Just a Song Sunday: Practical Application

It's time to start putting all of the things that I've been writing about into actual practice. Next week, I start a new way of doing therapy with some of my students. We are going to do one station - explore - while others are doing some active musicking with me on the carpet. I will be monitoring what all of my clients are doing and will also be using the music to support and promote specific actions and responses from all of them.

I intend to run different songs during center times - each group that spends time with me on the carpet will have music that is shaped to them and that will be different than the music for the other group that comes to see me. Everyone will be able to hear all of the music, so it should work well to have different music for the different groups, but I haven't actually tried this particular setup yet, so I'm not exactly sure how things will end up going.

We are starting this by making some shakers in the explore center. I'm going to sit with two thirds of the students on the carpet and do some music stuff. We're probably going to spend some time playing instruments and singing familiar songs while the other third of the students are at the explore center putting different things into bottles to make simple shakers. The point of all this is to familiarize the staff members with what I expect them to do during center time. I will have to have staff support to make this work.

My vision of all of this includes using song to link all of the things happening at centers with what is going on in our therapeutic focus. My ideal session would include music selected to support a theme but shaped around behaviors of the group members present. So, let's say the theme is mittens (that's one of the themes for next month). The explore center would include using mittens in the sensory box to sift or use instruments. The listen center includes the two stories (read and sung) that we are going to focus on - The Three Little Kittens and The Mitten (the Ukrainian version). The learn center will include a sequencing board for animals and a mitten puzzle. Time with me will include repetition of the songs that we are using, along with additional mitten songs, or familiar songs that support the idea of what is happening with group members.

It will be my job, as the therapist, to adapt the elements of music to the group members present. So, one session may have an upbeat tempo that lasts from beginning to end. Another session may be more relaxed with a slower tempo. It will all depend on the clients present.

I'll try to remember to write an update next week about this first week with a new format. It's time to move theory into practice. 

Thanks for reading.