eclectic taste of music you must have now with exploring so many different genres. I personally don’t listen to the radio very often and it puts me behind with my clients sometimes when they request familiar pop songs I don’t recognize. Your post encouraged me to start taking time to listen to the radio; maybe on my morning/afternoon commute to work!

[Sabrina Stafford]

Jeannelle- I’m glad you brought up your realization that a child putting objects in their mouth is completely normal. I used to be extremely worried about clients putting instruments in their mouths. I initially would try to redirect every client who put an instrument in their mouth. As I have grown as a music therapist, I’ve realized that for some clients, putting an instrument in their mouth is their way of exploring the instrument; their way of participating in the music. Although it isn’t the most cleanly way to use an instrument, it still shows that the client is exploring and engaging with the instrument and music.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Thanks, Amanda! I know as a music therapist, there can be some clients/families who think all we do is music but in reality our practice is backed up by factual information such as this developmental growth of the young child.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Rylie: I enjoy hearing the curiosity in your post. I think as a music therapist, being curious and open to our clients responses is such a helpful tool. I hope as you continue working with young children and become comfortable, you continue to use that curiosity to your advantage.

[Sabrina Stafford]

I’ve had the advantage of owning Beth’s songbook during my internship, which my supervisor and I both used during our sessions. I’ve used some of the songs such as “All of this is me” with hand motions, “Sing Low” and “Sit Down with Me.” When using these songs, I made a lot of adaptations to meet a specific goal for my groups. For example, I adapted “sit down with me” to “sit down with me and play the drum.” I placed a large floor tom on the ground and sang the song once by myself and then invited the children to join in playing and singing with me.
I found it very helpful to hear Beth’s rational of the songs. She is very mindful of the musical qualities of the songs, such as using rhythm and pauses to elicit a response for the children. When session planning, I often use pre-composed songs loosely and adapt the structure of the song with my clients meaning some of those musical aspects Beth focuses on get lost. Hearing Beth sing these songs in their original form assisted me to take a step back and really appreciate all the incorporated musical elements.

[Sabrina Stafford]

I have a client I see both individually and in groups. I have seen this client in the independence developmental stage. I say this because she can make a lot of choices during music therapy. Sometimes she will choose to sing along with the music, imitating the sounds I am using. Sometimes she will choose to create her own melodies and engage in a vocal improvisation. And at other times, she chooses not to participate vocally at all and appears to simply listen to the music. Because of her capability to choose how to participate in music, I would say this client is in the independence developmental stage.

[Sabrina Stafford]

Fortunately, I work in the same area where I grew up at meaning a lot of traditional songs that I know from church, girl scouts, choir, etc carry over to my clinical work. I actually had a big music growing moment when I realized that just because my clients were at a facility I worked at, didn’t necessarily mean they grew up in the area. For example, when I worked in a nursing home during a fieldwork, I assumed music that was familiar to my grandmother would be familiar to some of the clients at the nursing home. It turned out to be quite the opposite and because of this I began learning new genres of music such as Motown and gospel.
Although I think my home community has its own sense of traditional music, I do believe that each site I work at has their own sense of traditional songs. I found that some songs that work extremely well at one facility might not work as well at another. I’m finding it difficult to provide a simple answer to this question because it all depends on the clientele and other factors such as location, age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion.

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