Sit With Me Maybe

by | Listen & Learn Music

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.

Peter Piper

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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

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Music Therapy Ed

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!

Friday Fave: ABC Music Therapy Ideas

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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

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To the Bathroom I Go (Instructional Song for Children)

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?