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!
Friday Fave: Bob Ross Remixed
My dad shared this video on Facebook yesterday, and after I started watching it, I instantly knew I had my topic for today’s “Friday Fave” post.
If you’re over the age of 25, then there’s a pretty good chance you watched Bob Ross on PBS growing up. I know my brother and I did; in fact, we probably saw every single episode. We loved quoting all of his catch phrases, especially when he’d say “beat the devil out of it” when washing off his paint brush.
Maybe we did poke fun at him a little, but truth is, he loved what he did and it showed. The fact that he’d complete a brand new painting from start to finish on every episode never ceased to amaze me, and really, it made me want to paint, too! If that’s not inspirational, I don’t know what is.
“I believe every day’s a good day when you paint.”
Insert “make music” and that basically sums up my outlook on life. Now I just need to come up with some memorable catch phrases. Hmm…
Raise your hand (or click the “like” button below) if you loved Bob Ross, too!
Peter Piper
This week, instead of writing a brand-new song, I decided to give myself a different kind of challenge. One of my music therapy students is working on several speech goals, so we’ve been doing some “tongue twister” songs in her sessions.Peter Piper is a classic example of such, which brought to mind a version I sang with my vocal trio in college.
The arrangement is a tricky one, especially when you’re singing all three parts at a fairly bright tempo. My recording is far from perfect, but I sure did have fun learning and singing it!
I can’t wait to play this for my student later in the week — hopefully it will inspire to keep up her fantastic progress on our much slower version of this perfectly practical, “p”-plentiful tongue twister.
Friday Fave: MusicTherapyEd.com
If you’re a music therapist who partakes in any sort of social media activity (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), then you’ve surely heard about the launch of MusicTherapyEd.com. And if you haven’t, well…I’m about to fill you in!
Kat Fulton is a music therapist in San Diego who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know both through social media and in person at conferences over the last several years. The resources she has created for the music therapy and drumming communities — including her blog, drumming DVD, and CMTE courses — are nothing short of impressive, and now she’s added to that list with her latest venture.
MusicTherapyEd.com offers on-demand continuing education for music therapists (and anyone else who is interested in learning about the available topics) through video courses that are available 24/7. Current courses include There’s An App for That, Stop Burnout Before It’s Too Late, Reimbursement & Funding for Music Therapy Services: Private Insurance, Music Therapy Marketing 101, and MTs & SLPs: Collaboration and Co-Treatment in Pediatric Clinics. You can read about each course and instructor here.
Aside from AMTA National Conference, I don’t have much opportunity to travel to CMTE trainings throughout the year because of my busy work schedule. I love that more and more courses are becoming available online, and I have a feeling that MusicTherapyEd.com is going to become my go-to source for continuing education. Big props to Kat and her instructors for such an awesome resource!
It’s Okay to Cry
As a kid, I was never a crier. My mom used to say that she could count on one hand the number of times she saw me cry when I was younger, and she was probably right. Something always stopped me from letting my feelings out.
I see the same thing happen with my students quite often. Music therapy and even music lessons can be emotional at times, and I can tell when a child or young adult is on the verge of tears. They usually try to hold them back and keep themselves together, but I always encourage my students to share how they’re feeling — even if it means letting the tears fall.
I remember feeling embarrassed every time I cried as a child, even if it was just in front of my parents or best friend. But as I say in the song, everybody cries and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
I’ve learned that crying can be cathartic…it really does help us face whatever we’re feeling sad about. I wrote this song so that we can teach that to our students and children. Choking back tears is no fun, as I know all too well!
Whenever It Rains
The timing of this song is a little ironic, since we haven’t had rain here in central Illinois for what seems like weeks now. But I wrote the lyrics a couple of months ago and felt inspired to finish the song over the weekend, so maybe if I sing it a whole lot, we’ll actually get some sprinkles? Wishful thinking, I know ;)
The lyrics came to me in the midst of a huge thunderstorm, during which it thundered so hard my whole house shook. I like a good rain from time to time, so it didn’t bother me, but the storm got me thinking about how bad weather affects people — adults and kids alike.
I wanted to put a positive spin on the weather by acknowledging that it can make us feel blue, but we can look to those we love to make us feel better. This is especially true for little ones who need some comforting during scary storms.
Now, if only I had a reason to share this song with my students. Come on, rain!
Friday Fave: ABC Music Therapy Ideas
Now is a better time than ever to be a music therapist, I tell ya! The blogosphere is chock-full of amazing music therapists who are willing to share their ideas and resources with the rest of us.
Last week I told you about Amy Kalas and her wonderful e-book, Tuneful Teens, and this week I have another great resource to fill you in on. Rachel Smith is a music therapist in Texas who has a private practice, Music Therapy Services of Austin. I’m always impressed by her blog, and am loving her latest series: ABC Music Therapy Ideas.
