Roman Music Therapy provides services to communities all over Massachusetts.
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This is an excerpt from a welcome address given to parents of incoming students at The Boston Conservatory on September 1, 2004, by Dr. Karl Paulnack, Director of the Music Division.
“One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother’s remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school-she said, “you’re wasting your SAT scores!” On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they loved music: they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren’t really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the “arts and entertainment” section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it’s the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.
One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you some examples of how this works.
One of the most profound musical compositions of all time is the Quartet for the End of Time written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1940. Messiaen was 31 years old when France entered the war against Nazi Germany. He was captured by the Germans in June of 1940 and imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp.
He was fortunate to find a sympathetic prison guard who gave him paper and a place to compose, and fortunate to have musician colleagues in the camp, a cellist, a violinist, and a clarinetist. Messiaen wrote his quartet with these specific players in mind. It was performed in January 1941 for the prisoners and guards of the prison camp. Today it is one of the most famous masterworks in the repertoire.
Given what we have since learned about life in the Nazi camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture-why would anyone bother with music? And yet-even from the concentration camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.”
In September of 2001 I was a resident of Manhattan. On the morning of September 12, 2001 I reached a new understanding of my art and its relationship to the world. I sat down at the piano that morning at 10 AM to practice as was my daily routine; I did it by force of habit, without thinking about it. I lifted the cover on the keyboard, and opened my music, and put my hands on the keys and took my hands off the keys. And I sat there and thought, does this even matter? Isn’t this completely irrelevant? Playing the piano right now, given what happened in this city yesterday, seems silly, absurd, irreverent, pointless. Why am I here? What place has a musician in this moment in time? Who needs a piano player right now? I was completely lost.
And then I, along with the rest of New York, went through the journey of getting through that week. I did not play the piano that day, and in fact I contemplated briefly whether I would ever want to play the piano again. And then I observed how we got through the day.
At least in my neighborhood, we didn’t shoot hoops or play Scrabble. We didn’t play cards to pass the time, we didn’t watch TV, we didn’t shop, we most certainly did not go to the mall. The first organized activity that I saw in New York, on the very evening of September 11th, was singing. People sang. People sang around fire houses, people sang “We Shall Overcome”. Lots of people sang America the Beautiful. The first organized public event that I remember was the Brahms Requiem, later that week, at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic. The first organized public expression of grief, our first communal response to that historic event, was a concert. That was the beginning of a sense that life might go on. The US Military secured the airspace, but recovery was led by the arts, and by music in particular, that very night.
From these two experiences, I have come to understand that music is not part of “arts and entertainment” as the newspaper section would have us believe. It’s not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can’t with our minds.
Some of you may know Samuel Barber’s heart wrenchingly beautiful piece Adagio for Strings. If you don’t know it by that name, then some of you may know it as the background music which accompanied the Oliver Stone movie Platoon, a film about the Vietnam War. If you know that piece of music either way, you know it has the ability to crack your heart open like a walnut; it can make you cry over sadness you didn’t know you had. Music can slip beneath our conscious reality to get at what’s really going on inside us the way a good therapist does.
Very few of you have ever been to a wedding where there was absolutely no music. There might have been only a little music, there might have been some really bad music, but with few exceptions there is some music. And something very predictable happens at weddings-people get all pent up with all kinds of emotions, and then there’s some musical moment where the action of the wedding stops and someone sings or plays the flute or something. And even if the music is lame, even if the quality isn’t good, predictably 30 or 40 percent of the people who are going to cry at a wedding cry a couple of moments after the music starts. Why? The Greeks. Music allows us to move around those big invisible pieces of ourselves and rearrange our insides so that we can express what we feel even when we can’t talk about it. Can you imagine watching Indiana Jones or Superman or Star Wars with the dialogue but no music? What is it about the music swelling up at just the right moment in ET so that all the softies in the audience start crying at exactly the same moment? I guarantee you if you showed the movie with the music stripped out, it wouldn’t happen that way. The Greeks. Music is the understanding of the relationship between invisible internal objects.
I’ll give you one more example, the story of the most important concert of my life. I must tell you I have played a little less than a thousand concerts in my life so far. I have played in places that I thought were important. I like playing in Carnegie Hall; I enjoyed playing in Paris; it made me very happy to please the critics in St. Petersburg. I have played for people I thought were important; music critics of major newspapers, foreign heads of state. The most important concert of my entire life took place in a nursing home in a small Midwestern town a few years ago.
