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Friday Fave: Autism Emotion App

A few years back, I had the privilege of creating and recording music for Model Me Kids, a company that creates modeling videos to help children with autism learn social skills. My original songs narrate the Model Me Faces and Emotions and Model Me Going Places DVDs.

Now there’s an app based on the “Faces and Emotions” DVD for both iPhone and iPad: Autism Emotion, which you can download for free in the iTunes store. It’s a great visual teaching tool for helping children learn about different emotions through photos, text, narration, and music.

The app includes four of the emotions featured in the DVD. Each emotion contains a photo slide show of a child experiencing a specific emotion, and you can play the song I wrote for each emotion as well.

I downloaded this app yesterday, and though I may be a little biased, I think it’s a great resource for enhancing my work on the topic of emotions. It’s free, so check it out for yourself…and if you use other apps to help your kiddos learn about emotions, please share!

Thunder & Raindrops

Last week as I was putting together the fall curriculum for Church Mice — the music and movement class for young children I’ve led for the past 6 years — I realized I was in need of some new “rhythm sticks” songs.

We play several instruments during the 45 minute class, and rhythm sticks are one of them. But nothing in my song collection was jumping out at me, so I decided to write a new one. That particular day it had been storming on and off all morning, which inspired Thunder & Raindrops.

When I introduced this song at Church Mice for the first time yesterday, I had the children practice making both thunder and raindrop sounds by playing their sticks on the floor. Thunder was loud, slow and steady, while raindrops were quick and a little softer (or as soft as three-year-olds will play).

I arranged the recording to reflect the difference in sound from thunder to raindrops, but it’s so much more fun to play in person with a big group of kids! I highly recommend giving it a try if you have the opportunity.

Listen & Learn Turns 4!

Four years ago today, I sat down at my computer, came up with the name Listen & Learn Music, started a blog using Google Blogger, and wrote this post. I can’t believe I actually remembered to celebrate today — it usually dawns on me a couple of weeks later — but here I am, writing the 1,044th blog post on Listen & Learn’s 4th birthday!

Just for fun, I visited the Way Back Machine and captured a screenshot of the blog when it was just one month old. Needless to say, the look has changed just a little over the past four years.

In August of 2010, I made the switch from Google Blogger to WordPress, which opened up a whole new world for Listen & Learn. Here are some other blogging highlights since September 4, 2008:

November 2008: I was given the opportunity to make my songs available on Songs For Teaching, one of the most popular websites for educational music.
June 2009: I started a membership site, Listen & Learn Plus, which now has over 100 members.
November 2009: A songbook made up of songs from the Listen & Learn collection, was published by my now-colleague and good friend, Michelle Erfurt.
July 2010: I released a studio album, Time to Sing Hello, which was funded by donations made via Kickstarter by Listen & Learn readers and supporters.
January 2011: In a moment of what can only be described as pure insanity, I made a New Year’s resolution to blog EVERY DAY for a year.
January 2012: I completed my goal of 365 blog posts in 365 days, and shared my New Year’s resolution for 2012 — to write a new Listen & Learn song each week for an entire year.

This blog has connected me with hundreds of amazing people, including other music therapists, fellow bloggers, songwriters, educators, and parents. I am inspired every day to keep writing songs not only for my students, but for the students and children of those who visit Listen & Learn. What started as a little hobby is now a full-blown business…but it doesn’t feel like work at all.

I can’t thank you enough for your encouragement, comments, tweets, “likes” and purchases over the years. I feel like this is just the beginning of what has so far been a wonderful adventure!

The Five Senses

Writing this song was meant to be, as I found out upon returning from Europe last week. First, my sister-in-law asked me if I had a song about the five senses (for my nephew’s classroom) on the way home from the airport, and then I came home to an email from a reader requesting this very topic. Fate, I tell you!

I had fun writing this song, and envision it being used interactively. During the middle section, the verse just SCREAMS for the song to be paused so that students can identify what they see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. You’ll understand what I mean once you take a listen:

With school in full swing for most kiddos, I’m expecting lots of requests for songs that are educational in nature. That makes my job much easier, since it takes a little more effort to come up with new and in-demand topics during the summer months.

The Lollipop Bop

Last summer, my nephew Mason came over for a little music-making session with his aunt Rachel. My father-in-law caught some of the action on camera, including the photo above of Mason playing away on the lollipop drum.

