by Rachel | Uncategorized
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!
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
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!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
For a while now, I’ve heard about and seen stretchy bands in action, but had never actually tried them. Boy, have I been missing out!
I was thrilled when Janet Stephens (owner of Bear Paw Creek, the makers of the stretchy band) and her sister Kathy Schumacher (music therapist and owner of Tuneful Teaching) reached out to be about creating a stretchy band-specific song. Of course I immediately said yes, and got to work.
Movin’ In the Circle is designed to be used in a group setting, using the stretchy band while seated on the floor. There are all kinds of movements that can be done in this manner, and the song lists just a few:
I’m already excited about the possibility of writing an entire series of stretchy band songs, because they can be used in SO many different ways. If you haven’t already, please make sure to check them out for yourself. I’ve only been using mine for a couple of weeks now, but they are already a huge hit with my students!
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Kathy Schumacher
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Today I want to share one of my most frequently used web-based resources of all time: RhymeZone. I discovered this website shortly after I started writing my own music therapy songs, and still use it every single time I write a new song.
There are probably plenty of rhyming tools out there, but I like this one for its simplicity. All you do is type a word into the box and hit the “search” button — then all of the rhyming words pop up, organized by number of syllables. Not only can you search for perfect rhymes, but other searches available are near rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and more.
I just discovered that RhymeZone now has an app available for $2.99, which might come in handy for songwriting on the go. But since I write all of my songs on my Macbook, I’ll stick with the web version. When I write a song, I keep RhymeZone open in my browser from start to finish and probably use it at least 20 times before the lyrics are finished.
Have you used this site, or do you have another favorite rhyming tool? I’m always looking for new songwriting resources…so if you have ’em, send ’em my way!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I LOVE the ukulele. So of course I was super excited when my friend and mentor Lisa sent me a link to this book, which is available for free in the iBookstore.
I immediately downloaded the book, but then got distracted and completely forgot to take a look…until a couple of weeks ago, while sitting on an airplane with my iPad in my lap. Shockingly, my husband wasn’t as amused with the book as I was — but I think you will be!
The illustrations are great and the story is perfect for any child who has tried or is currently learning to play an instrument. I have so many students who really, really want to be able to play well, but they don’t quite understand that it takes a lot of hard work to get there.
Izzy doesn’t understand that at first, either; like my kiddos, she’s frustrated that she can’t make the ukulele sound good on day 1. But the more she practices, the better it sounds, and the story has a happy ending :) I plan to share this book with many of my own students.
The author of the book is Mollycules, and from the looks of her website, she has some other great books I’ll be checking out soon. You can download the book for free here or buy a hard copy on Amazon.