I was playing with a very dear friend of mine who is a violinist. We began, as we often do, with Aaron Copland’s Sonata, which was written during World War II and dedicated to a young friend of Copland’s, a young pilot who was shot down during the war. Now we often talk to our audiences about the pieces we are going to play rather than providing them with written program notes. But in this case, because we began the concert with this piece, we decided to talk about the piece later in the program and to just come out and play the music without explanation.
Midway through the piece, an elderly man seated in a wheelchair near the front of the concert hall began to weep. This man, whom I later met, was clearly a soldier-even in his 70′s, it was clear from his buzz-cut hair, square jaw and general demeanor that he had spent a good deal of his life in the military. I thought it a little bit odd that someone would be moved to tears by that particular movement of that particular piece, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve heard crying in a concert and we went on with the concert and finished the piece.
When we came out to play the next piece on the program, we decided to talk about both the first and second pieces, and we described the circumstances in which the Copland was written and mentioned its dedication to a downed pilot. The man in the front of the audience became so disturbed that he had to leave the auditorium. I honestly figured that we would not see him again, but he did come backstage afterwards, tears and all, to explain himself.
What he told us was this: “During World War II, I was a pilot, and I was in an aerial combat situation where one of my team’s planes was hit. I watched my friend bail out, and watched his parachute open, but the Japanese planes which had engaged us returned and machine gunned across the parachute cords so as to separate the parachute from the pilot, and I watched my friend drop away into the ocean, realizing that he was lost. I have not thought about this for many years, but during that first piece of music you played, this memory returned to me so vividly that it was as though I was reliving it. I didn’t understand why this was happening, why now, but then when you came out to explain that this piece of music was written to commemorate a lost pilot, it was a little more than I could handle. How does the music do that? How did it find those feelings and those memories in me?”
Remember the Greeks: music is the study of invisible relationships between internal objects. The concert in the nursing home was the most important work I have ever done. For me to play for this old soldier and help him connect, somehow, with Aaron Copland, and to connect their memories of their lost friends, to help him remember and mourn his friend, this is my work. This is why music matters.
What follows is part of the talk I will give to this year’s freshman class when I welcome them a few days from now. The responsibility I will charge your sons and daughters with is this:
“If we were a medical school, and you were here as a med student practicing appendectomies, you’d take your work very seriously because you would imagine that some night at two AM someone is going to waltz into your emergency room and you’re going to have to save their life. Well, my friends, someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.
You’re not here to become an entertainer, and you don’t have to sell yourself. The truth is you don’t have anything to sell; being a musician isn’t about dispensing a product, like selling used cars. I’m not an entertainer; I’m a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You’re here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.
Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; I expect you to save the planet. If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don’t expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that’s what we do. As in the Nazi camps and the evening of 9/11, the artists are the ones who might be able to help us with our internal, invisible lives.”
I recently came across this article written by Dr. Reuer about the benefits of using music for yourself. I really believe it’s wonderful to see the applications of music therapy in everyone’s everyday lives.
Read full article here
When a favorite song comes on the radio, we all turn up the volume and listen more closely or sing along—and instantly feel better than we did moments before. It turns out that there’s a lot of science behind this phenomenon. -Barbara Reuer, Ph.D.
As Reuer says in this article, “In a nutshell: Music has been shown to . . .
• boost the immune system
• lower blood pressure
• ease chronic and acute pain
• relieve nausea
• improve muscle control (for instance, in Parkinson’s patients)
• promote visual and auditory abilities
• improve brain function, focus and memory (including in Alzheimer’s patients)
• reduce stress, anxiety and muscle tension
• combat insomnia
• lift mood”
Read all of her words here.
Retrieved from: http://www.musicworxinc.com/company/media100819.php. August 3, 2011
Watch and read to see what these experts have to say.
WATCH (Sacks’ discussion of music can be found between the 0:46 and 3:41 marks):
Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/mozart-effect_n_886398.html August 3, 2011
This article shares wonderful descriptions of Music Therapy in answer to the common question, “What is Music Therapy?” Read her words here.
“Music therapy uses music prescriptively to provide opportunities for individuals to establish or strengthen connections, achieve transformations, build and expand upon foundations and reach aspirations.”
Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronna-kaplan-ma/music-therapy_b_869439.html, August 3, 2011
A Co-op’s Post: Taking a Closer Look at Music Therapy
Written by Britney McNeilly, Northeastern Co-op Student at RMTS
Recently I read an interesting study about a thirty-one year old man with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This condition caused him feelings of doubt, unrest, and panic, and resulted in emotional and social issues that affected his every day life. Characteristic to OCD, John* (as I will refer to him for privacy purposes) had a strong need for order and was afraid and overwhelmed by irregularities. Though he had been working with a psychotherapist for years, there had been no notable improvements in John’s condition. On a whim, John’s therapist decided to refer him to music therapist Jose Van Den Hurk. After a brief assessment, the music therapist decided that he would use improvisation as his primary therapeutic tool.
“John* had an intense need for security, predictability, and set rules,” said Van Den Hurk. “From the very first contact, it was obvious that my client did not want to take any risks. He was afraid of the unknown.” (pg 329) During his early music therapy sessions, John’s fears were reflected in his improvisation– he was passive, submissive, uncreative, and showed no spontaneity. He selected instruments which were familiar to him, and he did not experiment with them. John had low self-confidence and required validation, approval, and reassurance. Because of this, he found it difficult to make decisions, often second guessing himself or asking others for advice. This attitude could be seen in his hesitance to choose musical instruments and to improvise.
John was a very intellectual person; however his emotions were lacking and unaccessible. He would play music mechanically, interjecting no feeling into his play through the manner or dynamics or tempo. Because of his low-self confidence, John was afraid of being hurt. Rationalizing his emotions and focusing on his intellectuality, he defended himself from any possible rejection or betrayal. John also feared intimacy. This was demonstrated in his therapy sessions by his lack of musical contact with his therapist. It was as though the act of playing together and connecting musically scared him.
From his initial observations and discussions with John, Van Den Hurk devised a treatment plan. First, he selected two different but familiar instruments for John and himself (guitar and percussion). In this scenario, John was playing a familiar instrument, did not have to make the decision of choosing an instrument, and was using an instrument different from the therapist (in order to eliminate any possibility for an intimate musical connection)– the ultimate safe haven.
At the next stage, the music therapist selected two identical, familiar instruments. Though John did not have to make a choice or play an unfamiliar instrument, he was forced to risk intimacy with the therapist. He began by refusing to look at the therapist when playing, concentrating solely on his own mechanical technique and rhythm and ignoring any means of connection. However as time passed, it was noted that John paid more attention to the therapist, especially when playing piano. This newfound emotional connection was created because John felt more at ease on the piano, and therefore his self confidence was boosted. Feeling worthy and confident, he was less hesitant to look the therapist in the eye and sync his rhythms with him. John’s improvisations became more dynamic and expressed more emotions as he improved musically– an important step forward. Emotionally reserved, music was a safe way for John to acknowledge his feelings and release them.
To work on John’s decision making, the therapist encouraged him to now choose his own instrument. He was forced to deal with the difficulty of decision making, but had control over which instrument he picked (familiarity) and whether it was similar or different to that of his therapist’s (intimacy). This focused on a different aspect of John’s OCD, but allowed him to integrate his previous progress of playing with the therapist. He was no longer afraid of selecting similar or identical instruments, and
The last stage worked on John’s lack of spontaneity and incessant need for routine. When improvising with John, the music therapist initially used a technique called “empathy” (Bruscia 1987) in which the therapist works on imitation, synchronization, and pacing and reflecting. Once noted progress had been made in other areas, this technique was exchanged with that of “elicitation” and “redirection.” These strategies include repeating, making spaces, interjecting, and introducing change. Through this style of improvisation, John was forced to experiment, take initiatives, and react spontaneously.
John’s progress in music therapy was notable, but the real challenge was applying the concepts he’d mastered in class to his life. Music therapy was an important transitory step for John, and through continued music and psycho therapy, his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has become easier to manage.
From early beginnings in the womb until the late stages of adulthood, music plays an important role in human growth, development, and sustainment. Music— to be defined here as organized sound— is an essential component of most cultures, coloring the world through melodies, harmonies, rhythm, and lyrics. Humans use music as a form of emotional expression, as well as a group bonding activity through participation in orchestras, bands, concerts, and casual gatherings.
