I hope you had a wonderful Halloween last week! We sure enjoyed celebrating with the children at Early Beginnings Academy. We started off the week with a Book 'n Song: "Nightsong," a beautiful story about a bat going off into the world to find his way (watch the video to see!) If you would like the [...]
Happy Halloweenweek! I am blogging one day earlier than usual so I can share a special video with you. This Halloween at Early Beginnings Academy, we decided to do something a little different for the children. Our director, Yvonne, read a story called "Nightsong" by Ari Berk to the children. I accompanied her with a [...]
Happy Saturday Song Share! Next week at this time I will be in sessions at the National Music Therapy Conference, diligently taking notes, and I could not be more excited. So today I wanted to share an extra special video with you. Last week we took a group of children to sing at the annual fundraising [...]
I can't believe it is May already! I say this every time a new month starts, but it really does feel like it was just yesterday that we were starting the new school year. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I work full-time in United Cerebral Palsy's preschool and charter school, Early Beginnings Academy. I [...]
One of my favorite session activities is using color-coded notation to teach children how to play xylophone, piano, and hand bells. Here is a video of two children I see for individual music therapy using color-coded notation to play the xylophone (or as my nephew calls it, the "ex-lophone :)). I didn't need to give them much [...]
Friday was a fantastic day - we took a group of our best singers around UCP to Christmas carol! This was a first time event, so yay! I emailed all the employees who have offices in UCP (i.e. Human Resources, Nursing, etc.) and asked them to leave their doors open so the children could serenade them [...]
Tactile Stimulation Today I am starting a series about "sense-ational" music therapy activities. Many of the children I work with at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy have a diagnosis of severe and profound intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder. Both groups of children benefit from what we call "sensory based" activities - activities that tap into [...]
Today I'd like to share an intervention from one of my individual music therapy sessions at UCP's Early Beginnings Academy. This song was written by my former intern, colleague at UCP, and friend, Amber Ewers and she has graciously allowed me to share it with you today. The first goal we are working on during this [...]
It's finally ready ~ Part 2 of Groovy Guitar Strums for Music Therapists! In Part 1 I covered some easy strum patterns to help add variety to your sessions; here in Part 2 I cover some easy fingerstyles... Fingerpick ~ "Now it's Time to Say Goodbye" (adapted) by Amy Kalas Buser Fingerpick Slap ~ "What Do [...]
Are you looking to add some variety to your guitar playing? Look no further! Watch here and see if you are inspired to pick up your guitar and try some groovy new strum patterns... Music Therapy Strum ~ "Rainstorm is Brewing" by Mahleah Benson Upbeat Music Therapy Strum ~ "Days of the Week" by Amy Kalas [...]