I’ve been using this instrument a LOT lately in my music therapy sessions, which inspired me to write The Lollipop Bop. It’s the first lollipop drum-specific tune in my collection, and I’m digging it! Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

The song has a bit of a retro feel to it, right? It just makes me want to pick up a lollipop drum and bop along to the music. Unfortunately I won’t have a chance to try it out with my students until the fall session begins next week, but I’m already looking forward to doing so!

Off to School!

It’s that time again: most of my students are off to school today! So in honor of this momentous occasion, I decided to give one of my older songs a bit of a facelift.

I wrote “Off to School” way back in 2009, and you can read the original blog post here. It’s been a staple at this time of year ever since, and I figured that because I get so much use out of it, many of you probably can too.

Feelings are mixed amongst my students about returning to school. While many of them are excited to see their friends again, some are struggling with academic and social anxiety. These feelings are completely normal, and will hopefully dissipate over the first few days and weeks.

While my kiddos are off to school today, I’m enjoying another beautiful day in Italy! Make sure to stop my by personal blog for a daily recap (with photos) of my travels.

The Goodnight Song

The end of the summer means getting back into the routine not only of waking up for school in the morning, but also of going to sleep on time. I remember being a kid and dreading the earlier bedtime that came along with the start of a new school year, and I know children everywhere are feeling the same right about now.

This is the first “goodnight” song I’ve written, and while I wanted it to be appropriate for bedtime, I didn’t want to go all out lullaby. It has a bit of a groove to it, but the overall vibe is chill. I know it makes me want to do exactly what the little girl in the picture is doing!

I’m not in school anymore (nor do I work in one any longer), but I still find myself going to bed earlier once the end of August hits. I suppose it’s just one way of showing camaraderie with my students :)

Seven Days in a Week

With the school year beginning in just a few weeks, I’ve had classroom topics on the brain. I know that calendar songs are part of the daily routine in many classrooms, so I’m adding one more to my long list of ’em.

Seven Days in a Week lists each day of the week several times throughout the song so that it helps children not only learn the names of each day, but also the order. The song also touches on the difference between weekdays and weekends. Take a listen:

This song can be used in conjunction with a “Today Is” kind of song (I have always used this one) or just as a standalone.

After working in a school for several years, I’ve heard MANY songs about the days of the week — and I know they can get old pretty quickly if you hear them every day. That’s why I’m all about revisiting topics I’ve already written songs for and providing lots of options. In my experience, using a different song to address a long-term goal can be just what a child needs to finally master it.

What are your favorite “days of the week” and other calendar songs?

Friday Fave: Instagram

Instagram

When it comes to apps that are not directly related to music and music therapy, Instagram has quickly become my new favorite. In fact, I much prefer my iPhone to my camera (even the fancy new one my husband and I just bought) these days so that I can ‘gram my pics immediately.

Although I use Instagram mostly to share photos of my dog, yummy food, and other random things, I have seen other music therapists using it to give us an insight into their work day. (Two such friends who come to mind are Rachel See Smith and David Symons.)

I must admit, ever since downloading this app, I find myself going out of my way for opportunities to take Instagram-worthy photos. I’ll have plenty of opportunities in a couple of weeks, when my husband and I jet off to Europe :)

You can find me on Instagram by searching for @rachelrambach, and you can also check out my weekly photo round-ups over at my personal blog. Feel free to share your Instagram handle in the comments!

Sit With Me Maybe

I struggled this week to come up with a song topic. Some weeks I have so many ideas that it’s difficult to narrow them down; well, this wasn’t one of ’em. After sitting at my desk racking my brain for almost an hour, I decided to take a little Facebook break.

I’m so glad I did, because the inspiration for the song was right in front of my eyes. Someone had posted the lyrics to the immensely popular hit “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, which just so happens to be the overwhelming favorite in my studio at the moment.

With my kiddos getting ready to go back to school in a few weeks, we have been really focused on social skills — eye contact, making friends, having conversations, etc. — and I’m very much in need of some new material on these topics. So with a little help from Carly Rae, Sit With Me Maybe came to be:

My husband LOVES the original version of this song. So after I played it for him yesterday, he immediately sent it out to all of his friends who have kids and insisted on playing it for his entire family. I wish he would react to ALL my songs that way ;)

I had a lot of fun trying to recreate the instrumentation for this song, and while it’s far from perfect, I think Carly Rae would dig it. I hope my students do, too!

Note: this song is intended for educational and therapeutic purposes only. It is not meant to parody the original “Call Me Maybe” — it is simply an adaptation geared towards addressing goals such as communication, peer interaction and social skills.