New Years Archives - Wholesome Harmonies, LLC

High Hopes For The New Year

Amy — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 16:45:41 +0000

Last week I wrote a post that generated a lot of supportive comments.

The post was about the new year and how I don’t have any new, concrete goals for my business.

I decided to take the pressure off myself to achieve more in my business and instead focus on being present as a mother to my two little girls.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a lot of big ideas for my direct service work and my online resources, but I’m giving myself grace if things take longer than I hope to come to fruition.

You can read the post and comments here.

Now on to some winter session goodies!

Here’s what I’ve been incorporating into my music therapy sessions this month with elementary and middle schoolers, as well as my teen clients:

Had To Have High High Hopes – Panic! At The Disco has the perfect song to get your clients jamming and dreaming about their high hopes and dreams for the new year. Clients, students, and teachers alike all LOVE this song and get really into it!

A Frosty Musical Mad Lib – Here’s a creative way to work on parts of speech with elementary and middle school students. My students LOVED this musical experience and asked me to bring in another Musical Mad Lib for next week’s session!

Freeze Dance – The ever popular freeze dance is something my clients and students love. We did two kinds – a freeze with instruments and a freeze dance with movements. This musical experience is the perfect way to work on improving sustained attention, impulse control, and direction following.

I’d love to hear what new year’s/winter musical experiences you’re incorporating into your sessions this month.

Had To Have High, High Hopes

Amy — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:16:45 +0000

Earlier this week I had one of those really great session days.

Everything flowed, my students were totally engaged, and I got great feedback from the teachers and students alike.

I had brought in some New Year’s-themed interventions, which is how I like to start each new year with my school-age and teen clients. I think it’s as important for them as it is for us to remember we’re starting off this year fresh with a clean slate. Regardless of what happened last year, we can set goals for ourselves and come up with specific steps to work towards those goals.

I began the session with a musical experience I created called the “New Year’s Wish.” It includes an original song I wrote and a discussion about each client’s wish for the new year. Their wish could be: something they’d like to learn this year, like how to play basketball; someplace they’d like to go, like Disney World; or for older clients how they’d like to feel this year.

Our discussion generated some really interesting responses. One student wants to learn to play the drum set this year, one wants to go on a cruise and one said she wants to make 2019 even better than 2018 (love that!)

The New Year’s Wish musical experience is just one of the many included in the Tune In To Teens E-Course. Participants get the sheet music and MP3 for this song (as well as all the other originals), and have the chance to see a video demonstration. All these materials are right at your fingertips, allowing you to use the intervention in your sessions right away.

Following the “New Year’s Wish” song and discussion, I facilitated an intervention using “High Hopes” by Panic! At The Disco (my new song obsession!)

My students LOVED it. If you want to hear how I tied this song into the new year’s-themed session plan, hop on our mailing list today. I’ll be sending out an email shortly where you can see how I used this pop song therapeutically to address clinical goals.

It is NOT easy to find songs like this, that: a) have a positive message, b) have good, clean lyrics and c) are considered “cool” by our clients. So hop on the list now so you can see how to use this song with your clients right away.

I hope you’ve had a great start to your new year and that you’ve had the chance to make some New Year’s wishes for yourself as well :)

The post Had To Have High, High Hopes appeared first on Wholesome Harmonies, LLC.

2011: The Year It All Started

Amy — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:06:57 +0000

I’m baaaaack!! For the past two weeks I’ve been on hiatus from blogging because I’ve been traveling for the holidays. My sweetie and I covered 5 states (VA, WV, MD, PA, & NY) in 12 days to see both of our families. It was WONDERFUL, but I am so happy to be back to my blogging!

I can’t believe 2011 is already coming to a close! This year has been a turning point in my music therapy career. In July, I launched my website and first started blogging. What an adventure it has been! The best part is being able to connect with other music therapists in this awesome online community.

To pay tribute to 2011 and ring in 2012, I’d like to share with you my top 10 favorite blog posts of the year. I hope you’ll read over some old favorites and find some new ones to give you inspiration to make 2012 an amazing year!