When I first started Wholesome Harmonies, I envisioned my business solely providing music therapy services. (In fact, my business name used to be Wholesome Harmonies Music Therapy). As the years have gone by, though, I've received more and more requests from parents looking for someone to teach music lessons to their child with special needs. But they [...]
In addition to offering music therapy, another service we provide at Wholesome Harmonies is adapted music lessons. Whereas in music therapy our goal is something non-musical (like increasing attention or improving articulation), with adapted music lessons our goal is musical - for students to acquire skills to learn an instrument. The benefits of having a board [...]
A few weeks ago, I shared a musical experience I created called The Noun Rap. I designed it for the 3rd, 4th & 5th grade students I work with at Children's Resources Educational Center. I figured, hey, if they have to learn about nouns, why not at least make it cool? (You can listen to [...]
Last week I got kind of personal with you. I shared some of my experiences going through the Sound Birthing Method while I was pregnant. The nightly relaxation sessions and singing sessions that are part of the Sound Birthing Method are some of my most cherished moments from that pregnancy. There were two other components of the [...]
Do you have a song that takes you right back to a specific moment in time? One that makes you feel "all the feels" as if you were there in that moment again? I do. It's "Home" by Phil Phillips. That was the song playing when my first daughter, B, entered the world. When I hear [...]
Growing up, I always loved writing. In particular, I used to write a lot of poetry and always loved seeing how I could make things rhyme and flow. Little did I know that skill would serve me very well in my music therapy work with tweens and teens! I recently started working at a school in [...]
I know it can be tricky composing songs for clients. We want the songs to be therapeutic and goal-oriented, but also catchy and engaging. (At least that's what I'm thinking of when I'm composing for kids!) Here are a few tips to get you started with writing songs for your clients: Repetition, repetition, repetition. When it comes [...]
Last week I shared a simple and creative way you can earn free CMTE credits: by writing original songs. Turns out that there are plenty of other great reasons why writing original songs is beneficial...not just for you but for your clients as well! Here are the top three reasons why I'm a original song ambassador...and [...]
One thing I hear frequently in discussions amongst our music therapy community is about the need for free continuing education opportunities. Yes, we love going to conference and taking online courses, but we're also looking for some inexpensive - okay, free - ways we can grow, learn, and work towards recertification. I have got a great way [...]
I'm the kind of person who writes everything down. I have lists for food shopping and"baby needs" shopping; I have to dos for my business and my website; I have post its for family and "hubby" reminders. You name it, I've got it written down. So it's no surprise that I'm very focused when it comes [...]