Each post in this series is based on a letter of the alphabet and related in some way to music therapy. Topics so far have included Advocacy, “B” songs, CMTEs, Drumming, Explore Music Therapy, Facebook, Guitar, Horseback Rider and Hula Hoop, iPad, “Jump in the Line”, Kickstarter, and Loopz. Phew! There’s so much information and so many great ideas for the practicing music therapist, it will definitely take you a while to get through them all.
In addition to her blog series, Rachel also offers musical e-books, inspiration kits, and freebies. This is definitely a site to bookmark and come back to again and again. Thanks, Rachel, for offering such an array of useful tools for the rest of us!
To the Bathroom I Go
It didn’t take long for me to learn that as a music therapist working with children who have special needs, one goal area I’d be addressing often is bathroom routines.
Handwashing, teeth brushing, bath taking…those are the easy ones. But toileting is a little more tricky, not to mention a little less fun. However, it’s a goal I’ve been working on with students since my first day on the job, and I’m still at it five years later.
The key to a good “potty” song is that it must be detailed yet tasteful enough so that parents, teachers and others feel comfortable singing it. To the Bathroom I Go is repetitive and the melody is simple, as you’ll hear below.
This is a reworking of the original potty song I wrote years and years ago, and since it’s proven to be effective many times, I didn’t make too many changes. While some of the lyrics may induce a giggle or blush, I think they strike the balance I mentioned earlier.
Plus, it’s a catchy little song that — like it or not — you’ll probably be singing all day long. What are your favorite songs on this unavoidable topic?
Friday Fave: Tuneful Teens
When I first started out as a new music therapist, the population that intimidated me the post was the tween and teen crowd. I felt very comfortable working with children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, but it took me awhile to feel just as comfortable with the older students.
Even today, it takes more effort to plan a music therapy session for teens than it does for my younger kiddos. They can be just a little harder to engage, not to mention they don’t always think my interventions and activities are “cool” enough!
That’s why I was so excited when my friend and fellow music therapist Amy Kalas launched her e-book, Tuneful Teens: Creative Ideas for Engaging Adolescents in Music Therapy. It is chock full of intervention ideas, song ideas, sheet music, and templates for a variety of activities that are appropriate and engaging for teens.
The book is divided into categories (musical games, instrument jams, social skills, songwriting, move and groove, relaxation) and Amy provides everything you need — step by step procedures, templates, sheet music, etc. — to implement the interventions in your music therapy sessions.
I highly recommend Amy’s book, and also want to give her a shout-out for celebrating the first year of her wonderful blog, Wholesome Harmonies. It has grown leaps and bounds since last year, and I’m excited to watch it continue to do so!
Find Your Name
Like so many others, this song was written specifically for one of my music therapy students. She is working on identifying her name from a field of several others, so now we sing Find Your Name at the beginning of each music therapy session.
The visual I use is pictured above, and was super easy to make. I just printed a simple sign I made using Pages, slipped it into a page protector, and then attached Velcro dots to the front and back where you see the name cards. There are also Velcro dots on the other side of each card.
I made several cards so that I can switch them out each week, which makes finding her name just a little bit more challenging for my student. The simple song is short and lets her know exactly what is expected of her.
I have started using this song with quite a few of my other students as well, though for some, a field of 4 is a little too overwhelming. But that’s an easy fix — I just remove 1 or 2 cards as needed, and will gradually increase the field as they start to recognize their names more easily.
What songs, visuals, and other resources do you use to help your students pick their names out of a crowd?
Friday Fave: Third Floor Music Festival
Can I tell how you excited I am about tonight? The Third Floor Music Festival is an event being put on by our local arts center here in Springfield, and I’m thrilled to be included in the lineup.
10 of Springfield’s most talented musical acts will be performing at the festival, and frankly, I’m still a little stunned (in a good way) that Rachel & Matt is one of them. After all, Matt and I have only been playing together for a little over 8 months, and we don’t have the name recognition the other acts do just yet. But we’re working on it, and hopefully playing in the festival tonight will help with that!
Each act plays for 30 minutes, with the exception of the headlining band, who will play for 90 minutes. Matt and I have chosen 8 of our original songs to showcase during our set, and have been practicing every night this week to get them down solid. 3 of those songs are less than a month old and have not yet been performed live.
For those of you Springfield friends reading this, we’ll take the stage at around 7:15 pm and would LOVE to see you there! The buzz has been going strong and we’re hoping for a huge turnout. It’s going to be a fun night…doesn’t get much better than 7 solid hours of live music performed by local musicians!