This is where all of my interests and skills are combined for one purpose: to make peoples’ lives better through music. Whether it’s through my original songs, serving my community through my business, or singing with my children, this is my favorite place to share my musical endeavors. Thank you for visiting, and I hope to get to know you better.
Performances
Events
Videos
Members of Listen & Learn Plus have access to ALL of my songs, resources, and session plans. Learn more about the perks of membership, and get a free sneak peek inside.
This is the book that will help you shape your music therapy career in order to make more money and live your ideal lifestyle.
Written by Listen & Learn Music creator Rachel Rambach, MM, MT-BC, Innovative Income for Music Therapists combines her own experiences with those of other trailblazing music therapists to illustrate the virtually endless ways in which to generate revenue using your unique training, knowledge and skills.
Let’s Connect on Instagram
What Junebug Got For Christmas
It was a great Christmas in the Rambach household, particularly for the one of us who isn’t born yet. Zach and I got plenty of great presents from each other and our families, of course, but it was great to get a head start on baby supplies and accessories.
The entire box you see above is completely filled with clothes, toys, bath supplies, and other completely adorable (and gender-neutral…notice no pink or blue!?) things for Junebug. But that wasn’t all we got.
I also got some thoughtful baby-related gifts from my students, like these two books. I thought it was so sweet of my student, Annie, to choose two of her favorite books from when she was a baby for Junebug.
Zach received some reading material, too! I absolutely LOVE this book gifted to him from his siblings — it definitely applies to this iEverything addict. I’m going to have to remind him to read it on a regular basis pretty soon. In addition to this book, he also received The Expectant Father and Quarterback Dad: A Play-By-Play Guide To Tackling Your New Baby.
I am in no way whatsoever a fan of football, but Zach is a HUGE Chicago Bears fan. I couldn’t resist picking up a couple cute outfits I came across at Target just before Christmas. We still don’t know whether Junebug is a girl or boy, but I figured they can be worn either way. I think Sadie was a little jealous of all the attention the baby is already receiving, poor puppy.
I didn’t take pictures of ALL our baby-related gifts, but there were lots of others. One of my favorites is the diaper bag my best friend Katie gave me. She is always giving me very extravagant gifts, so I shouldn’t be surprised that it is a Coach bag. I’m going to be a stylish mom…well, at least as far as the diaper bag goes :) I also received plenty of maternity clothes that, in addition to all the clothes my sister-in-law Rebecca gave me, will get me through the rest of my pregnancy.
This is only a taste of being a family with a baby. We were definitely reminded enough times to enjoy the last relatively quiet holiday of our lives. I can only imagine what next Christmas is going to look like!
Weekly Bump
As soon as we found out I was pregnant, Zach suggested that we take weekly photos to document my growing belly. It was also his idea to pose with the corresponding-sized fruit each week…pretty creative, right?
I’ve had a couple friends (both whom also happen to be pregnant) ask if I was going to start wearing a shirt once I got bigger, which I thought was hilarious :) And also an excellent idea. When I was 4 weeks pregnant and still had a flat belly, going shirtless didn’t seem like a big deal at all, but as I’ve grown, I’m getting a little more self-conscious.
I have 4 weeks to go before I hit the halfway mark (and get to find out the sex for sure!) which seems just unbelievable. There have been times when this pregnancy has seemed to crawl by at a snail’s pace, but other times, it’s like time has flown.
These photos will be so much fun to look back at near the end and after the baby is born. Right now I can’t even imagine having a huge belly, but it does get bigger with each passing week. I’ll know exactly how it feels soon enough, that’s for sure!
From Our Family To Yours…
14 Weeks
I got to take a surprise peek at Baby Rambach this week! There was lots of moving around and kicking, and in this picture, the baby is waving at me. I also got to hear the heartbeat, which was 168 bpm.
