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, I get to teach a “traditional” guitar lesson (for a neurotypical child). The student is a beginner, but she’s already writing her own original songs! I’m helping her write songs in the keys of C and G so she can practice the chords within those chord families (more on that here!)

In my last blog post, I shared some ideas of how I adapt my music lessons to tailor them to children and teens with special learning needs.

Today, I have a few more ideas to share with you.

Here are some more of the creative adaptations I use in my lessons ~

Music and movement

Some of the children and teens I work with have difficulty sitting and attending for long periods of time. This is completely understandable. They’ve just sat for the entire day in school, and then likely had a therapy session or two before our lesson begins.

SO I always make sure to add some movement experiences to get the body AND the brain warmed up and ready for our lesson. For the younger crowd, we do things like “Open Shut Them” and “Shake Your Sillies” to warm up the fingers and hands. We may also do a freeze march around the room to a piano progression that I play. (For example ~ March when you hear the piano; freeze when you hear the piano stop!”)

Extra practice material

Some traditional lesson books may move too quickly for our students with special needs. They may need more time to work on a concept, like how to play a tied note or how to play a measure with quarter rests. I always have a large stock of blank staff paper on hand to write out additional practice material. This way, the student doesn’t have to keep playing the same page over and over to learn and master a concept.

Incorporate popular songs

As I mentioned at the start of this blog post, one of my favorite things to do is incorporate popular songs into my lessons. I find this is a HUGE motivator for my students. I know I would be more motivated to practice if my lesson material consisted of Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson tunes!

These are just a few of the ways I sprinkle creativity and fun into my adapted music lessons. I know that as with music therapy, if our students are motivated, they are more likely to be engaged during the lessons and receive the maximum benefit.

I would love to hear from you now!

What kinds of things do you incorporate into your adapted lessons? Share in the comments below!

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Whether it’s bringing in my primary instrument, the clarinet, or adding jazzy and funky auto accompaniments on the keyboard, I’m always looking to offer the best musical accompaniments so my clients are engaged and motivated.

I’ll be honest though, the guitar is the primary instrument I use to accompany myself during my sessions.

Since I work with children, I find it to be versatile in the range of styles and accompaniments I can use and it allows me to move around the room while singing and playing.

Since I use the guitar so often, I’m constantly looking for ways to add variety to my accompaniments. I make sure to change up the strum patterns and finger picking patterns so each song in my session has a different sound.

If you’re looking to add variety to your guitar accompaniments, check out these two videos where I share some groovy guitar strums.

In Groovy Guitar Strums 1 I share some of my favorite strumming patterns (including a slap strum that’s perfect for movement songs!) Click here to watch:

In Groovy Guitar Strums 2 you’ll learn how to travis pick and play some other cool finger style patterns. Click here to watch:

I hope these videos give you some fresh ideas for ways that you can add variety to your guitar accompaniment patterns.

Be sure to visit our Music Therapy in Action page to see many of these accompaniment patterns being used during my music therapy sessions!

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Last year I decided to change the name of my business from Wholesome Harmonies Music Therapy to Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

The reason I made this change is that I started receiving calls for not just music therapy, but for piano and guitar lessons as well. I wanted the name of my business to reflect the fact that we not only offer music therapy, but music lessons and developmental music programs as well!

I really enjoy giving guitar lessons. And I’ve come to find that there are three things that motivate my guitar students like nothing else:

Stickers, Musical Games, and Taylor Swift.

It took me a while to find that magic combination, but it has certainly helped motivate my students to practice and continue improving their guitar skills. Here’s how I use these “tools”:

Stickers
I think it’s safe to assume everyone knows how stickers work when it comes to music lessons! When a page in a student’s lesson book can be played with ease AND they’ve practiced that week, they get to choose a sticker to put on that page. Sounds obvious, but surprisingly it took me a while to start incorporating these little gems into my lessons (with amazing results!)

Musical Games
Here is a post where I describe some Musical Games I use when teaching piano lessons to children. Games such as Go Fish and Memory help break up the lesson and provide a fun and motivating way to learn musical symbols. I recently added “I Spy” to the Musical Game lineup. We open to a random page in the lesson book and say “I spy, with my little eye…..a treble clef!” Then the other person must point out the musical symbol or note that was named. Another variation is “I spy, with my little eye….a note that’s worth two beats!” These games can be used to break up the lesson (when fingers start to get sore) or can be used as a reward at the end of a lesson.