The idea of music as a therapeutic tool has been increasingly present in the media and is currently a prime topic of scientific research. Music has been proven to assist in childbirth, aid in the healing of stroke victims, and increase memory recall in Alzheimer’s patients. In her book, The Power of Music, Elena Mannes explains the affect music has on different groups of people and its role in modern day health care. Read an excerpt from Mannes’ book here.
A Co-op’s Post: Taking a Closer Look at Music Therapy
Written by Britney McNeilly, Northeastern Co-op Student at RMTS
Today I had the pleasure of witnessing my first music therapy session. Though I have read numerous books and studied cases in which music is used as a therapeutic tool, I have never actually been present during a session; this was both an exciting and reaffirming experience for me. As the new Northeastern Co-op student assisting at Roman Music Therapy Services, I am going to be sitting in on sessions led by Board Certified Music Therapists and assisting them with their programs during the next six months.
On Tuesdays at 2:00pm, Roman Music Therapy Services hosts a group session called “Music Makers,” (Drop-Off Program) which works with young children ages three to six, with or without disabilities. This is the first Drop-Off class as part of “Sprouting Melodies,” the children’s program at Roman Music Therapy Services. Music is used to help them express themselves, develop social skills, and learn how to positively interact with others. The session I took part in was with two children. Despite their differences, I witnessed both reap the benefits of music therapy.
The session started with us all (including Meredith and Kari, the two music therapists in charge) sitting in a circle, each with our own hand drum. Varying in sizes, the drums were used to bang along to a melody that Meredith sang to introduce the class and get the children involved. Whether it was quiet and slow or fast and loud, each of the children clearly demonstrated their personality through their playing technique and preferences. Next we sang along as Kari played the guitar. Meredith has developed a catalog of songs that get the children moving and hold their attention, which is crucial when working with young kids. Passing a drum around, the kids learned how to share, take turns (and accept when their turn was over!), make eye contact, and call each member of the circle by name. They also were learning musical concepts– how to maintain a steady beat, how to improvise, and the sonority of various musical instruments. The second to last song used scarfs as props, an idea that I found quite creative. Kari sang “I See Colors All Around” (written by one of our music therapists, Holly) and the children waved their colored scarfs in the air.
After forty-five minutes, the session ended with a goodbye song, and the children moved to the next room where they were greeted by their parents. Joyful, they said their goodbyes and left RMTS. I was happy, knowing that they had enjoyed themselves and were a step closer to achieving their goals. Even in this brief session, I was provided with proof that music therapy can indeed help children grow.
Our Director, Meredith Pizzi was featured in a story with Laura Rutherford, the founder of Kate’s Voice. We are very excited to share the story with you here!
This is from the Family Caregivers Unite! Website:
Laura Rutherford and Meredith Pizzi are linked by music therapy. Laura is the mother of Kate, who has multiple developmental and physical disabilities and who inspired Kate’s Voice, a non-profit group that grants music therapy programs to special-needs classrooms. Meredith, a professional music therapist, is the Founder and Director of Roman Music Therapy Services, a music therapy agency which serves children and adults with social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, physical, and educational needs. They talk about their work in and for music therapy and how they came to be involved. They explain the ways in which music therapy helps children with special needs. They describe their success stories. They offer advice to family caregivers who are wondering if music therapy will help their special-needs children, and to family caregivers just starting down the road travelled by Laura, Kate and the family. And then they say how they would like to see music therapy programs develop.
Click HERE to visit the Voice of America website.
You’ve always known that making music was good for your children, now come experience it for yourself!
Our new Rhythms to Live By group will free you by incorporating
Come, restore, revive. Rediscover you.
Melt into the music. Let your cares roll away.
Remember what it was like to take time for you.
Come Join Us!
While registration is not required an RSVP is requested.
RSVP now to info@romamusictherapy.com
Join us for this drop in program once or often. You choose the frequency.
Cost: Pay what you can to support our programs.
Suggested donation is $15 pp.
Our Sprouting Melodies® Program has really grown over the years and has provided an enriching, playful, and supportive music class to many, many young children. We have seen the children:
We want to tell you all about our Repetition Reaps Rewards Program. This program aims:
We are so excited to offer this opportunity to both thank you, the parents, and to support your children in their overall early childhood development!
