Supplemental Sunday: Adventures with the Laminator Continue
After a long, LONG weekend without a computer, I am now back online with a functioning machine again. Whew. It is amazing how much you depend on electronic devices that you don't really think about until you cannot use those devices.
What did I do when I had some "lack of computer" time?
I made things.
That's what I tend to do. I look around at the house that needs to be vacuumed and think, "I want to make something." The vacuuming goes undone, but I have some pretty cool visual aids to use in therapy over the next several months.
Next week is notation week in my music therapy clinic. The second week of the month always has a focus on something related to notation. (Just so you know, the first week of the month is focused on instruments/instrument families/ensembles. The third week is our Musician of the Month week, and the last week is music creating week. There you go.)
I struggle with teaching notation to my clients. Many of the foundations to reading notation (symbol recognition, timing, visual-spatial coordination) are difficult for my students to understand, so I struggle with how to teach them.
I've figured out how to teach rhythmic notation - my students understand rhythm wheels - but melodic notation continues to elude us all.
In my quest to conquer the elusive melodic notation concept, I have tried many things. Nothing has really stuck. So, I am taking a break from trying to teach maps, location, and melody notation.
This week's concept is long/short. Next time we might try high/low.
I've made these cards for my groups. We're going to listen to different sounds and decide whether they are long in duration or short. We will point the side we think is the answer and then discuss. Then, we are going to link it to the rhythmic notation we already know. The last step will be my students taking over the music duty and making their own rhythms.
When I was on Fall Break just a short week ago, I went on a thrift store crawl and found some new books for my session library. I really like My Man Blue. It's full of poems that I think will resonate with some of my students. Others will not relate at all, but I am brainstorming ways to use some of the poems in sessions, especially when we are making music centered around coping skills.
The last part of my laminating spree was spent making some new reminder boards - coping skills. I used clip art and made my own reminder boards. I will place them on the wall and in our session boxes as reminders for what we do when we need to use our skills to cope with whatever is happening. I'm going to write a song and have my clients write lyrics for the Coping Skills song.
I think I am ready for the first sessions of this new school year. We will see after tomorrow.
Have a good week, everyone!!
What did I do when I had some "lack of computer" time?
I made things.
That's what I tend to do. I look around at the house that needs to be vacuumed and think, "I want to make something." The vacuuming goes undone, but I have some pretty cool visual aids to use in therapy over the next several months.
Next week is notation week in my music therapy clinic. The second week of the month always has a focus on something related to notation. (Just so you know, the first week of the month is focused on instruments/instrument families/ensembles. The third week is our Musician of the Month week, and the last week is music creating week. There you go.)
I struggle with teaching notation to my clients. Many of the foundations to reading notation (symbol recognition, timing, visual-spatial coordination) are difficult for my students to understand, so I struggle with how to teach them.
I've figured out how to teach rhythmic notation - my students understand rhythm wheels - but melodic notation continues to elude us all.
In my quest to conquer the elusive melodic notation concept, I have tried many things. Nothing has really stuck. So, I am taking a break from trying to teach maps, location, and melody notation.
This week's concept is long/short. Next time we might try high/low.
I've made these cards for my groups. We're going to listen to different sounds and decide whether they are long in duration or short. We will point the side we think is the answer and then discuss. Then, we are going to link it to the rhythmic notation we already know. The last step will be my students taking over the music duty and making their own rhythms.
When I was on Fall Break just a short week ago, I went on a thrift store crawl and found some new books for my session library. I really like My Man Blue. It's full of poems that I think will resonate with some of my students. Others will not relate at all, but I am brainstorming ways to use some of the poems in sessions, especially when we are making music centered around coping skills.The last part of my laminating spree was spent making some new reminder boards - coping skills. I used clip art and made my own reminder boards. I will place them on the wall and in our session boxes as reminders for what we do when we need to use our skills to cope with whatever is happening. I'm going to write a song and have my clients write lyrics for the Coping Skills song.
I think I am ready for the first sessions of this new school year. We will see after tomorrow.
Have a good week, everyone!!
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