TME Tuesday - Who's Afraid of Thunder?
It's time for some nostalgia. I am a big fan of children's programming - Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, and Captain Kangaroo. I grew up with this type of programming, so it seems that my propensity towards music therapy was shaped at a very early age by these very shows. The use of music to teach nonmusical concepts is one that I know down deep in my bones. How did we get from TME Tuesday to this discussion, you may ask?
It is raining outside. Not only is it raining, it is thundering.
My mother has, for years and years, sung bits and pieces of a song that she first heard on Captain Kangaroo. She couldn't remember the entire thing, and those phrases have stuck in my head for those same years and years. Today just seemed to be a good day to go on a search. I am still sitting at home, unable to be around people, so what else do I have to do?
I was not able to find the Captain Kangaroo version of the song, but here is a YouTube link to Experiment Songs - Who's Afraid of Thunder? by Dorothy Collins.
This song seems perfect for working with children who are afraid of thunder. It even works very well in a music therapy setting since the answer to being afraid is to grab drums and make some noise. There's even some science in the lyrics!
How would I use this in a session?
This song is one that I would use during stormy days or with kids that I knew had a thunder-aversion as part of their treatment process. On stormy days, we would use the drums to make our inside thunder sounds when the outside thunder sounds started. Or, we could use the song along with making our own rain storms, rain chants, and rain dances. Ooh, I wonder if any of my classes have a rain theme coming up. The session is designing itself! I wonder if my clients would be able to wait until the real thunder came to play the drums. I bet they wouldn't want to!
This isn't a fully fleshed out TME yet, but I'm getting intrigued about how I could use this song with some of my clients (certainly not all of them!).
Now the brainstorming begins.
How could I use this with my students? I would like to use it during days like this - when it is stormy outside, but some clients would benefit from starting the process when it isn't stormy just to get acclimatized to the idea of thunder as noise rather than danger...
Of course, we could use drums like it says in the song. We could also rewrite the lyrics to accommodate other types of loud sounds that we can make during music therapy sessions.
That's just the beginning. What would you do with this song with your clients?
The storm is over for the moment. Birds are starting to chirp and sing outside. I hope you have a wonderful day!
It is raining outside. Not only is it raining, it is thundering.
My mother has, for years and years, sung bits and pieces of a song that she first heard on Captain Kangaroo. She couldn't remember the entire thing, and those phrases have stuck in my head for those same years and years. Today just seemed to be a good day to go on a search. I am still sitting at home, unable to be around people, so what else do I have to do?
I was not able to find the Captain Kangaroo version of the song, but here is a YouTube link to Experiment Songs - Who's Afraid of Thunder? by Dorothy Collins.
This song seems perfect for working with children who are afraid of thunder. It even works very well in a music therapy setting since the answer to being afraid is to grab drums and make some noise. There's even some science in the lyrics!
How would I use this in a session?
This song is one that I would use during stormy days or with kids that I knew had a thunder-aversion as part of their treatment process. On stormy days, we would use the drums to make our inside thunder sounds when the outside thunder sounds started. Or, we could use the song along with making our own rain storms, rain chants, and rain dances. Ooh, I wonder if any of my classes have a rain theme coming up. The session is designing itself! I wonder if my clients would be able to wait until the real thunder came to play the drums. I bet they wouldn't want to!
This isn't a fully fleshed out TME yet, but I'm getting intrigued about how I could use this song with some of my clients (certainly not all of them!).
Now the brainstorming begins.
How could I use this with my students? I would like to use it during days like this - when it is stormy outside, but some clients would benefit from starting the process when it isn't stormy just to get acclimatized to the idea of thunder as noise rather than danger...
Of course, we could use drums like it says in the song. We could also rewrite the lyrics to accommodate other types of loud sounds that we can make during music therapy sessions.
That's just the beginning. What would you do with this song with your clients?
The storm is over for the moment. Birds are starting to chirp and sing outside. I hope you have a wonderful day!
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