So, I must admit I was sad today when I couldn’t find any Christmas music on the radio. Even though I’ve become quite a Christmas music snob with my Putumayo CD’s and a few new Pandora stations, when I was flicking stations in the car today, I was hoping for a familiar version of Jingle Bells or Walking in a Winter Wonderland.
Music seems to fill the air between Thanksgiving and Christmas and then what. After a half-rousing version of Auld Lang Syne, it all seems to disappear. Don’t let that happen to you this year. Keep the Musical Spirit Alive in your home all year with these tips.
Encourage creative play and exploration by leaving good quality instruments around the home. I remember reading a research study that talked about how children who play with instruments left out at home play for longer periods of time and in more sophisticated ways. Musical play provides inherent opportunities for developing ideas and learning new skills.
When you want to have some fun together as a family, break out the music! One of our kids favorite activities this month was singing songs around the Christmas tree, but you don’t need a Christmas tree to make music together. Pull out a few select instruments, maybe even Tupperware, and make some music!
This year, I was the lucky recipient and excited giver of CD’s for gifts. Making a playlist or CD for your family member can be a joy for you as you pick through songs that you know your loved one would enjoy. It’s also a great gift to receive and enjoy over and over again as you listen to your thoughtfully selected songs.
Guitar, piano, the bassoon? What instrument has always intrigued you? Maybe it’s time for you to finally find a teacher and an instrument so that you can be the musician you want to be! Or if you used to play, maybe it’s time to dust off the old horn, or voice box and find out about joining a community chorus, band or orchestra. Don’t wait any longer!
Getting out to hear live music is a great way to keep the musical spirit alive. There is nothing like hearing and seeing live musicians perform. This fall, we invited our nephew to the Melrose Symphony Orchestra concert. It was wonderful to see him taking in a live orchestra for the the very first time. Live music anywhere, from a concert hall to a coffee shop is exciting and enriching. If you’re looking for great opportunities to hear live music for kids, check out BostonChildren’sMusic.com for a calendar of events in the Boston area.
By: Meredith Roman Pizzi, MT-BC
Here’s a fireside chat with Meredith about individual music therapy sessions.
Meredith: In a typical individual music therapy session, the music therapist and client will engage in a variety of musical experiences including:
Individual music therapy is truly individualized! The client’s needs and goals are addressed directly in the musical interactions and active participation in music.
Meredith: Because individual music therapy sessions are designed to focus directly on the client’s needs and goals, participants do reach individual goals faster in private sessions. In group music therapy settings in school or afterschool programs, the primary goals are always related to the group. Individual participants do make definite progress towards their individual goals, however, they are not the focus of the entire group session.
On the other hand, in an individual session, the individual’s needs always come first. The music therapist is able to respond to whatever the client needs in the moment and although music therapy is still a process and takes time, consistency and engagement, individual progress is often seen more quickly in private music therapy sessions.
Meredith: One on One music therapy sessions are a great way to target and increase skills in the following areas:
Meredith: If the goals you are looking to address in music therapy are based on social skills and functioning within a larger environment, then individual music therapy is not the best choice. Skills like waiting and turn taking, asking and answering questions, increasing joint attention to group activities, and understanding socially appropriate behaviors are best addressed in a music therapy group format.
What are your questions about music therapy? If you have any other questions you would like to see answered about music therapy, please email me and I will answer them in a future newsletter.
I 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!
It 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.
Saturdays and Sundays
Weekdays at Schools and Daycares also available!
Our place or yours!
1 hour of fun and interactive music making!
Pizza and cake downstairs at Papa Gino’s
Roman Music Therapy Services is announcing that we have teamed up with Papa Gino’s to offer a brand new option for Birthday Parties for children. Here’s a fun way to celebrate your child’s birthday in developmentally and age appropriate ways in which the kids and grown ups all have a blast!
Forget those crazy places that spin you around for an hour and a half and you come out feeling dizzy! Come on in to our comfortable music therapy center for a Music and Movement Birthday Party for children 1-5 or a Let’s Rock! Birthday Party for children 6-12. We’ll make music, play instruments, sing songs, and have a great time for your child’s birthday.
Then downstairs to Papa Gino’s for Pizza and Cake! Everything is included!!
I’m so excited about this! If you’re interested in having a birthday party with us, give us a call!
