Books You Can Sing!

As clinicians, adding novelty to our repertoire is key to promoting a healthy and engaging therapeutic relationship with our clients. One way to do this, that may not always be thought of, is through using books! For clinicians, caregivers, and teachers alike, books that can be sung are a great way to practice reading, reinforce learning, and embed other goal areas into one story.

Singable Books

Head to Toe by Eric Carle

This book doesn’t have a specific melody, but this is the perfect opportunity to flex your songwriting skills! “Head to Toe” is fantastic for animal identification, body awareness, and so easy to incorporate movement into. Did someone say it’s time to stomp like an elephant? Or slither like alligator?

 

 

 

It’s Okay To Be Different by Todd Parr

Parr’s books are classics in the world of early childhood literature. The bright color scheme and childlike illustrations are just some of the benefits of opening up a Todd Parr book. This is another book without a fixed melody, but again, gives you the opportunity to create a memorable melody with your client, child, or student! Within each page, you can embed different objectives or experiences. Let’s count how many teeth are in his mouth! What animal do you see on the page? What planet is this? Parr’s books are visually stimulating and inclusive to everyone.

 

 

The Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter

“The Animal Boogie” is a book with a pre-established melody (yay!). What’s cool about this book is that you can incorporate the movements of each animal into a little dance party on each page! With a pre-established melody, you can spend more time on reading fluency, since the structure is already created for you. Plus, it’s a blast to sing boogie oogie oogie during each chorus!

 

 

Here are a few more books based off popular songs!

Good Vibrations: A Children’s Picture Book – The Beach Boys

Octopus’s Garden – Ringo Starr of The Beatles

Respect: A Children’s Picture Book – Otis Redding (Did you know he wrote the original song?)

Happy! – Pharrell Williams

Every Little Thing – Bob Marley

Sweet Child o’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses

Happy singing and reading!

Music Therapy for Early Childhood

Music Therapy For Early Childhood

Everyone can make music! It’s true! Whether singing along to your favorite song, tapping a beat on a bongo or experimenting on GarageBand©, everyone has the ability to create music. And you’re never too young to be involved with, or respond to, the benefits of music making. Watch any child, especially babies and toddlers, and you’ll see for yourself. They bang, they strum, they sing and dance without any care as to how ‘good’ they might be or if they are hitting the right note.

Music isn’t only fun for our little ones, it plays a critical role in overall development, helping to build neural pathways and unlock hidden potential. Before language skills are even developed, music can serve as a vehicle for communication with babies and toddlers.

Who can benefit?

Children of all ages and backgrounds are especially receptive to music! For those receiving early intervention services, music therapy can be a creative strategy to successfully reach children with identified developmental delays or other unique needs.

Children without delays, and those in daycare centers or preschools, also have fun engaging in music making that supports their emotional, social, cognitive and language development. Music making also provides young children a great opportunity to bond with caregivers and peers!

Program Offerings

    • Sprouting Melodies: Created for children, ages 0-5, and their caregivers, Sprouting Melodies is an award winning early childhood music program. Offering age-specific classes for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and sibling pairs, Sprouting Melodies classes are facilitated by Board Certified Music Therapists who have additional training in early childhood development.
    • Clinical Music Therapy: Music therapy sessions can be provided in conjunction with other early intervention therapies or pediatric therapies in both individual and group settings.

Does your little one light up when you sing to him or her? Are you looking for an activity that stimulates your child’s development while also fostering the bond between the two of you? If so, demo one of our Sprouting Melodies classes or contact us to find out more about our individual music therapy sessions.

Early Childhood Mental Health: A Growing Concern

Early childhood mental health is a growing concern.

Meredith Pizzi leads a Sprouting Melodies class.

Often misunderstood, early childhood mental health is also overlooked or underestimated. Research shows that exposure to ongoing toxic stress in early childhood can have significant impacts on development early in life, and may lead to long term consequences in education, health and financial prosperity. Continue reading “Early Childhood Mental Health: A Growing Concern”

Winter Session II Open for Registration With NEW Enrollment System

Hello new and current Sprouting Melodies Families!

We are pleased to announce that our Winter Session II Sprouting Melodies classes are open for enrollment. This session begins February 16 and ends March 28. Our EARLY BIRD Special offers you $15 off the normal price.

We also offer a new class enrollment/registration system to not only accommodate enrollment but to serve as an online complement to the Sprouting Melodies class experience. A Family Dashboard contains resource pages and various other goodies that will inform, inspire, and guide you along as a caregiver making music with those you love.

The new platform is called “Mainstreetsites” and is a popular tool used for music, dance, and other extracurricular class offerings.

What’s different about it:

  1. New url – http://app.mainstreetsites.com/dmn2554/classes.htm
  2. New page about Sprouting Melodies – along with updated FAQS
  3. A simpler process of registering
  4. Password protected pages of information, called “Family Dashboard”
  5. Integration with Facebook
  6. You can schedule attendance to a makeup class
  7. Newcomers can schedule a “test drive” (demo) of a class

What you need to do:

For our current Sprouting Melodies families, we ask that you please create a new account. even though you may have already enrolled a child in one or more classes.

Thank you for your help transitioning!!!! We know it will be worth a bit of extra trouble. And do share your feedback about what can be better!!!! We are ALL ears.

Register
Here it is, the official button to our new enrollment system

“Your baby is not bored! Your baby is totally confused!”

By: Meredith Pizzi, MT-BC

babyI said it again this month at the Melrose Public Library program during a music therapy session.

