When I think back to my internship, I really do wonder how I made it through those 9 months. As amazing an experience as it was, it was also super stressful — I was learning the ropes of being a professional music therapist, driving all over the city of St. Louis to work with clients, and making the 2-hour drive home on the weekends to teach lessons and lead early childhood classes.
So I honestly can’t imagine how this week’s podcast guest felt during her internship, doing similar work while PREGNANT. What a champ!
In addition to discussing her experience being pregnant while completing her internship, Carrie Friddell talks about her decision to take time off to raise her children, and how she is slowly but surely building up her private practice now that they are a little older in Episode 7 of the Guitars & Granola Bars podcast.
Be sure to check out the show notes page for more information about Carrie, along with links to the resources she mentions in the episode.
Click here to subscribe on iTunes, or search “Guitars & Granola Bars” in the podcast app on your Apple device. Click here to listen and subscribe on Stitcher, or download and search the app on your mobile device.
During a brainstorming session for an upcoming early childhood class, my partner Katey mentioned that she had written a song about monkey sounds. She suggested picking up some cute stuffed monkeys to use as props, which sparked the idea for this song.
I’ve been a longtime fan of the book Eight Silly Monkeys ever since adding it to my singable story collection during my internship. So I took the tune I use for that book and changed up the words, which resulted in a fun new instrument song for our younger kiddos.
Since our early childhood classes have more than five children in them, we usually up the number of monkeys in the song to reflect our class size. I took a quick video of Katey putting this song into action last night:
The monkeys are a huge hit, if you couldn’t tell from the video! We ordered them here, and we use our Remo Gathering Drum (though I think it’s time to invest in an even bigger one!).
P.S. Did you know that you can gain instant access to a vast collection of over 200 songs (mp3, lead sheet, and instrumental track), videos, tutorials, and visual aides, plus ALL new releases from Listen & Learn Music?
I can tell you that Parker’s answer to this question was a resounding YES. He’s been talking about Frosty nonstop since he made his debut in our home at Christmas time, so seeing him in the flesh — er, snow? — was a pretty huge highlight in Parker’s young life.
But Frosty isn’t the only snowman in town these days, thanks to Frozen. We weren’t sure if he would name his snowman Frosty or Olaf, since the latter has been getting a lot of airtime around here lately. Frosty ended up winning out, but his love for Olaf is still strong.
In fact, this song is edging out the almighty “Frosty the Snowman” (which up until now has held the title of the most-sung song at our house).
As we touched down on the runway after a quick Florida vacation yesterday, Parker looked out the window of the plane and exclaimed, “Snow!” He loved the beach and all, but apparently it just can’t compete with the white stuff. He’s in luck, because right now there are 8 inches of it in our backyard.
This mama, however, is over it and ready for spring! We’re going to have to find some new songs to celebrate the sunshine, flowers, and birds singing…any suggestions?
I had the opportunity to speak on a panel about work-life balance at the 2013 AMTA national conference, which turned out to be an informative and wonderful experience for everyone in attendance. It also made apparent just how great the need is in our field for more resources related to this topic.
After the presentation ended, one of the attendees came up and introduced herself. We talked about both of our struggles with work-life balance and how it has nearly led to burnout. We exchanged contact info and kept in touch after the conference — and now I’m so happy to have Laura Theismann on the podcast.
Laura shares the story of finding out she was pregnant, how her son has influenced her work as a music therapist, and the challenges and perks of having a background in child development when it comes to parenting in Episode 6 of the Guitars & Granola Bars podcast.
Be sure to check out the show notes page for more information about Laura, along with links to the resources she mentions in the episode.
Click here to subscribe on iTunes, or search “Guitars & Granola Bars” in the podcast app on your Apple device. Click here to listen and subscribe on Stitcher, or download and search the app on your mobile device.
Sometimes I come across a song I wrote YEARS ago that just needs a little facelift. Bells are for Shaking is definitely one of those songs, because it’s such an effective one for hitting so many different targeted objectives.
When I sing this song with my kiddos, I’m working on following directions, motor skills, identification of left and right hands, and attention to task. As far as they are concerned, they’re just playing bells and having fun (isn’t this the case so often in music therapy!?).
I dug this song out of my archives for the latest session of Listen & Learn for Little Ones, my early childhood music class, which necessitated a new recording to include on the class CD.
Much better than my 2009 version, if I do say so myself! Out of all the “bell” songs I’ve written, this one is probably my favorite…and I’m pretty sure my students feel the same way. Hope you can get some good use out of it, too.
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.
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Click here to subscribe on iTunes, or search “Guitars & Granola Bars” in the podcast app on your Apple device.
