Just a Song Sunday: Revisiting This Theme Again...

So, I am in a season of change and metamorphosis. There is just no real way to define how I am feeling at this moment because it changes from moment to moment. As a result of the emotional rollercoaster that I am currently on, I am feeling the need for structure and boundaries and routines. So, I am going to be structuring my blogging a bit more than I have recently. Sundays will be for music sharing, thoughts, and therapeutic music experience development using songs that others have composed as well as shared with the world.

The problem with this type of blog post is that I am often unsure what songs to use in posts like this. I try to select something that would work with a variety of populations, and I will strive to continue to highlight how you could use these pieces of music with everyone that you do music therapy with during your week of sessions.

If you read this blog regularly (and I know that some of you do), then you know that I like having structure and templates are my thing! So, here's the template I'm thinking about for "Just a Song" Sundays.

Song introduction - with at least one link where you can find the song. Ideally, I like to also provide links to sheet music when I can find it, but that isn't always possible.

Song analysis - I enjoy figuring out ways to tweak existing songs to accommodate clients' needs during sessions. So, I have a way to think about the elements of music and how they are in the natural presentation and then how I can change that music to meet my clients and what they need.

After that, I think the next part will be starting the conversation about how songs can be used in sessions to meet different goal areas. This is something that I do quite often. I like having options when I am wanting to use specific songs in sessions.

So, let's get started.

Introduction:

Today's song is an old favorite of mine that I have not really used much in therapy sessions in the past, but the only reason I haven't is because I just haven't.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Originally recorded by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, 1966, the song was not released until Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded it in 1967. Marvin Gaye, however, is the one who made the version that I know the best back in 1968. You can find a lyric version of this song at this link. You can find pdf versions of this song, but I am not going to post a link here due to copyright concerns that I have. Search it, if you need the sheet music, okay??

Analysis:


Therapeutic Music Experience Development/Session Uses:

Kids - This song has a great, consistent tempo and rhythmic pattern that draws attention. The consistent bass pattern can encourage movements and the minor tonality makes the music very different from what is usually presented to small kids. When using this in sessions, I could see either rewriting the lyrics to encourage specific types of movement or to decrease the focus on the relationship that is ending and shift the focus a bit to things that kids experience. To link this into a lyric analysis type of goal, asking the kids to reflect on their own experiences of rumors and gossip and sharing information that is not theirs to share might make the song relatable to younger humans.

Adolescents/Young Adults - Similar to the ideas presented with kids depending on the cognitive levels of the adolescents or young adults, you can use this as a motivation for movements or discussion. With adolescents, there could be some more use of the original lyrics as relationships are part of growing up and becoming more socially aware.

Adults - This is a good song for reminiscing about past relationships, gossip and rumors, and also life circumstances when the song was popular or when the adults in question first experienced the song (for me, the first real interaction with the song was the California Raisins - IYKYK). All the other uses are valid with this population as well, but reminiscing is a great way to stimulate conversation.

So, there's the first Just a Song Sunday. What would you use this song for in your music therapy sessions? What else do you want to know about this song?

Let me know in the comments...


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