I love looking out at all the babies and toddlers who came unsuspectingly. I begin to play my guitar and they just stare at me. It is partially a look of panic, “Who are you?”” And partially a look of disbelief, “You want me to do to what?” It is also a look of intrigue and confusion. But I do know, and I’m sure of this based on my years of music therapy experience, that these looks are not looks of boredom!

I have to admit that it did take me a long time to come to this realization. I used to think it was just me and that I was boring them to death.

I remember, my very first session with preschoolers for my music therapy internship. The students were brought down to the music room for thirty minutes. I started with the hello song I had prepared. I was petrified when I realized that they were all staring back at me with that deer in the headlights look. I sang the song two times and then, because they obviously didn’t like that one, I quickly transitioned to another song. The second song was received with those same empty stares. As was the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, the sixth, seventh, eighth and even the ninth. That’s right! I sang nine songs in that first thirty-minute music therapy session! No wonder they were confused. I never gave them a chance to catch up with me!

babyIt took me years of experience and learning about early childhood development and music, but now I know that if I’m still getting that deer in the headlights look, I need to do the song again, and again, and again, until the young children who are participating in my music groups are no longer in panic mode. Once their facial expressions relax and they begin to look at me with the expression that says, “Oh, okay…tell me more,” then I know we are ready for more music making. I assure you, as adults we will tire of a song much more quickly than our babies will. But our babies are not bored!

So the next time you start singing a new song with your baby, sing it again and again and again until they start to get it. Never do what I once did and run through 9 songs in 30 minutes! Instead, give your child a chance to really soak it all up and experience the music. And then when you are bored, sing it three more times!

Explore Sprouting Melodies and our early childhood music offerings.

“No Momma. No Dadda. No Sing.”

By: Meredith Pizzi, MT-BC

Does this sound familiar?

“Don’t sing, Momma, me sing.” Or maybe it’s not quite so verbal. Maybe your child stares you down until you stop singing. Or maybe they walk over and hold their hand over your mouth. Or maybe they scream and cover their ears until you stop singing.

So what is this behavior about, anyway?

First of all, it’s not you having a terrible singing voice. And, it has nothing to do with your child disliking your voice. There are many other important developmental issues at play here. As a child goes through the stages of development, they are grappling with many different skills and concepts.

In Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach, author Beth Schwartz (Board Certified Music Therapist in NY) writes about the musical development of young children and how that can be applied to help young children and older children who are moving through the developmental levels of Awareness, Trust, Independence, Control, and Responsibility. This book has led me reflect further on a lot of the behaviors that I observe in children of all ages and the developmental reasons behind the behaviors.

As a child develops new skills, they like to practice them and demonstrate independence. For instance, a young child learning to dress him or herself wants only to dress independently. Any efforts to help will quickly be refused. A child’s musical skills are also developing. As a child begins to recall music and songs, they understand the lyrics, melody, and rhythm and then they begin to reproduce them.

When they don’t want to hear you singing, it may be a sign that they want and need to practice the music themselves to better understand and master this new skill.

But don’t quit singing yet!

After this stage of development will come a new area for growth in which the child will learn how to engage in music making with others and will be ready to participate in group music making.

Here are some ideas for engaging your child in music making at this developmental stage. Many of these ideas come from Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach.

    • Encourage developing motor skills through music by doing a lot of songs with repeating patterns of body movements. Clapping hands, patting knees, and stamping feet are engaging and fun, and give the child a chance to demonstrate her skills.
    • Use instruments that the child can play independently including maracas, eggs, drums, and tambourines. Also include two handed instruments, like a triangle, finger cymbals, or a wood block.
    • Give children many opportunities to make choices in the music. Choices can include what instrument to play, singing loud or soft, fast or slow, or what movement to do to the music.
    • Allow for developing language skills in songs by leaving out the last word of a phrase and waiting for the child to fill it in.
    • Sing or make up songs with very simple language that is repeated. Children learn the words to songs before they remember the rhythm and melody. As Beth Schwartz says in her book, “Less talk is more.”

I hope this provides for some fun music making opportunities for you and your child. And next time your child covers his or her ears when you start to sing, remind yourself, “It’s developmental, not the quality of your voice.”

Keep making music!

If you have questions or would like to find out more about how music therapy can help address your child’s developmental needs, please explore our Sprouting Melodies® program or contact us.

Music for Early Childhood

Music for young children, like music in general, is a unique experience that is unlike anything else. For young children with no language there is still music. For the young child with limited movement, there is still music. For a child who cannot see or touch objects in the environment, there is still music. Even for children with hearing loss, there can still be music.

Elizabeth Schwartz, LCAT, MT-BC

Sprouting Melodies®

Sprouting Melodies® early childhood music program was designed to offer all children the unique experience of being part of the music. In our groups together, the children spend quality time with their caregivers, the music therapist and the other young children in the class exploring instruments, songs, and movement. It is a full experience of relationships, bonding, and nurturing as the babies and toddlers bounce with joy to the music on their parent’s lap, smile as they shake maracas, and laugh as they move to the music throughout the room.

Sprouting Melodies® provides a positive and supportive developmental experience for children of all abilities. For those children who are meeting all of their developmental milestones, they are able to jump into the music, to explore their world and their relationships with others and each week stretch and grow into their music.

Children who are receiving Early Intervention services benefit from participation and are able to address their developmental skills in a fun and natural environment. Children with delays who do not qualify for Early Intervention services are able to get the support they need in a therapeutic, but playful environment.

Learn more about our Sprouting Melodies® Program.