7/29/2023 0 Comments Deja vu meme corner![]() Kara knew exactly what to do! And just like always, a big smile and contagious laughter accompanied her playing.Ĭreativity is an important part of Music Therapy. The instrument was new and different, but the accompanying motor skills had been rehearsed and tied to a familiar tune. But this time I handed her a thinner mallet for a different instrument – a small marimba. Just the other week, we sang the song again. Now practicing raising her arms and crossing to the other side is as easy as singing a song. ![]() With repetition and rehearsal, those pathways in her brain have become fully paved roads. Even more recently, she started switching the mallet to her other hand without assistance, raring to go again from the opposite side. She began to move her hand in those directions independently as the words were coming out of my mouth. As the weeks went on, Kara began to hear fewer and fewer prompts from me to play high, low, left, or right. But Kara likes it! Almost without exception, her response to the song includes a smile and a laugh as she swings her mallet excitedly. We typically use the same song every week – a simple little tune that I sang off the top of my head a few months back. This requires listening to prompts from me, raising her hand above her head, and crossing the mid-line with her arm to reach the drum on the opposite side. Recently, that part of me that pressures myself into “new, new, new,” was humbled by a client we’ll call “Kara.” Kara has been practicing her cognitive and gross motor skills by playing a drum in four positions – high, low, left, and right. Repetition within a single song, yes, but also across several weeks using the same song. Neurologically, this means that pathways are being built in the brain that become increasingly easy to travel with rehearsal. If the rhythmic pattern remains the same, the client’s ability to expect and prepare for a motion or response is reinforced. The client can begin to anticipate when to move their arm (for example) to strike a drum on just the right beat. In fact, repetition is a central part of what makes music such a helpful tool for therapy! The structure of music – its established and repeated patterns – gives the brain clear cues. (We also played plenty of other songs, thank goodness.)īut repetition in Music Therapy is about more than just enjoyment. We sang it, we listened to it, we marched and danced to it. We used it with a big parachute, we used it with scarves, we used it with pinwheels, we used it with shakers and drums. And you know what? If those kids wanted to hear “Let It Go” until my ears bled, then by golly that’s what we were going to do. “Let It Go” was going to happen, with or without me. If we did not use “Let It Go” during the session on any given week, their teacher would play it on YouTube as I began to pack up. Those kids absolutely adored the song “Let It Go” from Frozen. I began to learn this during my last semester at the University of Georgia, volunteering at an Elementary School. Especially if the client continues to enjoy it! I, I, I.ĭoes bringing something new into the session really help the client reach their goals? The problem I’ve discovered with that mindset, though, is its focus. If I don’t, I must not be doing this right. Add to that desire the aforementioned creativity, throw in a dash of high personal standards, and you get me: a Music Therapist who feels intense (almost entirely self-inflicted) pressure to continually bring new interventions and songs to my clients. The growing, and often misunderstood, nature of a field such as ours tends to elicit a common desire among Music Therapists to find new, innovative, research-based ways to reach our clients. And sometimes it means learning more efficient ways to play guitar, sing, manage any helpful visual aids, and physically assist the client, all at the same time (Phew!) Sometimes it means thinking outside the box when it comes to how an instrument “should” be played. Sometimes this means rewriting familiar songs to include verbal prompting of a specific action, or actions, in the lyrics. But in therapy, there is an added element of finding creative ways to help our clients meet their non-musical goals through music. That includes the creativity inherent in all musical endeavors, certainly. Photo used with permission from “Kara’s” mother.*īeing a Music Therapist requires a good amount of creativity. *In accordance with HIPAA, and out of respect for our client’s privacy, the name “Kara” will be used as an alias throughout this blog post.
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