Free Download: “Little Red Apples”
This is one of many counting songs I’ve written, which focuses on counting both up to 5 and down from 5. I created simple apple visual aides (using red construction paper and then laminating) which my students can then manipulate as we count.
Click here to download the mp3 and lyrics/chords.
P.S. If you want access to my entire collection of over 200 songs (mp3, lead sheet, and instrumental track), videos, tutorials, and visual aides, plus ALL new releases from Listen & Learn Music, consider joining me over at Listen & Learn Plus!
How Do You Help a Child Cope with Loss?
The other day I read a thought-provoking blog post by a mother of a child on the autism spectrum. She posed the question: “How do you introduce the concept of death to a child who has autism, which means that 1) he has trouble understanding the abstract, and instead focuses on the very real and the very concrete and 2) he is prone to perseverating on issues and can zero in on a single topic for hours, days, or weeks at a time?”
It’s a question without a concrete answer, I’m afraid. After all, it’s difficult enough for most of us to wrap our heads around the idea of death, let alone a child with autism. It’s also something that no one really enjoys talking about, which further complicates the situation.
Reading that blog post took me back a couple of years to a custom music therapy song I wrote. I received an email from a mother of a teenage son with autism (we’ll call him Tim, though that is not his real name) who had just lost his grandmother, who also happened to be his best friend. The grandmother had been ill for some time, and when she passed away, Tim was told that the angels took her to heaven and that people who go to heaven do not come back. Tim didn’t fully understand this, and he communicated his frustration through physical aggression.
Tim’s mother asked me to write a song that not only conveyed this information, but also explained that it is okay to cry and miss his grandmother, but it is not okay to be mean and hurt people because he misses her. Tim loved country music, so I wrote a country song called “Heaven is a Place for the Angels” for him.
Just as every child with autism is unique, so are every family’s spiritual beliefs and ways of coping with loss. This particular song really helped Tim as he grieved, but I would take an entirely different approach with another child. And if that doesn’t quite work, I’ll try another way, and another. Trial and error, I guess, is my best answer. What about you?
The blog I referred to at the beginning of this post is called MOM-NOS (Not Otherwise Specified), and you can read it here.
Sunday Singalong: Picture Schedule Song
This week’s video is super short, but the picture schedule song is an important part of every music therapy session (and certain classes) I lead. It sets the tone and lets my student(s) know what to expect, as well as what my expectations for them are.
The post I refer to in the video is a tutorial on creating schedule cards. Way back when I first started making them (including most of the cards you saw above) I used Boardmaker, but now I prefer finding my own pictures. It’s just more fun that way :)
Now go out and enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend, and I’ll do the same. Happy Labor Day! See you back here soon.
The Green Grass Grew All Around
Admittedly, I didn’t know this song when I first started my career as a music therapist. I quickly learned it, though, after realizing that I might very well be the only person on earth (or at least at The Hope Institute) that didn’t. Because my students requested it so often, I decided to turn a “fun” song into a “fun-ctional” one.
There are three general goal areas I can target this song. They are 1) Color Identification; 2) Memory; and 3) Working as a Group (which falls under the umbrella of social skills). I’ll explain how I address each goal below.
Phew! That is a LOT of words. I’m impressed that I can sing the entire thing from memory, let alone my students :) Here’s a way to make it a little easier while also targeting the goals that I listed above.
Take a piece of light blue posterboard or foamboard. Cover the width of the bottom 6 inches or so with green construction paper, and then you’ve got your grass on the ground and sky above. Color a hole in the middle of the grass section (I just use a brown marker for this). Then comes the fun part: create each item listed in the song — a tree, limb, branch, twig, nest, egg, and bird — using cardstock, markers, construction paper, and whatever else you want. In fact, this makes for a great art project for your students. You may want to laminate the items so that they hold up. Attach a small piece of velcro to the back of each, and the other side of velcro to the posterboard so that they can be easily attached to the correct spot.
Let each student take his or her turn placing an item on the posterboard and identifying the color of that item. With the visual aide, it’s much easier to remember what logically comes next in the song (for you and the students!). At the end of the song, your students have worked as a group to create an entire scene.
