The Joy of Improvised Melody

I have a client who is casually musical. Do you have these types of clients? The ones who don't sing with the group, but who burst out with song when in a non-group setting? This client can be led into active musicking in the classroom, in individual sessions, and in relaxed moments. I played around in the classroom the other day when we were waiting for a peer and for a staff member to arrive. I started to sing a simple melody and the client sang it back to me without even seeming to know what was going on. I changed the melody, the client changed the repetition to match my alterations. The client engaged with me outside of the music room and then continued to do that in our individual session yesterday.

We were sitting on the carpet, playing the keyboard, and I started singing something that was somewhat related to our conversation - something about the weather - and the client started singing back to me. What came out was "It's raining tacos." We both stopped, started to giggle, and then started to sing about a place where it rained tacos. I was able to get the keyboard and figure out the melody that the client sang, so I remembered it and have transcribed the melody. The short improvised snippet has led me into therapeutic music experience (TME) development using this bit of music as the foundation.

I love watching my clients figure out that they are making their own music during sessions. It's one of those things that is pretty sneaky - music, that is. You don't realize how much it gets into your body and mind. That's one of the reasons that I have a job - music does so much for so many in so many different ways. I think that this particular client will be one who continues to be a bit reluctant to sing in front of others, but who will realize that music and musicking is unavoidable and will start to spill out.

It's starting to happen that way in individual music therapy.

After singing about tacos raining from the sky, the rest of the session included playing the guitar and engaging in therapeutic relationship building. Our song snippet stuck with me and still makes me smile this morning. It's amazing how a music therapy moment can just continue to resonate, even after it is over (and, yes, the pun was intended!!).