by Rachel | Resources & Tips
Earlier this week as I organized all of my singable stories on the bookshelves of our brand new studio, I took note of my favorites and those that have been most effective in classes and music therapy sessions. Five Little Ducklings ranks in the top 10, although if you ask my son Parker, he will tell you it’s #1.
I’ve shared other Melanie Gerth books here on the blog before, but this one takes the cake for a few reasons. First of all, the ducks: they are big, colorful, and fuzzy. They’ve stood the test of time (I’ve had this book for 7+ years!) and still look good as new. Second, there’s counting involved as in all of her books; I like that there are only five ducks to count and therefore it’s a bit shorter than the others. This fits my younger kiddos’ attention spans — or lack thereof — quite well.
And third, the familiar melody is easy for little ones to learn and remember. I think Parker had the entire song memorized after one or two listens, and he’s 2. (Of course, at this point he could sing it in his sleep, as we listen to it on every single car ride.)
I have used this singable story in my early childhood classes, both with the book and as a standalone song. If you don’t have the actual book, you could make picture cards to go with it or even have your students “act out” the story. Another way to get creative with it is to change the ducklings to other animals and replace “quack, quack, quack” with the appropriate sounds.
I’m on the hunt for some fresh new singable stories to add to my collection, so please share your favorites with me! You can find a whole heap of singable stories I’ve shared right here.
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
It’s a BIG SUMMER for Music Therapy Connections, my private practice and teaching studio. Not only are we moving to our own building next month, but we are also welcoming new members to our team. “Expansion” is the theme of 2015 — both personally and professionally!
We want to kick off all these exciting changes by hosting a Midsummer Music Celebration, and you’re invited. On July 19, our friends, students, clients and their families will gather for music-making and mingling. We’ll host an interactive mini-concert, introduce our new staff, share more about our new location, and enjoy some sweet treats at a reception to follow.
It should be a fun afternoon, so we really hope you’ll join us if you are in the central Illinois area. I’m especially looking forward to it since I’ve been on maternity leave all summer and missing all my wonderful students and families.
One more thing, speaking of growth: we are currently raising funds for a recording studio in our new building. Click here to learn more about why this is such a great opportunity for our students and clients, and how you can contribute!
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
We captured this moment in one of our early childhood classes earlier this month, and it is basically the perfect photo for this blog post. An adorable child decked out in her summer shades, clacking away on castanets — yep, pretty much sums it up!
I’ve mentioned here before that my early childhood music program really took off last summer, which was my impetus for creating the online course Create, Market, Make Music! It covers all the bases I ran while designing and implementing my own program, from the very beginning planning stages to communicating with families after the class is over.
Summer is just around the corner, so now is a great time to get to work creating an early childhood program. The course is concise and action-based, so you can start putting what you learned into practice right away. (It also comes with 3 CMTE credits!)
If you sign up before the end of May, I’ll send you a complimentary copy of my brand-new songbook collection, Ring, Sing, Strum & Drum! Most of the songs in it were written with my early childhood kiddos in mind, so hopefully they will come in handy as you start creating your own classes.
Click here for all the details and to sign up for the course. I’m looking forward to helping you on your path to making music with kids this summer!
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
I’m currently participating in the #MusicTherapyBlogger challenge, hosted by Julie Palmieri at Serenade Designs. This week’s blogging prompt is to write about something that works in our everyday lives as a music therapist, and I didn’t have to think twice about that.
At 38 weeks pregnant, it’s no surprise that I have a GIANT belly. It has been posing quite a challenge for the last couple months or so, but only in these last few weeks has my baby bump made it nearly impossible to effectively play my guitar.
Enter my lovely little Cordoba acoustic-electric tenor ukulele. I got it as a Christmas gift from my parents a few years ago, and it has been a staple in my music therapy sessions, early childhood classes, and gigging adventures ever since. I also find myself picking it up more often than my guitar when I record my songs, which you might have noticed over the last couple years. I love how easy it is to play, the sweet sound it makes, and now more than ever, it’s compact size.
While I have to wear and play my guitar almost completely on my side (making it really interesting to form chords and strum), My ukulele sits on a nice little shelf, aka my belly, and is so light-weight that I can play for a long stretch without it being uncomfortable. I do use a neck strap to keep it from slipping down.
Ukuleles have become pretty trendy in the music therapy world over the last few years, and I had no problem following that trend. Little did I know just how handy it would become late in my pregnancies.
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
Songwriting has always been a big part of my work as a music therapist, because I like to use mainly original compositions in my sessions, groups, and classes. Not a week goes by that I’m not coming up with a new song here and there.
