[Tracy Wanamaker]

I agree with many of the above posts – as a music therapist we bring knowledge to the table! Not only knowledge of music, but also knowledge of child development and musical development that we can share with our families and incorporate into our planning. While many preschool programs encourage the “teacher” to make music “at” the children, we are trained to interact with children and plan music making activities that they can actively participate in, in a meaningful way. As trained musicians we can tailor the music that we make with the class for that group. Since we are making the music (again – instead of playing a recording as I’ve seen many preschool music teachers do), we have control over the tempo, timbre, volume, etc. and can match them to the group that we are working with. I feel that this is one of our greatest strengths as music therapists – we are flexible and adaptable and many other programs are not. For parents, we can reassure them that their children are on track and offer them useful suggestions for things that they can do at home to encourage real musical growth. We don’t just give them a CD to play in the car – we teach them how to make music with their children and really encourage them to do this.

[Tracy Wanamaker]

I have always used the concept of the four areas in my practice and have strived to address all areas in each session. While I haven’t really changed how I use them, I have changed the way that I think about them when planning. Because all of the clients that I work with are developmentally delayed, it is important to consider their individual development and how their musical development isn’t consistent in all areas due to their disabilities. For example, I have a client that is trust stage for singing, but the control stage for playing instruments. By looking at the different developmental levels and how all four areas interact with each other, I’m now discovering new ways to use each client’s strengths to target growth in other development areas. By looking at each type of skill and how a child’s skills develop, it becomes clearer how to encourage growth in an entire area instead of addressing a specific skill (such as starting/stopping to a musical prompt). It’s been great to think more about the “why” of what I am doing in conjunction to areas of development instead of planning based on static IEP goals!

[Tracy Wanamaker]

Singing: Awareness – Vocalizes in response to familiar singing voices.Trust – Makes purposeful pitched sounds.Independence – Imitates short vocalizations. Control – Sing entire phrases using appropriate melodic contour. Responsibility – Sing familiar songs using melodic contour.

Playing: Awareness – Tracks sound of moving instrument with eyes or head. Trust – Reaches out to touch instruments. Independence – Explores instruments with hands, feet, or mouth. Control – Will start and stop playing instruments in response to music. Responsibility – Participates in instrumental call/response with an adult or peer.

Moving: Awareness – Makes repetitive, rhythmical movements with body. Trust – Moves entire body rhythmically in response to music. Independence – Imitates simple whole body movement patterns. Control – Isolates body parts to move rhythmically. Responsibility – Recalls and reproduces simple learned movement patterns.

Listening: Awareness – Responds differently to sedative vs. play-song music. Trust – Looks toward sound source. Independence – Seeks out source of music. Control – Anticipates beginning and ending of music/familiar songs. Responsibility – Listens to music of others.

[Tracy Wanamaker]

I currently work with a little girl that is 5, but her speech is very delayed and our sessions are centered around vocal production. After listening to the information on the developmental stages, I realized that she is firmly in the independence stage. She uses lots of repeated sounds when I am singing and her repertoire of vowel and consonant sounds is increasing. She babels with inflection but still lacks the tonal center. She is starting to play instruments on her own and exploring how to make them work. While I knew that her musical skills were slowly developing, it is good to see the stages broken into specifics. Understanding them in detail will make it easier to articulate specifically to her Mom where she is making progress and identify specific areas to target to encourage growth. I can’t wait to watch her develop musically in the future!

[Tracy Wanamaker]

I live in a small rural community of about 8000, but the music scene is very interesting here because Potsdam is home to the Crane School of Music – the oldest music education teacher education program in the country. Because of this, the kids in the community have access to excellent public school music programs and the opportunity to take lessons and go to performances (for free or at a really reduced rate) at the college and many students take advantage of this. This means that many of the local school-age students have more of an interest in jazz and classical music than in many areas of the country. The local colleges also provide opportunities for students and the community to explore and participate in making music from many cultures, even though there is little cultural diversity in the area. The radio stations in the area play a mixture of pop, classic rock, and country, but most of the live music is more indie or fusion due to the college influence in the area. Musically, it is a really cool environment!

[Tracy Wanamaker]

I’m late to the discussion this week because I was hoping to use some of these songs with my two early childhood aged clients this week, but then they both canceled! Oh well – we will try again next week. I really enjoyed learning some new songs this week and look forward to using them in the future. I have used “All of This is Me” several times in the past and I’m always thrilled with how well the clients respond to it and learn from it. Part of what I really like about this song is how it works from the outer parts of the body towards the chest (for me, me, me). To me, this really suggests the concept of the whole body and the “core” of the person instead of just listing body parts.

Beth – you are a very talented songwriter and I really look forward to learning and using more of your songs!

[Tracy Wanamaker]

While I certainly agree with many of the comments above that we can support and reassure parents and caregivers based on our knowledge of the developmental stages, I think that something else we bring to the table through our training as music therapists is the ability to meet children at their individual developmental levels based on our understanding of the stages/benchmarks. By knowing where they are, we can structure classes that will explore and reinforce their current developmental stage while providing opportunities that encourage them to grow in a safe and comfortable environment. This also gives us the opportunity to share songs and activities with parents that they can also do with their child at home to promote growth.

Something that I feel that I personally bring to the table, is my willingness to be “silly” with children and try new things based on their reactions. As Beth discussed in the podcast – sometimes you simply have to jump to understand how a child is experiencing something. I have found that by being willing to join them in their play, I have been able to encourage growth in ways that I never would have thought of on my own!

[Tracy Wanamaker]

The most important take away for me this week is the reminder that these are all “typical” milestones and that each child develops different skills at different times and not necessarily in the same order. As a parent, I remember being concerned that my child was behind in some areas (she was a very late walker), without really realizing that she was ahead in others (such as language). Being able to reassure parents that their child is developing normally, just at different rates of speed in different areas is important. This was such a good refresher – I had forgotten how quickly they learn and grow, especially in that first year!

[Tracy Wanamaker]

Hi Kristen and Jennifer! It’s great to see you “virtually” and I look forward to working with both of you again! Of course a few palm trees would be nice about this time of year though! 😉

[Tracy Wanamaker]

Hi Everyone! My name is Tracy Wanamaker and I live in Potsdam, NY with my husband and three cats. Potsdam is a small rural community in Northern NY (above the Adirondacks!). Like Johanna, I graduated from Shenandoah University with a Bachelors in Music Therapy, a minor in Psychology and a concentration in voice, but I did it a few years earlier in 1992. I also did my internship in a school system and after finishing, I spent a few years working in the schools in Tallahassee, FL while also maintaining a small private practice. My husband’s job took us to Potsdam, NY in 1997 and after having my daughter (who is now 18 and in college out of state) I worked outside of the field for several years. In 2004 I took at position teaching at the Crane School of Music at the State University of NY College at Potsdam as the Music in Special Education Concentration Coordinator. What this means is that my “day job” is teaching music education students how to reimagine their traditional music classrooms to be inclusive for students with a wide variety of disabilities. In 2008, I completed a Masters in Special Education.

My work at Crane and the fact that I am the only MT-BC in a 100 mile radius naturally led to starting a new private practice a few years ago. In my practice I currently work primarily with adults with developmental disabilities and seniors in memory care. Recently I have started working with a few more children and have been asked to consider starting inclusive music groups for young children in the community. This is why I am here – if I’m going to start working with young children, I need to brush up my skills and learn a lot more about how to effectively work with little ones and their families.

I look forward to learning and sharing with everyone over the next few weeks!

[Author]

Posts