[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

SINGING: AWARENESS – child responds to familiar melody with a quick breath in followed by a coo. TRUST – child attempts to match pitch of a simple familiar melody sung by mom. INDEPENDENCE – child attempts to mimic mom in call-and-response. CONTROL – child sings own melodies or sings an approximation of a familiar song (e.g., Old McDonald) while playing alone. RESPONSIBILITY – child “teaches” a song to a younger sibling.
INSTRUMENT PLAY: AWARENESS – child reaches for and touches piano keyboard. TRUST – child plays one or two notes on piano. INDEPENDENCE – child stands at piano and “plays” several notes in succession. CONTROL – child stands at piano and “accompanies” self while singing an approximation of a familiar song (e.g., Old McDonald). RESPONSIBILITY – child stands at piano with younger sibling and “teaches” song to younger sibling. (NOTE – I witnessed this a couple of weeks ago at my guitar teacher’s home, when his two adorable daughters, ages 2 and 3, were engaged in a “duet” of Old McDonald, standing at the piano, playing and singing together – priceless!).
MOVING: AWARENESS – child attempts to move body in time to music for 1 – 2 beats. TRUST – child moves in time to music for several seconds at a time. INDEPENDENCE – child attempts to clap hands while moving in time to music. CONTROL – child changes tempo of movement in response to changes in tempo of music. RESPONSIBILITY – child joins in group movement activity and tries to match teacher’s movement.
LISTENING: AWARENESS – child directs gaze to music source for several seconds. TRUST – child moves toward music source to “check it out.” INDEPENDENCE – child points to music source (e.g., boom box) and indicates to mom that she wants to hear music. CONTROL – child sits near music source and listens with mom. RESPONSIBILITY – child attempts to sing along and move in time to recorded music with another child.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

SINGING: With the clients I work with (adults in psychiatric facilities), singing seems to be the most important activity they engage in, mainly because it is the activity with which I can get the most positive responses, and because they want so much to sing. I use singing to distract them from anxiety, anger, and depression, to encourage supportive breathing, and to engage them in a communal activity. Depending on the song, we may do a brief lyric analysis. . I always engage clients in improvisation asking them to whistle with me and make up our own melodies. Another thing I might do in the middle of a song is say, “OK, everybody, opera voices!” and sing in an exaggerated falsetto which more times than not results in a lot of laughter and seems to encourage the more reticent clients to participate once they realize they don’t have to be really “serious” about singing.
INSTRUMENT PLAY: Unfortunately, I am not able to do much with instrument play in my work because of the potential liability should a client begin to act out and use an instrument to strike another client or me. I do however, incorporate hand clapping, patching (Orff-ese for knee patting), and finger snapping for percussion. Again, I encourage improvisation as a way for each client to strive for and (hopefully) achieve a sense of control and accomplishment.
MOVING: Many of my clients typically engage in moving/swaying in time to music, and tapping their feet at a minimum. If I play something really funky and rhythmic such as “I Feel Good” or “Boogie Oogie Oogie,” then some will get up and dance.
LISTENING: When I’m working with the Detox group which is typically 2 – 4 clients, I will use prerecorded music for relaxation, or distraction. I may play different pre-recorded versions of the same song and ask clients to listen for the differences and similarities, and why they prefer one version over the other in order to get them to think “outside” of themselves.

Have I made any changes since beginning this course? I can’t really say that I have only because I don’t work with very young children. I am however, delighted to be learning all of this and have become more aware of how my adult clients experience music. Many of them have developmental delay (in addition to their mental disorders) and I can discern how some of them process music at the cognitive level at which they are functioning.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

I must first state that I do not work with very small children. At present, my youngest student is a 6-year old girl who is a terrific singer. I have worked with younger children (4 – 5 years old) on the spectrum or with developmental delay, but at present do not have any clients or students who are very young children. However, my good friend Margit has a grandson who is about a year old and is definitely in that “biting” stage. On July 4th weekend during a get-together barbeque, little Tobey crawled over to me where I was sitting on the floor playing my ukulele (I frequently bring a uke to parties for potential sing-alongs) and decided he wanted to chomp on my wrist (I wasn’t playing at that moment). Then he started “humming” which I interpreted to be his way trying to imitate my music making. He was having such a grand time that I let him chomp away until Margit picked him up and said “he’s checking to see if you’re ‘done.’” (Margit is a real comedian and a professional musician). Definitely a sensory input/output moment for Tobey!

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

I have started using the chant Where Is The Music as a warm-up in my two MT groups at the psychiatric hospital I contract with. The groups are comprised of adults ages 20s through 60s from various cultures, who present primarily with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. More recently, patients are being admitted with developmental delay in addition to the above disorders. I wasn’t sure how they would react to having to “learn” an unfamiliar song, especially since we usually warm up with the old standbys like “You Are My Sunshine” or “America The Beautiful,” but much to my surprise by the second time through and with the aid of lyric sheets and lot of repetition, they started getting the hang of it. This chant is a great intervention for getting clients to think about breath support.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

Tallahassee and its surrounding areas has been nicknamed “South Georgia” because of its deeply rooted southern traditions. I have friends and family in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Tampa that jokingly tell me I live “up south” since everything about Tallahassee – its terrain, flora, climate etc. – is very different than the Florida south of Orlando.

Culturally, Tallahassee and the Panhandle in general, supports southern preferences in music, food (fried, fried, and fried, and of course, grits), speech patterns and idioms (my favorite is “dutton” which is a contraction of the contraction “doesn’t), and entertainment and past-times (tubing the Ichetucknee River). For example, Gospel music – both African American Gospel and Country Gospel – are commonly cited as “preferred genres” by many of my students and MT clients. These include songs by the Gaithers, Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Christy Lane, Lynda Randle, and many others.

This is not to imply that other genres are not welcome and appreciated – FSU and FAMU are both known for their phenomenal music departments. It’s just I have found in my own practice that when working with clients who for whatever reason cannot articulate their musical preferences, I can usually get a client to respond positively to a Gospel song.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

What I hope to bring to early childhood music therapy-based programs and how this information will support my work as a music therapist is a more detailed understanding of early childhood development and how I can continue to develop appropriate interventions that match each child’s level of development. Most of the younger children I’ve worked with have either been on the spectrum or have physical disabilities together with intellectual disabilities (e.g., cerebral palsy plus mental retardation). Even though there are many discernible behaviors that commonly manifest in children (as well as adults) presenting with these conditions, every individual manifests them in unique ways. So it is with the ways in which individuals experience music listening, music making, and movement to music. I also plan to emphasize to parents and other caregivers the importance of their taking part in the music-based activities together with their children.

[Stephanie Tassos Wohlsifer]

For me, the most valuable take-away from this week’s content was reviewing the progression of the various domains of development we humans go through, and where to spot some of the “red flags” in those developments. Although I have worked on and off throughout my career with kids of all ages, there are many times when I’ve questioned whether or not a certain movement, response, behavior, etc., is “normal” for a particular child, especially if I’m still getting to know that child. I was reminded that when a one-year old wants to bite, it may only be because he is seeking sensory input and not because he’s being malicious and inappropriate. I was also reminded that the endless questioning by a three-year old is his way of looking for reassurance, and that we adults should keep answers simple and understandable.

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