If I’m just singing this song for fun with a group and don’t have the resources for the full activity, I’ll pass out green egg shakers and ask the children to shake them only when the “green grass” is mentioned. Talk about impulse control!
Imagine: A New Early Childhood Magazine
Happy September! Today marks not only the beginning of a new month, but also the official release of a brand new early childhood online magazine. Imagine is sponsored by the American Music Therapy Association and edited by Dr. Petra Kern, who serves as president of the World Federation of Music Therapy.
The inaugural issue contains over 50 contributions from 10 countries, including:
- latest research, trends, and clinical strategies
- interactive digital viewing mode
- podcasts, photo stories, teaching episodes
- international “color of us” series
- newsletter archive
- early childhood network platform
- an event calendar
I had the opportunity to contribute a resource list (pg. 91) — a joint effort between myself and Michelle Erfurt — as well as an original podcast on the topic of my Sunday Singalong videos (pg. 93). It is quite an impressive publication, and I hope you’ll take some time to check it out!
Singable Story: Miss Mary Mack
Hand clapping games were all the rage on the playground when I was growing up. “Miss Mary Mack” was one of the first I ever learned, so when I came across this book on Amazon, I couldn’t pass it up. I’m glad I didn’t, because Miss Mary Mack ranks right up there with Down by the Station, Going on a Bear Hunt, and Goodnight Sweet Butterflies as one of my favorite singable stories.
There are a few ingredients that make for a good children’s book in an educational setting. Repetition, alliteration, and rhyme are key, and Miss Mary Mack is chock full of all three. I found a fun little groove in Garageband to serve as accompaniment for the melody:
I know this isn’t the traditional “Miss Mary Mack” tune, but I found it to be a little more melodic (especially important since it’s sung over and over again) than the hand clapping version. No matter how you sing it, this is a great story for kids whether you’re targeting specific learning objectives or just reading it for fun.
Adventures in Music Therapy Internships
I still remember the feeling in my stomach as I headed to St. Louis to begin my internship with Midwest Music Therapy Services. That same mix of nerves and excitement came rushing back today as I embarked on a new adventure: becoming a music therapy internship supervisor.
After months of coordinating, contract writing, and preparation, The Hope Institute is now a university-affiliated internship site for music therapy students at Illinois State University. Getting to this point was a journey in itself, but now is when the fun really begins.
I’ll be writing about my internship experiences (both as intern and supervisor) frequently over the next nine months, and I’d love to hear about yours, too. A few questions to consider:
- What were your greatest challenges?
- What do you wish you had learned more about during your own internship?
- What were the most useful aspects?
- What were your greatest successes or breakthroughs?
It would be interesting to hear the perspective of current interns, long-time professionals, and internship supervisors alike. I’m going to be answering each of these questions individually, but in the meantime, please share your own thoughts in the comments!
Music Therapy Round Table: Podcast Episode 7
Happy Monday, everyone! If you’re like me, you probably need an extra dose of inspiration and motivation at the beginning of a new work week. In that case, I have the perfect thing: a brand-new episode of the Music Therapy Round Table podcast!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Round Table, it is comprised of myself and two other music therapists, Kimberly Sena Moore and Michelle Erfurt. Each month, we choose a topic related to music therapy and then share our thoughts and opinions for other music therapists (and anyone else who might be interested) to hear.
Episode 7 is available today by visiting the Music Therapy Round Table, or you can find us on iTunes. This month we’re talking about how we keep up and improve our music skills, and we also share some input from our listeners, which they provided via Twitter and Facebook. Lots of interesting and innovative ideas — the three of us were so inspired that by the end of the episode, we were ready to go play or sing!
Our podcast is the perfect lunch date, workout partner, and companion for commuting. So go check it out, and hopefully it will inspire you just as much as it did us.
Back to School!
It’s that time of year: many students are returning to school, and so am I. After a nice long summer break, I’m heading back to The Hope Institute for my 4th (!) school year as a music therapist. It’s going to be an exciting one — I’ll be supervising my first-ever music therapy intern. Up until now, my department has been a one-woman show, so it will be nice to finally have some company!
