Share Something Positive

Good morning! Another Monday is upon us, and although I had a tough time getting going today, I’m making the best of it. Just one of those days, you know?

Luckily, though, I have the perfect song for a day like today, when you just need some extra positivity to lift your spirits. This is an activity I’ve been using with my students recently, and they really seem to enjoy it. I’ll explain more after you take a listen:

Share something positive that happened this week.
It could be at home or school.
Something that you’re proud about or made you smile,
or something you thought was cool.

Many times when a student has something to share with the class and myself, he or she will speak out of turn or interrupt the current activity to do so. This particular song gives each student an opportunity to tell their story or share their thoughts while everyone is listening.

In a similar fashion to the compliment song, this tune is sung before each student’s turn. The positive events they share are quite diverse; one student might talk about going fishing with his grandpa, while another might tell us that she got to go home for the weekend (many of our students live at Hope, as it is a residential facility in addition to the learning center). I love learning more about the children’s lives through this activity.

How about you? I’d love to hear about something positive that happened in your life this week. I shared mine yesterday, so please return the favor in the comments section!

Publicity, Performance, and Praise, Oh My!

On Thursday morning I got an email from my husband. It was a picture of the Illinois Times cover taken with his iPhone after he realized that I just happened to be on it! I had an idea that I might get a mention because of a show I was scheduled to play this weekend, but a picture on the cover? No clue! Needless to say, it was a nice surprise.

And then he opened up the paper to find that my picture was also featured in the article, along with a short write-up in which my songs were described as “delightfully perceptive”. I couldn’t think of a higher compliment, really :)

The extra publicity was much appreciated, as I had a full house for my show this weekend at a new winery near Springfield. It was a beautiful night, so I was able to play on the outdoor stage. The audience was great, but the very best part of the whole night was right after my first set, when a little girl and her parents came up to talk to me.

The man said that he had seen me in the paper, and wanted his daughter (whose name was Gracie) to see a girl playing the guitar and performing. She had just gotten a guitar for her birthday, and wanted to learn to play it. Gracie told me that her favorite song I sang was “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. Her dad bought a copy of my CD for her (plus three more to give as gifts) and asked me to autograph it. Before they left, she thanked me for playing and said, “I loved your music!” And then my heart melted.

It was a fabulous night, and exactly the musical outlet I needed after the last several weeks of work-related stress. I can’t wait to play there again in November!

Just another quick thanks to all the new visitors who have stopped by via Blogger’s “Blog of Note” announcement. I am loving all the comments and feedback – please keep them coming, and I promise I will respond to everyone very soon!

The Best of Listen & Learn

In honor of being named today’s “Blog of Note” by the awesome team at Blogger, I have compiled a list of the posts that I think best represent Listen & Learn Music. A Cliff Notes of sorts for first-time visitors, and a walk down memory lane for those of you who have supported this blog since it’s creation in September 2008. Let’s start at the very beginning…

9/4/08: An Introduction
My very first post, which tells the story behind Listen & Learn.

10/10/08: A New Friday Tradition
“Friday Faves” are still going strong. This was the inaugural one.

10/26/08: Up Close and Personal
Here, I share a little-known (non music-therapy) side of myself.

11/4/08: You Can Vote However You Like
A fun reflection on Election Day, including a fab video.

11/20/08: Turkey Dinner Dance
This song (and dance!) might just stir a Thanksgiving craving.

12/17/09: The Other Eight Reindeer
My nod to Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.

1/30/09: Three Blue Pigeons
How I was able to reach a little boy with autism through a simple song.

2/23/09: Off to School Today
An upbeat tune all about going to school. School is cool!

4/20/09: Office Space
A photo tour of my home office and studio in its beginnings.

5/28/09: Bells are for Shaking
One of the many songs I’ve written specifically for the instruments we play.

6/25/09: I Heart Taylor Swift
Doesn’t everyone? Especially after the whole Kanye West/VMAs debacle.

7/14/09: Help Me, Help Them
A video I made to spread the word about my Kickstarter project.

8/4/09: On the Disney Channel
Hannah Montana? Check. Jonas Brothers? Check. The whole gang’s here.

9/4/09: Listen & Learn Turns 1
This post rounds out the past year in review as my blog celebrates its birthday!

Do you have a favorite post you’ve read or song you’ve heard here at Listen & Learn? I’d love to know about it. In the meantime, I am still reeling from the amazing bestowment of “Blog of Note” and 1,200+ visitors I’ve had today! Thanks to each and every one of you for sharing a few minutes of your day with me :)

Today’s Blog of Note!

Wow, wow, wow…I don’t even know what else to say. Oh, “Thank you, Blogger!” might be a good place to start. I am so thrilled and honor to be featured today as the Blog of Note, which can be found on Blogger’s homepage, the Blogs of Note blog, and Blogger’s Twitter page. Listen & Learn has been going strong for a little over a year now, and I couldn’t be happier with the free service that Blogger provides so that I have a platform in which to share my music therapy ideas and adventures, as well as my educational children’s songs for school, home, and play.

