Sentimental Sunday: Post 1209 - Rhythm Wheels

Here is today's random number post - #1209 from June 12, 2016. Over the years that I have been writing on this blog, I have changed the focus of the Sunday posts many times. During 2016, I was using my Sundays to show how to use some of the visual aids that I have generated over the years. Today's glimpse into the past shows a bit of how I teach my clients something about rhythm notation.

Now, you may be thinking, "Mary Jane, you are not a music educator, so why are you teaching about rhythm notation?" My answer is pretty simple. Most of my clients have not had good experiences in general music classes. Most of my clients will be returning to music education rather than music therapy services when they leave our facility. Since their futures will not be music therapy, I try to give them some knowledge about music education so they have an idea of what is going on in music education - a VERY abstract part of education when you think about it. So, I try to teach them something about music that is more performance oriented rather than therapeutic.

My rhythm wheels work. My students tend to understand how they work and they can replicate rhythms pretty quickly - at least, they used to. I haven't tried this with my current crop of students so I am not sure if they would still be able to do this skill. Perhaps we will do this in January to see if they will be able to do this...

It is good to have this series going on. I use these nostalgic glimpses back into past me's thoughts and situations to help present me go remember things. I think the boxes that I refer to in this post are center boxes. I have done many versions of centers over the years, and I think this particular version was either pizza boxes or small boxes that included all the pieces for the tasks that I wanted clients to work on in really small groups. I am thinking about reinstating centers in my high school groups because they are struggling with every aspect of being around other people right now.

I haven't used centers in a long time because I have had interns who do not really know what centers are all about. I want to do this again - just to see if I have figured it all out. I might be able to do individual centers - I have lots of rhythm wheel pieces. What I need to do on the first work day of the new calendar year is to sit and outline the skills and centers that I want to create for this school year. I only focus on a music education topic one week per month. I haven't done many other centers other than music education topics, so I will need to think about how to make my other three weeks into centers as well. If they don't work easily, then I don't have to make them into centers, but I might be able to think of ways to get musician of the month and our country of the month and our technology and our focus on the last topic - what is that last topic?? Well. that's why I write things down - so I don't have to remember it all!

The best thing about centers is that each client can work with more independence than when I am going things in a large group format. The worst thing about centers is the preparation so clients can be successful. I can figure it all out and see if it is something that I want to continue. Stay tuned - I might be able to write a TME Tuesday post about my journey in the future - NOT the near future, though.

Thank you, past me, for this reminder of offering concepts in ways that promote independence for my clients. I think this might be a good way to move into getting back into relevant interactions with the clients who are struggling the most. Maybe some independence will help. We will see. If not, then okay. Go back into the "what-if" process and keep trying to engage folks into music therapy.