Session planning is one of my favorite things about being a music therapist. I love the process. We start out with a client need and corresponding goal. Then we use our creativity to see how we can address that goal musically. I love everything that goes into that process - writing original songs for my younger clients, [...]
Spring is in the air! Well, here in Miami, I guess it always feels like Spring. But there's something so refreshing about the days staying lighter longer. With the coming of Spring, I want to share with you about the new Spring schedule that's out for our Baby & Toddler Rock programs. These sessions are presented in [...]
Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the week. I love it so much because I have a mix of sessions today. I get to teach an adapted piano lesson where the student is learning "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction and "Do You Love Me?" by the Contours. Then, after a music therapy session, [...]
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 [...]
