Take your early childhood skills and knowledge to the next level!
Are you a music therapist looking to enhance your confidence and effectiveness when working with kids and parents?
Our Sprouting Melodies® program offers complementary tools and techniques for bringing the best possible early childhood music experience to families in your community. Learn how to recognize early childhood musical responses and how responses function in the overall development of the child.
Join a vibrant community of music therapists and revolutionize your approach to early childhood music therapy.
Registration for the July round of Sprouting Melodies Training is NOW OPEN.
The Benefits of Joining the Sprouting Melodies® Training Include:
- Build Confidence: Learn effective ways to communicate your expertise in music development and responses to parents and staff. Our training empowers you to confidently present your knowledge and skills, ensuring you are seen as the expert you are.
- Expand Your Repertoire: Move beyond traditional songs like “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Old MacDonald” to introduce creative, joyful, and goal-driven music experiences that will captivate children and parents alike. Imagine the joy on a child’s face when they hear a new song that resonates with them.
- New Songs & Experiences: Gain access to a wide variety of fresh songs and music activities perfect for community parent-toddler groups, daycares, and preschools. These new tools will enrich your sessions and engage your young clients in new and exciting ways.
- Engage Adults: Discover what to say and how to say it during sessions to connect with adults without disrupting the musical experience. Enhance your communication skills to foster a supportive environment for both children and their caregivers, making your sessions even more impactful.
- Community Support: Reduce the sense of working alone by joining an interactive and supportive community of music therapists. Share experiences, insights, and encouragement with your peers, knowing that you have a network of support behind you.
- Holistic Understanding: Deepen your understanding of music development and its application in early childhood and with children and adults with developmental disabilities. This comprehensive knowledge will enhance your practice and broaden your impact.
- Continuing Education: Earn 23 Continuing Education Credits, advancing your professional development and keeping your credentials up to date.
Participant feedback
“I’m already finding ways to incorporate the information!
Just yesterday, I pulled from some of last week’s module in a conversation with a parent.”
“I loved learning new songs and connecting them with childhood development.
The songs that were presented, along with the clinical applications of them in different scenarios, were very useful and practical information. The teachings on early childhood development and early childhood music development were very informative, helping me grow as a professional in this particular field.”
“Learning about the stages of musical development and how it connects to childhood development was incredibly valuable.
The information provided the necessary language to use when communicating with families regarding early childhood development, especially as it pertains to music development. This knowledge equips us, as music therapists, to be a resource and a support to those in our communities.”
About the Sprouting Melodies Training
Sprouting Melodies® 10-week training will give you an extensive background in planning for, creating, and presenting music that is developmentally appropriate as well as engaging and motivating for children as well as families.
A core repertoire of quality interventions and songs will be available through Sprouting Melodies® in order to help you design session plans. There is also support and guidance if you choose to create unique musical material.
The Sprouting Melodies® Online Trainings are offered several times throughout the year. The weekly trainings are accessed via the Community Login from the Raising Harmony™ website.
Each weekly session includes recorded presentations and self-guided assignments supported by student and teacher forums. You will experience the joy of learning alongside other dedicated Music Therapists.
All participants in the cohort will also be invited to one Live Zoom Call with Meredith and Elizabeth to complement all that you are learning in the course! And don’t worry! If you can’t join the Zoom Call live, you will be able to watch a recording later.
The course includes all course materials, web-based learning forums with the instructors and other music therapist participants, and a copy of Elizabeth’s Schwartz’s book, Music, Therapy and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach.
2024 Course Dates
*NOW ENROLLING* July 10th through September 18th
September 18th through November 20th
Weekly Modules
Week One
- Welcome and Introduction to Sprouting Melodies Course Expectations
Week Two
- Understanding Early Childhood Development from birth through 60 months
Week Three
- Understanding Musical Developmental Levels of Awareness, Trust, Independence, Control and Responsibility
- Song Categories in Early Childhood
- Introduction Embedded Songs
Week Four
- Creating Developmentally Appropriate Practice
- Song Categories
- Gathering Songs
- Transition Songs
Week Five
- Song Categories
- Instrument Songs
- Movement Song
- Sprouting Melodies Foundations
Week Six
- Overview of Sprouting Melodies Classes
- Sprouting Melodies 1 for 0-9 month olds
- Song Categories
- Bonding Songs
Week Seven
- Sprouting Melodies 3 for 6-18 month olds
- Song Categories
- Songs about Me
- Songs about My World
Week Eight
- Sprouting Melodies 3 for 18 month- 3 year olds
- Family Sprouts for birth to 5 years of age
Week Nine
- Opportunities for Success
- Putting it All Together
- Sprouting Melodies Sayings
Week Ten
- Growing your Practice in Early Childhood
- Review of Sprouting Melodies Training
“The building blocks of music development are just as significant as the benchmarks in learning to talk or walk or think.”