For More Information, check out:
Music Therapy Birthday Party Flyer
Music Therapy Birthday Party Agreement
Contact Meredith R. Pizzi, MT-BC at 781-665-0700 or mpizzi@romanmusictherapy.com
It’s time to feature another Frequently Asked Music Therapy Question. What does a music therapy session actually look like? What happens in a session and if my classroom is able to get the funding for music therapy, what would my students actually be doing?
All great questions. I actually had a special education teacher ask me at the beginning on this school year if I had this written down somewhere and I was surprised when I realized I didn’t. So now it is officially in writing.
Music Therapy sessions are always goal driven and so what actually happens in the session will vary greatly depending on the needs and level of participation of the students. However, the structure and format of a music therapy session are almost always the same.
To begin each session, we need a song to say hello and gather us together. Sometimes, we will sings hello to all of the group members and other times doesn’t address each member, but the purpose of the song is the same. It is used to bring everyone together and gather the group to begin music. Sometimes the Gathering Song includes instruments for the students to take turns or share and support peer social interactions. Other times, a Gathering Song would include Body Percussion like clapping hands, patting knees, or stamping feet.
Depending on the group goals, the music experiences in the session may include a variety of music therapy strategies and interventions.
Here are some goal areas and examples of music therapy strategies our music therapists may use:
Cool DownI often include a Cool Down in the music therapy sessions to bring us all back to a quiet place after a lot of intense effort on our goal areas. In some sessions, this is active listening to quiet guitar music and in other sessions, it may be a movement activity with scarves. Either way, the purpose is to bring us back to a quiet place, relax our bodies and our minds, and prepare us for the transition to say goodbye.
A closing song tells everyone in the group that our music time is finished and we are transitioning to the next activity. We say goodbye to each other in the song structure and then if it’s appropriate we will stand up and move on to the next thing in the music making it a seamless musical transition. This is often very helpful and successful in classrooms that have a difficult time transitioning.
So there you have it, an outline for a 30-45 minute music therapy session. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to post them below. If you have questions about specific music therapy strategies and ideas that would work for your classroom, please call Meredith Pizzi, MT-BC at 781-665-0700.
By: Meredith Roman Pizzi, MT-BC
Nothing! There is no prerequisite for successful participation in music therapy. The Board Certified Music Therapists at Roman Music Therapy Services work from a client centered music therapy approach. In this model of therapeutic treatment, a client participates as they are and the music therapist uses the tools of music to meet the client and their needs. The client does not need to do anything! Where the client is is where they are, and the music therapist’s job is to meet the client in that place and help them to move towards their educational and therapeutic goals in the music.
Your child does not need to have any specific music experience on an instrument. If there is a particular affinity towards an instrument, than that can certainly be incorporated. Sometimes children that have had lessons on a particular instrument can use that skill in their music therapy session, however knowledge or skill level on an instrument is not necessary for successful participation in music therapy.
The services we currently offer include music therapy sessions for individuals and groups which address the client’s most pressing therapeutic needs. At times it may be appropriate to address musical skills in order to increase confidence or to participate in a social context. For other clients, it is more appropriate to play a variety of instruments within the music therapy session. These approaches to learning an instrument are goal oriented and focus on non-musical goal areas, which is different from learning how to play an instrument to increase musical skill.
Some music therapists do offer adapted music lessons. At this time, Roman Music Therapy Services is not able to offer adapted music lessons due to scheduling concerns. Hopefully, we will be able to offer both group and individual adapted music lessons in the future.
Parents often call me looking for music therapy services because they know that their child “loves” music. They recognize that music is something, or sometimes the one thing, that their child responds to consistently. Maybe the child is singing songs but not using a lot of language, or maybe the child plays instruments with an apparent awareness of musicality.
If your child is drawn to music, music therapy may be the next step to helping your child reach new levels of achievement.
If your child does not tolerate music well and gets upset when music is playing, music therapy can help to integrate and process musical stimulus so that the child can function better in all environments.
Music is a form of communication which encourages meaningful interpersonal relationships and interaction that goes beyond verbal skills. It allows for opportunities to process experiences musically and verbally through listening to songs and songwriting. Music therapy is an expressive and creative process which allows many opportunities for growth.
Not every child needs music therapy, but most children will benefit from music therapy services.
Absolutely! The best way to find out if music therapy would benefit your child is to come to a session. With the new year just around the corner, call us at 781-224-3300 to schedule a visit to a Sprouting Melodies group or our Afterschool Music Therapy Groups.