In honor of the new academic year, I’d like to share some school-related songs. These can all be downloaded from my studio album, Time to Sing Hello, which debuted earlier this summer. The first is all about getting there…on the bus, of course!
My favorite thing about going back to school (both when I was a student and now as an employee) is seeing old friends and making new ones. Socializing is a goal area that I address often with my students, so this song comes in handy:
I’m on a tight schedule during the school day! I have classes to see, meetings to attend, and planning to do, which means I need to keep a close eye on the clock. Many kids are learning how to read the clock for themselves, which is exactly why I wrote the next tune:
There’s one thing that must be done before it’s time to say goodbye and head home for the day, and that is cleaning up. Almost everyone knows the old “Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere” song, but I got tired of that one and came up with my own:
Check out the rest of my school-friendly tunes here. For those of you who are getting back into the swing of the school year, good luck! It can be a stressful time, but it can also be lots of fun.
A Drum Song for Seth
Seth loved drums. It didn’t matter what kind – if he could use a mallet or his hand to make a big sound, he was a happy camper. What Seth didn’t love was following his music therapy schedule and completing his work. On the rare occasion that he did finish a task, he was rewarded with the chance to play a drum. His face would light up and he would say “Boom, boom!” as he played, which is what gave me the idea for a song that would serve two purposes.
All this time, I had been using the drum only as a reward. Why hadn’t I thought to incorporate the drum into Seth’s goal-based interventions? (The answer to that question: because I was an intern, and I still had a lot to learn.) One of Seth’s IEP goals was to count to 20, and I was determined for him to achieve it with the help of the drum. At that point in my young career, I hadn’t written many songs of my own. But this one worked, so I still use it today.
Boom, boom!
We can count to twenty.
Let’s start with number one.
Boom, boom!
We can count to twenty,
While we play our drum!
1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16,
17, 18, 19, 20!
I used a paddle drum just like the one pictured above when I sang this song with Seth. He held the mallet, and I held the drum up only when it was his turn to play (during the “Boom, boom!” lines and as he counted). Not only did Seth achieve his goal, but he wanted to count even higher so that he had more chances to play the drum!
This song took the work out of counting, just as music so often does for tasks that might otherwise be mundane or frustrating for children. The key is figuring out the motivating factor. I may have helped teach Seth to count to 20, but I owe Seth big time for teaching me this important lesson.
Using Music to Teach…Physics?
I use music to teach a variety of concepts on a daily basis, from money to making friends to telling time. These are basic skills that every child learns one way or another, but learning through music is not something students learn as a part of getting their teaching degree. Learning through music is also not limited to elementary subject matter. When I was in 8th grade, I took an advanced algebra class in which we learned the quadratic formula. To this day, I can still spout it out. You know the tune “Pop! Goes the Weasel”, right?
♫ X equals negative B, plus or minus the square root of B squared minus 4AC, all over 2A ♫
I don’t have any use for this knowledge now, but the fact is that almost 15 years later, I still have it — because I learned through song. The same goes for the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution (“We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…”), the 50 states, and so on. A catchy song is so much more “sticky” than a textbook page when it comes to both short- and long-term memory, which is why music is such an effective teaching tool.
In addition to my work as a music therapist, I write custom songs for children to target specific skills and concepts. I also put together custom CDs, one of which I created this past weekend for my nephew. Mason turned 2, and for his birthday, I wanted to do something special for him. He LOVES music, so when he heard all of these songs with his name in them, about all of his favorite things (especially drums), he was ecstatic.
Mason’s party was held at the St. Louis Zoo, and we played the CD while we ate cake and ice cream in the discovery room. As the party was winding down, one of the employees came over to tell me how much she enjoyed the CD. She then proceeded to explain how much she loves music, and that she used songs to teach her children all kinds of things as they were growing up. When her son was in college and struggling before a physics test, she set the key information to music. Her son learned the “physics song” his mom wrote, and in turn, aced his exam.
Bottom line? Music can help teach just about any skill or concept, whether it’s as basic as tying a shoelace or as complicated as college physics.