"NTM" TME for Fall - Autumn Rondo

It is FINALLY that time of year!! I love it when the hot humidity of our summers turn into the cool, crisp, foggy mornings of Autumn! We currently have overnight temperatures in the 40's (Fahrenheit, by the way) and highs in the 70's. This is weather paradise as far as I am concerned!

Due to this, I am feeling all things Autumn! Now, I do NOT like anything pumpkin, so I am not enjoying the pumpkin spice type of haze that goes over this time of year, but I am using this change in season to develop some "new to me" therapeutic music experiences (AKA "NTM" TMEs!).

We are doing a rondo this week - a simple idea, but one that has morphed into completely different results in the three groups that have done it so far. We've done a body percussion Autumn rondo and an instrumental rondo with word chanting and an Orff soloist. Some of my students have just played - we've never made it into a rondo, but some of them have demonstrated awareness of what a rondo is and how the rondo works. This is a big step for us as an entire group!!

Here are the details for the body percussion variation of this idea...

We start off talking about the season. (Assessment - can students identify the time of year??) We name things that happen only in this season. (Assessment - do students identify things that are unique to Autumn?) For my students who do not verbalize, I have some Autumn word visuals that I got as part of a Music Therapy Mailings packet a couple of years ago. (Assessment - does the student scan the entire page or simply point randomly.) We select one of the words and identify the number of syllables in the word. (Assessment - language concepts.) We link the word to a body percussion pattern that includes the same number of syllables in the pattern. (A - number concepts and motor coordination.) We practice. (A - sequencing, motor coordination, entrainment to external stimulus, and group awareness.) We then repeat with a new word, adding the sequence step of layering the two body percussion patterns together. (A - sustained attention, auditory figure-ground discrimination, and motor coordination.) We continue until we have reached our layer limit (it varies between groups - some can do two layers and others can do five - it depends on attention of individual group members...)

With some groups, we link the syllables to patterns that we play as background figures while the person who selects the word plays an Orff instrument solo. Sometimes, we also slip into just making music without the theme - that's fine, if that's what my clients need in the moment.

The best thing about this sort of TME? It can fit just about anything! Gotta love it.

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