Check out Sprouting Melodies, our early childhood music program, or read about our Afterschool Groups.
“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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
How could you not love making music with children? I love providing music therapy programs for little ones at public libraries and in our Sprouting Melodies® classes. And I love making music with older children in afterschool groups. But honestly, the best part is knowing that Moms, Dads and other caregivers can bring those songs home and develop the music making at home.
So on that note, here are 4 reasons why I love making music with children:
There is nothing like sharing in the simplicity of music making with a child. As a newborn, music is a profound experience that causes the baby to stop and look around, waiting and watching. As children age, they become more and more aware of the environment and still attend to music as if it is a huge presence in the room. I learn a lot from their experience of music.
When you see children, young and old, master a musical task in a song, the progress is crystal clear! I enjoy working in groups of 6-7 weeks because at the end of a session, the progress from beginning to end is absolutely magnificent! We can all sit around and say, “Do you remember when we first started this group?”
The same is true with a child at home. With repetition, you see great growth! Every time a song is shared, children soak it in. With even more repetition, they are able to make the music their own. And it is really is fun to see.
When you can see the anticipation of a musical phrase in a baby’s eyes, smile, and body movements, it is shear joy! And as the baby grows (which happens much too quickly), the joyful responses become joyfully contagious! It’s hard to not laugh with a 3 year old when playing the drum, or a 7 year old delighted to be strumming to the blues on the guitar!
There is a closeness in making music with your child that goes beyond a song. It is our common understanding that songs and lullabies create intimate shared moments for babies and caregivers. With repetition, those shared musical moments create meaningful bonds.
The same can be said for music making with older children. Think about all of the stress and conflict in our parental relationships with our children. From putting on shoes in the morning, to clearing the dinner table, to brushing teeth. There are plenty of events that take us away from bonding with our kids. Making music on a regular basis with your children returns some of he playful bonding to our relationships that we all need.
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® 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.
Roman Music Therapy Services is excited to have worked on a project with Ablevision of Malden to create a television segment about music therapy. As their website says:
Ablevision is a show produced entirely by people with disabilities. We are a group of video producers dedicated to educating and promoting awareness of the disabled community.
We are really excited to share the work of Roman Music Therapy Services with this great organization and the 44 communities in Massachusetts that receive their television program.
Ablevision was recorded in Roman Music Therapy Services’ first studio located in Malden, as well as on site at Charlestown High School during a class music therapy session and at the Melrose Public Library in March. Thank you to all of those who participated and were interviewed for this special music therapy feature.
The taping was completed in April of 2009 and the show aired in late summer of 2009. To learn more about this great organization, check out their website at www.ablevision.org. They also have a youtube channel at www.youtube.com/ablevision. Please check it out!
Music was the third person in the room. When the contractions were the strongest, the music drew me in. When I felt respite, the music and toning gave me strength. When it came time to push, the music was the driving force. And when we held our child for the first time, we played his special song to welcome him. I don’t think I could have acheived the natural childbirth I desired without the music.” – New Mother
Music Therapy Assisted Childbirth is an incredible tool for mothers and fathers as they progress through labor and welcome their new little one into their arms and their life. Using music for relaxation, pain management and to facilitate rhythmic breathing brings the expectant parents and the entire childbirth team together. It supports the mother and her birth partner in creating and facilitating the desired birth experience.
For more information on Music Therapy Assisted Childbirth, please read our blog posting on Music Therapy Assisted Childbirth.
Almost all children respond to music. Music is an open-sesame, and if you can use it carefully and appropriately, you can reach into that child’s potential for development. -Clive Robbins
Roman Music Therapy Services has a private music therapy center for individual and group music therapy sessions conveniently located at 333 North Avenue in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
This intimate and private setting has been created with the therapeutic process in mind and is equipped with guitars, a keyboard, drums, tambourines, and various other hand percussion instruments.
There are currently openings for weekday and Saturday sessions. Please call Meredith R. Pizzi, MT-BC to schedule an individual music therapy assessment.
The Music Therapy Center creates a space in which the client can freely explore a musical relationship with the music therapist and be supported in their growth by the music therapist and the music. There is also space for a parent to sit and observe during the sessions if desired. As a private pay service, goals and objectives are agreed upon by the parent, music therapist and the child, if possible. Goals may be related to areas addressed in school or other areas which the parent feels are not being adequately addressed.