– Sprouting Melodies Saying
About the Instructors
Meredith R. Pizzi, MT-BC, Co-Founder of Raising Harmony™, is also the Owner and Executive Director of Roman Music Therapy Services, LLC, a vibrant music therapy agency in Eastern Massachusetts. She developed Sprouting Melodies®, a community early childhood music program which is deeply grounded in music therapy principles and strategies.
Elizabeth K. Schwartz, MA, LCAT, MT-BC has been practicing music therapy in New York for over 30 years. She is internationally recognized as an expert in early childhood music therapy and is the author of the books Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach and Basic Verbal Skills for Music Therapists, as well as the songbooks, You and Me Makes We: A Developmental Songbook and Together With The Beat: Songs for Me…and You…and Us.
Online Moderator
Erika M. Svolos, MT-BC, is the online moderator for the Sprouting Melodies Online Training and recently opened her own private practice, Music Therapy Services of New Jersey, LLC, in Northwestern, New Jersey. She completed the Sprouting Melodies Online Training and began providing early childhood programming in 2013.
Learning Objectives
- Participants will list and describe 10 musical responses typical in early childhood (BCD 2020 / II. B. 3. c.).
- Participants will learn and describe 5 key criteria for selecting developmentally appropriate music for therapeutic use in early childhood (BCD 2020 / II. D. 2. c.).
- Participants will identify and discuss principles and strategies of the Sprouting Melodies program (BCD 2020 / II. D. 10.).
- Participants will identify 3 ways to advocate for the profession of music therapy as a Sprouting Melodies Provider (BCD 2020 / V. B. 18.).
Updated 5/2023
Here’s what our course participants have to say about the training:
“All of it! I loved the discussion the most – brainstorming and discussing these ideas with Music Therapists is so valuable.“
“Yes! I am very excited to make early childhood programming a part of my practice. I really enjoyed seeing how the Sprouting Melodies® model can benefit my community and my music therapy practice.”
“The course was extremely knowledgeable and useful for learning how to run early childhood music groups. I found the specific structure and example songs used in each session to be most helpful. The developmental framework and practical songs gave me the confidence to apply what I learned in my practice and start groups at the early intervention I currently work at, as well as in my community in the future.”
2024 Course Dates
*NOW ENROLLING* July 10th through September 18th
September 18th through November 20th
Prerequisites
Participants must be a Board Certified Music Therapist or music therapy student interested in expanding their practice into early childhood. Music therapy students will not receive continuing education credits for taking the course but may participate in the training.
International Music Therapists
Music therapists practicing in other countries are welcome to complete the Raising Harmony™ Training and then take advantage of a business package to become a Sprouting Melodies® Provider. All music therapists must have required credentials to practice in their country and must contact us directly to register by emailing info@RaisingHarmony.com.
Cancellation and Refund Policy
We are confident that once you enter into the world of early childhood music therapy with Raising Harmony™ in our Sprouting Melodies® Training, you won’t want to cancel! If you do need to cancel and let us know at least 30 days before the course begins, you will receive a credit for a future CMTE through Roman Music Therapy Services, LLC. Need to cancel 15-30 days before a class begins? You can receive a credit for half of your course fee towards future CMTE’s through Roman Music Therapy Services, LLC. There will be no refunds or credits for cancellations less than two weeks before the class begins.
The Sprouting Melodies® Online Training is approved by the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) for 23 Continuing Music Therapy Education credits. The Provider, Roman Music Therapy Services, LLC, P-118, maintains responsibility for program quality and adherence to CBMT policies and criteria.