After the ultrasound technician made sure that everything looked okay, I asked if she could tell whether I’m growing a little boy or little girl. She said she saw a little something between the legs, and that if she had to guess at this point, she’d say it was a boy. However, my doctor told us not to buy anything just yet…they told her the same thing about her baby at 14 weeks, and then at 20 weeks they told her she was actually having a girl.
Up until then, I was convinced that I was having a girl. But when I heard “boy” I got super excited — I will be thrilled either way. We’ll know for sure in about a month!
Maui Wowi!
2012 has definitely been the year of amazing vacations. Our tour of Europe back in August was the trip of a lifetime, but last week’s Maui vacation was a close second.
I have never seen a more naturally beautiful, tropical or peaceful setting than Maui. My family vacationed in Honolulu when I was in high school, but this part of Hawaii was completely different. Of course, the resorts and pools were gorgeous, but the mountains, beaches, ocean, sunrises and sunsets were the real shining stars.
As usual, Zach took plenty of photos to document our trip. It will always be really special to both of us, not just because we had such an amazing time, but because it was our first “family” vacation — technically, Baby R. was along for the ride :)
One of the things we noticed was that there were LOTS of families with babies and young children in Maui, which already has my wheels turning for a return trip in the coming years.
It was definitely hard coming back to freezing temps and the bleak Midwest after a week in paradise, but we have plenty to keep us busy between getting ready for Christmas, playing with Sadie (who we always miss SO much while we’re away), and preparing for a very exciting new year!
Plus One
See that little lei I’m holding? It’s on reserve for Baby Rambach…arriving in June! Zach took that photo during our Maui vacation last week to announce our pregnancy, and now the word is out!
Of course, we’ve known about our little “plus one” for awhile now; the big fat positive sign appeared on October 6. I had been telling Zach for almost two weeks that I could just tell I was pregnant, and of course, he thought I was only setting myself up for disappointment — especially since we had just started trying that month.
As in most cases, I ended up being right, and we let our families in on the secret right away. It was really hard keeping the news to myself otherwise, so I told some friends along the way. But we waited until we hit the 13-week mark to make it “Facebook Official” and I am super relieved to have the news (and my tiny little BUMP) out in the open.
Our due date is June 14, just a little over a week after my 30th birthday. I always pictured having a little June baby just like me, and now it’s actually becoming a reality. I couldn’t be happier or feel more blessed, especially since I have an amazing partner in Zach, who is going to be an amazing dad.
The next six months are probably going to fly by, but I’m going to try and post here regularly as the pregnancy progresses and Baby Rambach gets closer and closer to making his/her arrival!
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.
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!
I Can Do It By Myself
A fellow music therapist recently posted on a Facebook forum that he was in search of songs or interventions about performing tasks independently. I commented that I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head, but that it sounded like a great topic for a Listen & Learn song. After all, I have plenty of students with goals related to performing tasks independently. And that’s how “I Can Do It By Myself” came to be.
Naturally, the tasks that I chose to include this song are all musical: playing the drum, playing the piano, and playing the bells. But because the song is so very simple, just about any task (including movement, item manipulation, etc.) can be substituted to accommodate a child’s specific goals.
So many of the songs I’ve written have come about because other music therapists have either mentioned or specifically requested topics. Feel free to send your suggestions and requests my way…coming up with new subject matter every single week can be a bit of a challenge!
Colors All Around
This week’s song topic comes courtesy of my mother-in-law, a special education teacher who works with young children. Every month I make her a CD of Listen & Learn songs to use in her classroom, and she creates amazing visual supports to accompany the songs.
This weekend I asked her what kinds of goals her students were working on, and she gave me a long list. At the top of it was learning the basic colors, and since I hadn’t written a color song in a while, the choice was easy.
Colors All Around focuses on the colors of the rainbow — though I simplified a bit, leaving out indigo and substituting violet with purple. I included three examples of each color and envision the song being used as a sort of “I Spy” game.
When it came to recording this week, I kept it super simple. Guitar and vocals, a throwback to the original Listen & Learn song style. This one is all about the lyrics, after all. Which songs about color are you digging lately?