Read more about music therapy for children and our services in the following pages and articles.
To find out more about how music therapy may benefit you or your child, contact Meredith R. Pizzi, MT-BC at 781-224-3300 or submit an inquiry through our website.
By: Holly Rand, MT-BC
Being a music therapist is a really exciting and dynamic job. At any given moment my car has some sort of collection of instruments in it, which leads all of the passengers in my car to ask, “what is that noise?”. Typically it is a bag of tambourines, maracas, bells, frame drums, rain sticks…you name it, it’s probably in my bag of tricks. And that bag of tricks and I travel all over to make music with some really outstanding individuals.
Here’s a look at a typical day in my job. It will give you an idea of
– the work my clients and I do
– the music we create and
– the successes that grow out of the therapeutic uses of music.
I start my day at 8:30 AM at Charlestown High School. Here, I work with a group of teenagers with various disabilities. We focus a lot on social interaction and movement in this group. So, for example, I’ll set up an instrument improvisation where everyone chooses and instrument and then we all jam until I give the cue to trade instruments. The kids then get up and ask their peers if they can have their instrument. The physical aspect of this is significant for most of these kids, as many of them have physical challenges, and the chance for appropriate social interaction is incredibly important. It really gives them an opportunity to have a successful social exchange and it is a wonderful model for them to carry over outside of the session.
Next, I head up to Andover to run a group for young children with multiple disabilities at the Professional Center for Child Development. These little guys are great. Getting these kids to vocalize or say hello on a pre-recorded switch is something that we work hard on. I try to bring out the little soul singers in them by starting the group with a blues hello song. Some of the kids use their voices and some use the switch, and all of them do a great job of greeting their friends. We also work a lot on choice-making in this group, which can be choosing an instrument to play from 2 or 3 depending on individual abilities and goals, or choosing an animal to sing about during the famous farm song. The kids are really motivated to make a choice because, really, who wouldn’t want to choose an instrument or an animal to sing about? But even when it seems like just fun, I am consciously and intentionally addressing their goals and objectives.
Now, I’m on to the EMBARK program, which is a school-based program for youth ages 18-22 with various disabilities, located in Salem. We have been working on songwriting in this group, and our most recent project is a rap about Redbull. It’s pretty amazing.
The kids control the entire songwriting process, from writing the lyrics, to choosing what style of music the lyrics will be set to. This is a great way for these kids to work on social skills by structuring and supporting appropriate social interactions with their peers. We have finished the rap, and are now in the process of recording it, and when that is complete we will put it together with the other songs the group has recorded to create a CD. We are all really psyched about the CD release party to unveil the final product. This is a really talented bunch of kids, and it is wonderful to see them interact with each other to create some really great music.
My next stop is an individual session with a high school student. Because we are working on choice-making and successful independence, the client chooses what we do and the session is always changing and evolving. We write songs, we listen to pre-recorded music and discuss the lyrics and we play instruments.
There is never a dull moment and he keeps me on my toes with all of his classical music knowledge. In a recent session, I brought in Vivaldi’s “Spring” and within the first 3 seconds of play, he knew the title and composer. He has really made significant progress in his work in music therapy and he is now able to take turns leading and following in the music during our sessions.
My last session is with a child receiving early intervention services. I love working with this little guy. It is clear in each of our sessions how happy he is to be in music. My favorite thing in this session is typically the hello song. We start off with a very structured song, and by the end of it we are just improvising together.
Vocalization is one of the goals for him, and by improvising, I allow him space to vocalize any way that he chooses, and then I respond by mirroring back what he sang. Also, by stopping the guitar and waiting for him to vocalize, we are addressing the goal of understanding cause and effect, which is an important goal for him. He really appears to love to sing, and given enough time and space, he can get his little vocal engine warmed up and create some really great music.
So, there you have it. That is what a typical day looks like for me.
Actually, I forgot the part about how after all of that, you can usually find me drinking a chai latte and doing my documentation for all of my sessions at Jam ‘n Java in Arlington. It is such a great way to finish my day. I am very grateful to be able to have a job doing something that I love. It is so rewarding to be a part of my clients’ processes and help them to reach their goals through our music together.
To Contact Holly Rand, MT-BC, call 781-665-0700 or email info@romanmusictherapy.com.