Between just having released a brand-new songbook, hosting a Songwriting Challenge for music therapists, and my clinical work as usual, my professional life has seemed to revolve around songwriting for the last month or so — and I’m okay with that!
One of the questions I’m frequently asked by other music therapists is in regards to my songwriting process. I totally get it, because I love hearing about how others do it, myself. Since this pops up so often in my inbox and in conversations with people who want to become more practiced songwriters, I’ll share how my process looks.
Songwriting is a Ritual
Of course, there are plenty of times when I write a song on the fly during a session (which may or may not make it into my memory bank or get written down/recorded later); but in most cases, songwriting for me has become very ritualistic.
I have a particular set-up that must be in place before I begin: my computer in front of me, my guitar to my right, and my iPhone next to me (in the photo above, I substituted my iPad since I was using my phone to take the picture).
While most of my songwriting takes place at my desk in my office, sometimes I change up the location to either my kitchen island (as you see in the photo) or desk at work.
Before I actually start writing, I make sure my guitar is tuned, that I have all the information I need — like correspondence from a client’s parent/teacher/therapist, any facts I’ll use in my song content, my own notes, etc. — in front of me, and then I’m ready to dive in.
Getting It Down on “Paper”
I’m a digital girl all the way, and since I’ll be accessing my song on my iPad during a session (if it’s not completely memorized) or pulling it up on my computer to record later, the actual writing happens on a template I have created in Pages (the word-processing software for Mac).
I always start with the lyrics, since I want to make sure I’m including all the language needed to address a goal or objective for a client or group. I always have RhymeZone pulled up in my browser for help coming up with rhyming words as I write.
My iPhone comes in handy during the lyrics phase, because I record any melody fragments that manifest using the Voice Memos app. This is an important step, because otherwise I will have completely forget them by the time I’m ready to compose the entire melody and figure out chords.
Once the lyrics are complete, I grab my guitar and start piecing together that melody, often referring back to anything I’ve recorded. This becomes a balancing act, singing and strumming and then keeping my guitar from falling off my lap while typing the chords on my lead sheet. I make sure to check and double-check each line for accuracy after the chords are written.
My finished lead sheet is saved in a Dropbox folder as a PDF, along with all of my other original compositions. That way I can easily pull them up on my iPhone or iPad if needed. I save the original Pages document in a folder on my computer, categorized by song topic or purpose.
Learning My Song
My work is not done yet. Once I’ve finished the lyrics, melody, and chords, it’s time to get familiar with the song as a whole since the writing process is often so choppy. I sing and play through the song several times…as many as needed until I’m completely comfortable with the melody and have established the strum pattern I want to use.
Then I go back to my Voice Memos app and delete any of the fragments I recorded earlier. It’s time to create a draft recording — this is what I’ll use as a reference point when it comes time to record the song “for real”.
The Time Factor
Because I have established such a step-by-step process for writing songs, it really isn’t as time-consuming as you might think. It seems as though the time factor is what holds many music therapists back from writing more of their own songs, which is why I always encourage them to establish a process for themselves.
On average, I would say that it takes me about 45-6o minutes to complete the entire process of writing one song. And at the end of that process, not only do I have the song written, but I also have a completed lead sheet and a quick recording.
Establishing YOUR Process
There are so many ways to write songs, and there are no right or wrong ways of doing so. What works beautifully for me may not appeal to you in the slightest.
What does your songwriting process look like? If it’s all over the place, that’s okay too…it’s all about figuring out what works best with your songwriting style and taking into account your preferred methods for creative processes.
Music therapists, I hope you’ll consider taking the Songwriting Challenge! Click below to learn what it’s all about — and then join me to become a better songwriter while earning CMTE credit.
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
Songwriting, whether for work or just for fun, is one of my favorite things to do. But I won’t lie: it can be a challenge. Finding the time, motivation, and creative energy required to write a good song doesn’t always come easily.
Luckily, I have an advantage in that I’ve been at it for many years now. I always tell people that the more you write, the easier it gets — isn’t that true of just about everything in life? I also create a new early childhood class curriculum every few weeks and work with music therapy clients for whom I write original music.
After hearing from countless music therapists who tell me they want to become better songwriters, I came up with the idea for a songwriting challenge. It’s open to anyone (not just music therapists), and the goal is to inspire participants to exercise their songwriting muscles.
You can read all the details here, or just go ahead and sign up below. The first songwriting prompt will be delivered to your email inbox on Wednesday, April 22!
