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.
  • Music Therapy Club: Targeted for children ages 3-7 with special needs, the Music Therapy Club offers a supportive music making environment that facilitates engagement, joy, and success for all.

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 call to find out more about our individual music therapy sessions.

Fall Happenings & Sprouting Melodies Schedule

Fall 2 Session began this week!

Schedule updates: Last week saw the end of our Sprouting Melodies Fall 1 Session. Fall 2 session kicks off this week so there are no breaks in the music! These will be our last classes in the Melrose center before we move to Wakefield on October 31st. We anticipate Sprouting Melodies will begin in Wakefield starting Tuesday, November 1st.

This session will run through December 17th, with a break for the week of Thanksgiving. This will be the final session of 2016, as we take a two week hiatus for the winter holidays. I can’t believe there are only two more months until a new year. How does it go by so quickly?!

There are still spots available in some of our classes, so make sure you reserve your space today!

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We look forward to introducing all of our families to the new space! And watching as the kids make it their own!

Halloween is coming and we’ll say BOO!

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Melrose Trick or Treat 2015, from Melrose Chamber website

Join us, and the rest of the businesses on Main Street, at the annual Trick or Treat at Melrose Businesses. This event is sponsored by the Melrose Chamber of Commerce and will be held on Friday, October 28th from 3:30 to 5:00 PM.

Melrose Trick or Treat 2015, from Melrose Chamber website
Melrose Trick or Treat 2015, from Melrose Chamber website

Main Street will be shut down for the duration of the event and trick or treaters will be able to roam around, getting Halloween loot from area businesses.

 

A Musical Milestone!

A Musical Milestone: Celebrating 10 years of Music Making

10 years of making music

This summer marks the 10th year that Roman Music Therapy Services has been making music in the community — a milestone we are excited to share with all of you!

Our Founder and Executive Director, Meredith Pizzi, MPA, MT-BC,  launched RMTS 10 years ago from her home office in Malden. Since those beginnings, we have experienced  tremendous growth! While based in Melrose, our therapists also see clients across New England.

Our team works with a variety of populations, spanning the spectrum from beginning to end of life care, and we also hold our very popular Sprouting Melodies classes in our Melrose office.

We couldn’t have gotten here without YOU!

To celebrate our musical milestone and to show appreciation to the clients, stakeholders, supporters and contributors to Roman Music Therapy Services, we will be hosting a 10 year anniversary celebration at Memorial Hall in Melrose on Saturday, October 1, 2016.

The event will take place from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm. The agenda will include recognition of community partners, success highlights,  music (of course!), lunch and a drum circle.

Join us – register now!  Continue reading “A Musical Milestone!”

Mother-Daughter Investment

An Investment in Quality Time

As parents and caregivers, we are always looking for activities to do with our children that are fun and enriching! With all of the demands facing today’s families, it can be difficult to take time out of our busy schedules for fun, but it truly is an investment that will pay off!

One mom, Christina LaRock, who has taken our Sprouting Melodies classes with her daughter, faced the same questions as many moms do. What can I do with my child that will be fun and rewarding for us both? Of her experience at Sprouting Melodies, Christina says “If Sprouting Melodies were a financial vehicle for investments, your ‘return on investment’ would be a sure thing, a true win!

Sprouting Melodies® is a unique program offered by Roman Music Therapists for children and their caregivers, ages 0-5. With Board Certified Music Therapists leading classes, Sprouting Melodies focuses to create child-centered musical experiences that integrate what they know about young children, development and music!

An Investment in ConnectionsHappy Sprouting Melodies Student

What makes Sprouting Melodies stand out is not only our focus on children and their expression through music, but the connections they are making with their caregivers and peers. Christina has seen the rewards of that connection. She says,

“When my daughter — who was 22 months old at the time — and I attended a Sprouting Melodies class, I thought it was going to be a fun way to engage my daughter in music and movement. More than enough reason to go! It sure was fun! What I hadn’t anticipated was that the benefits to her would be much, much more than that!”

Reaping the Rewards

Christina experienced firsthand how the classes stimulate and enhance musical, social, physical, and emotional growth and development. She says that her daughter “learned in more meaningful ways what cooperative play is, how to share and take turns more effectively, how to use music as a vehicle to express her emotions. She also gained confidence and self-esteem by being in and sharing the spotlight, exploring different instruments and building an authentic, caring relationship with our Sprouting Melodies leader, Laura!

What distinguishes our Sprouting Melodies Providers™ from others is their expertise in music therapy and special training in early childhood development. Our team is uniquely qualified to accommodate the needs of individual children within groups. They also strive to teach parents how music can strengthen bonds, engage cooperation and transform situations within the family

If that wasn’t enough, what was even more amazing was how I, and my whole family, benefited from what we learned organically through Sprouting Melodies. All the while having a lot of fun! I learned songs to help ease those times when frustration would get the better of me (or my daughter). I learned how that not just listening to music — but making music –sparked a curiosity in musical instruments, patterns and body awareness in my daughter that has provided hours of fun at home together! And, in making music alongside my daughter, I had fun and met other local parents. To this very day, I sing the songs with my daughter that not only are fun & silly but truly help me be a better parent!”

Lessons That Stick

The investment of music is one that lasts. Christina finishes, “I asked my daughter, who just turned 5 years old, what her favorite memory of Sprouting Melodies is. She gave me a huge smile and ran to get her ukulele. Without missing a beat, she started singing “oh gather round, come and sing with me”. The music and the lessons remain … we’re still reaping the benefits!”

Roman Music Therapy Services has been providing Sprouting Melodies® classes to area families for over six years. With a loyal following, some children who are now in pre-K have been with us since their early infant days! Many parents and families have made connections with one another through the classes they attended.

Our Winter II Sprouting Melodies Sessions have just started and run for six weeks. Register today to start making music and connections with your little one!