Many people have found themselves working remotely throughout the last 7 months, including music therapists and teachers. With very little notice, we had to alter our plans to be conducive to the virtual experience.
As someone who is in their early 20s, you would think that I would have an upper hand with knowledge about technology. I, unfortunately in this case, do not fit that stereotype and had to really teach myself how to make this all work for my clients and students. So, how did I do it?
I’ve found myself primarily using two applications: Zoom and iMovie. I know, it’s pretty basic, but who knew such common programs would open doors for so many virtual learning opportunities? In today’s blog post, we are going to dive a little deeper into Zoom.
There is nothing like making music with young children face-to-face, where we can interact through singing, movement, and playing instruments. Little did I know on March 4, the final week of my mid-winter class session, that the next time I would see my students, it would be through a screen.
From the end of March through July, I led virtual music classes via Zoom, and they were certainly better than no music classes at all. It was a fun challenge to figure out new ways to engage the children and make our sessions as interactive as possible. Like my fellow music therapists and educators, I learned to stretch my creativity and make the most of this medium.
Wow, what a wild ride the past half year has been! It’s been an interesting several months, and I’m so glad to be back on the blog to share what life as a music therapist has looked like during this time.
Going back to my previous posts, the last one I shared was in February: A Week in the Life of a Music Therapist. Little did I know that the world would soon be flipped upside down with a pandemic. As I’m sure many people have experienced, my typical week does not look much like it did back in February!
It’s definitely feeling like fall here in central Illinois, even before the new season has officially arrived. Typically we’re still experiencing summer weather late into September, but this past weekend was perfect for long sleeves, pumpkin patch visits, and fire pits.
Each year, I fine-tune my seasonal repertoire both by writing new songs AND retooling older ones. I’ve spent most of this month getting my fall arsenal of songs ready, and today I’m sharing a round-up of 7 autumnal favorites.
These songs address a variety of goal areas in addition to focusing on the fall season — you should know by now that most of my songs are multitaskers ;)
Now that the official end of summer is imminent, have you started pulling out all your fall faves? Since I create each session plan a month in advance, I was going through my fall songs and writing new ones way back at the beginning of August. Finally being able to put them to use is exciting!
Historically, October is a very fun time to be a music therapist. Children love singing about all things related to Halloween, which is why I keep writing songs on this topic. This year, I pulled out some oldies, gave them a makeover in the way of updated lyrics and brand-new recordings, and added them to the October session plan.
Welcome! I’m Rachel Rambach, board-certified music therapist and creator of Listen & Learn Music — educational songs and musical materials for children. I love sharing my work with you, along with my behind-the-scenes creative process, adventures in business ownership, and life as a mom of two little ones.
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Session Plans
Next month’s music therapy sessions, early childhood groups, or classroom music…planned for you in advance.
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