Song Conversion Sunday: Brainstorming TME Ideas for My Selected Song - Week Two

Last week, I analyzed a song from my sheet music archive. I separated all the musical elements that I use during music therapy sessions, and I organized my thinking into a graphic organizer - the likes of which I use quite often. Here's the picture:
musictherapyworks.com
So, I've been half-singing this song to myself all week (when it has defeated the therapy songs that my interns have been using), and I've been spending a bit of time thinking about what I could do in therapy, with my clients, while using this song.

In this stage of TME-izing a song (do you like that new term? It started here, folks!!), I engage in creative brainstorming and just go for every and any idea possible. Here's the process in prose (this is often a picture-type process as well):
  1. Lyric analysis - the lyrics talk about a woman waiting for a man who is at war. It talks about generational trauma and ideas that are prevalent in trauma-informed care such as acknowledging the happenings and making decisions to change. This is a great song for empowerment and is somewhat applicable to folks who observe what others have experienced. This idea is a bit of a "duh" idea since the lyrics are so specific to a story and the song is a natural match for analysis. Just making sure that it is included in the brainstorming.
  2. Word replacement - in the vein of lyric analysis, changing some of the lyrics to represent personal situations is a powerful way to use this particular song. The words in the verses can be easily changed to reflect other trauma situations. Then, the new lyrics become a tool for each client.
  3. Piggybacking - I have this idea about piggybacking words to this melody - "I don't want to wait until Thanksgiving weekend, I want some pumpkin pie to eat right now..." This song can become a quick songwriting tool for my clients especially because the melody is pretty simple, the tempo is easily adapted to the needs of the group members, and there's an opportunity for the non-verbal bridge (semi-scatting doo, doo, doo stuff). The nice thing is that this idea doesn't have to be JUST about Thanksgiving, it can be adapted to accommodate any type of waiting! "I don't want to wait until it's my turn in the lunch line, but I know that I have to wait my turn..." Easy!!
  4. Motor development - due to the steady beat and predictable nature of this song, it is a good foundation for motor skill development. Get group members up and moving - marching or using other movements to illustrate the macrobeat - and combine with improvised, descriptive lyrics to reinforce the movements - "I am going to walk, to walk all the way down the hallway. I've got the beat, and now I'm on the move!" 
  5. Instrument play - similar to the above - the exact song doesn't really matter in instrument play (at least, with my clients), but this song has a good, steady beat, interesting melodic phrases, the opportunity for several different movements, and lyrical phrases that can be adapted using piggybacking and/or word replacement as illustrated above. 
Okay. The brainstorming process is going pretty well. I think I may develop #3 above into a new TME, using this song as the framework for a songwriting experience. The other ideas are already TMEs, so I'll add this particular song to the list of music that I keep with those TMEs as suggestions for music to encourage completion of clinical goals and objectives. Yep, #3. I've got some ideas already...need to write them down. Thanksgiving, other holidays, daily waiting times, specific events...oh, the ideas just keep coming!!

I could make a file folder to encourage my clients to write/draw their requests. I could find/make icons for my non-writing/non-speaking clients to choose specific things. I could share those things with all of you wonderful people (once they are done, and on my Teachers Pay Teachers store, of course!) - something to put on the long, long list of things I want to do...

This process is exciting. I'm going to go off to write things down before I forget them. I'm also going to learn this song really well so I'll be ready to use it in my sessions when it is appropriate!

Thanks for reading. Happy Sunday, and I hope that you have a safe week!

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