If this is your first time here, thank you so much for visiting! I hope you’ll continue to come back. My name is Rachel Rambach, and I am a board-certified music therapist in central Illinois. I write this blog for everyone who has an appreciation for the power of music, and you can learn more about Listen & Learn here. If you have any questions about the site, my music, or music therapy in general, feel free to email me, and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Again, thank you for stopping by! And thanks, Blogger…you’re helping spread the word about music therapy and the role of music in education :)

Friday Fave: Inaugural Guest Post!

Since launching Listen & Learn Music a year ago, I have been extremely fortunate to connect with so many wonderful parents, music educators, and fellow music therapists. Twitter and Facebook have also been wonderful tools for networking within the music therapy community, and I’ve gone from feeling completely isolated as the only music therapist in my city to having contact with colleagues across the country.

Today I’d like to introduce you to Listen & Learn’s first-ever guest blogger, Kimberly Sena Moore,MM, NMT, MT-BC. I met Kimberly via Twitter, and quickly discovered that in addition to being a wonderfully nice and interesting person, she is a fountain of knowledge in the field. She is Director of Neurosong Music Therapy Services, Inc. and blogs at Music Therapy Maven (where I recently had to opportunity to write a guest post). A Neurologic Music Therapist and Board-Certified Music Therapist, Kimberly has a keen interest in understanding how our brain is affected by music and a strong desire to educate the public about music therapy, as evidenced in her article as follows:

The 5 Most Important Things to Know About Neurodevelopment


My favorite graduate courses were the neuroscience courses. It fascinated me how the brain was organized, how it functioned, and how this incredibly complex and dynamic organism could be broken down and understood in simpler parts. Amazing.

And now that I work with trauma-influenced children, I’ve learned much more about neurodevelopment. I have had first-hand experience of the profound and pervasive effects their experiences have had on their ever-growing and ever-changing brains.

In that spirit, I wanted to share with you the 5 most important things you need to know about neurodevelopment. These five concepts are foundational to understanding how our brains, and how our clients, grow, develop, and learn. And here they are:

1. Neurodevelopment is Predictable. Our nervous system develops in the same order every single time. Every time. The first systems to develop are the more primitive ones – those in the spinal cord and brainstem. These structures also happen to be life-sustaining and are responsible for basic regulatory functions (e.g. heart rate, respiration, consciousness, etc.). Our brain then develops in a sequential fashion – once the primitive systems are in place, development moves to the more complex structures (e.g. the neocortex). In fact, did you know that, even though our brainstem is basically fully developed at birth, parts of our neocortex are not fully developed until our mid-20s? And it happens in the same way….every single time.

2. Neurodevelopment is Hierarchical. Our brain is organized in a hierarchical fashion. The simpler, more primitive structures are responsible, or mediate, the more basic, primitive, simpler functions (e.g. the brainstem is responsible for many of our life-sustaining functions mentioned above). The more complex structures mediate the more complex functions (e.g. the neocortex is responsible for verbal skills and abstract reasoning). And our brains are wired (no pun intended) to develop in this hierarchical fashion. The simpler, more primitive structures need to develop before the more complex ones can. Success at one stage depends on success at previous stages. We had to learn how to sit up, before we could crawl, before we could stand, before walking, then running, jumping, etc. We didn’t start out running – the first step was to learn how to sit up. And it’s the same with neurodevelopment. We need to learn how to breathe and pump our blood before we can talk or make moral decisions. Neurodevelopment is hierarchical.

3. Neurodevelopment is Use-Dependent. “Use-dependent” is a term Dr. Bruce Perry, a Texas-based researcher, uses. Use-dependency is a reason why we are so individualized, despite the fact that our brains develop in the same, predictable way every time. Neurons are the only cells in our body that change based on our experiences. This ability affects the whole brain. Our brain is constantly reacting to what occurs in our environment. It’s a very plastic organ. It responds to what is occurring in our environment and, if needed, will change so we can adapt to our environment. So the brain of a child who grows up in neglectful, abusive, chaotic environment will need different skills that the brain of a child who grows up in a stable, loving, nurturing environment. Their two brains will develop differently because they will adapt to the needs and skills each child requires to survive. Use-dependency – how our brains develop depend on how they are used.

4. Neurodevelopment begins in the womb. We are shaped by our experiences even before we are born. Our brain is changing and adapting to the environment in utero. Scary, huh? (It was when I was pregnant!). The brain of a child whose mother experiences abuse while pregnant will be different than the brain of a child whose mother experiences love and support while pregnant. Those two children will have been exposed to their mothers’ emotions, chemicals, and stress and will develop differently as a reaction to those experiences. Our in utero experiences affect our developing brain. It begins in the womb.

5. The first 3 years are the most important. The amount of learning and growing that takes place in the first three years of life is mind-boggling. Our brains will never grow as rapidly as they do when we are babies, infants, and toddlers. It’s during these early childhood years that that the majority of brain development occurs. According the Dr. Perry, our brains are 90% adult size by the time we turn 4. And the learning that takes place in those early years have profound and pervasive effects throughout our lives.

If you are interested in reading more, I would recommend the articles and writings of Dr. Bruce Perry. Although he is a neuroscientist and research, you will find his writings accessible and easy-to-understand. You can find much of his work available for free on his non-profit’s website, the Child Trauma Academy.