Taylor Swift
I will admit it here…I really do like Taylor Swift. As much as I try to fight it, I always end up liking her songs. From the perspective of a music lesson teacher, her songs are a DREAM! Most of her songs use I, IV, and V chords, which makes it very easy for beginning guitar students. Since she plays most of her songs on guitar, they naturally sound good as acoustic songs during lessons (so we don’t have to try and replicate some techno or electronic song!) Of course, you’ll want to find songs that your students prefer and incorporate those into your lessons. I just so happen to have students who love Taylor, and I’m not complaining.

The combination of stickers, musical games, and Taylor Swift songs have provided an added layer of enjoyment and motivation to the lessons I teach. This is crucial because learning a new instrument is not always easy and fun. Sometimes fingers hurt. Sometimes you’d rather play outside than practice. But I can see these little “tools” help motivate my students to continue to practice and improve.

What “tools” do you use to motivate your students during lessons? Leave a comment below – we’d love to know!

 *All pictures used with parental consent*

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Back in January I posted about My Musical Goals. I decided this is my year to step it up musically so I can enhance the quality of my music therapy sessions. Here’s my update on how things are going…

My January Goal was to Become a Ukulele Master. I found some great websites, including Ukulele Tricks (at the recommendation of the Mundana Music Therapy ladies – thanks!) I’ve added the uke to my music therapy sessions and it has been a huge hit with the kids. I even have an upcoming video where I will showcase my skills…stay tuned!

My February Goal was to Break Out of My Guitar Rut. I have always been interested in learning some jazz guitar chords and decided to take advantage of all the Internet has to offer. So, I googled “Jazz Guitar Chords” and found the Guitar Chords Magic website and Your Guide to Jazz Guitar – just what I was looking for!

My March Goal was to Add More Multicultural Songs to My Repertoire. I went to the library and checked out two great children’s books: Diez Deditos: 10 Little Fingers and Other Play Rhymes from Latin America and De Colores and Other Latin American Folk Songs. Since I work in Miami, the songs in Spanish were very appropriate for the children I work with at UCP. (And the books are colorful and fun to look at):

Next week is our annual Multicultural Day Celebration at UCP and I am so excited! I’ve been working with the children on a variety of things that they will showcase to the parents, including a salsa dance, a Spanish fingerplay song, and even a hula dance with my ukulele accompaniment!

Have YOU set any musical goals for yourself this year? If so, share them in the comments section below. Happy music making!

Image courtesy of [fotographic 1980] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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This year, I want to focus on improving my musical skills. Sometimes it’s easy to get comfortable with playing the same strum patterns on guitar and using auto accompaniment on keyboard (does anyone else do that?) So this year I’m going to push myself to go outside of my comfort zone – musically. I don’t believe in big, lofty resolutions, because those are usually out the window by February. But I am going to set some reasonable goals for myself musically for the first six months of the year. That’s it!

January
Become a Ukulele Master!

Ukuleles are probably the hottest instrument out there right now. I jumped on the bandwagon a few years ago when I purchased one for UCP and received two more as gifts! I know a few chords, but I am going to push myself to learn more new chords. Are you looking to do the same thing? Ukulele Hunt , Ukulele Songs  and Dr. Uke are some great resources!

February
Break Out of My Guitar Rut

Breaking out of my guitar rut means learning new strum patterns. If you are trying to do this as well, check out my videos – Groovy Guitar Strums Part 1 and  Groovy Guitar Strums Part 2. Breaking out of my guitar rut also means learning new chords and progressions. Rachel See Smith shared an excellent resource on her Pinterest page…Jazz Guitar Lessons.net I can’t wait to jump in!

March
Add More Multicultural Songs to My Repertoire

This goal comes at the perfect time. At UCP we typically celebrate Multicultural Day during this month and I always struggle a bit with what songs to include in our musical performance. I just picked up a great resource which should help me out this year: Wee Sing Around the World. I have always loved the Wee Sing collection and this should be a great addition to my collection.

April
Spice Up My Piano Playing

I love playing the piano, but I need to spice it up a bit. Here’s where I’m going to start: Online Blues Piano Lessons.

May
Dust Off My Primary Instrument

Are you guilty of this too – keeping your primary instrument packed away? I studied clarinet in college and haven’t played it much since then. This month I’m going to dust it off and use it more in my sessions than ever before. I’ve already started brainstorming new and creative ways to use it…

June
Learn a  Brand NEW Instrument

Yikes, sounds scary! I’ll be sure to let you know which instrument I decide to learn! I’m excited for this one…

Do YOU have any musical goals for yourself this year (or half year)?

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