Free Music Notation Software!

I recently found some great, user-friendly music notation software online that I wanted to share. Honestly, it's been out there for awhile... However, I used to rely on Finale Notepad, and when they started charging for it, I was really at a loss and could not find a suitable replacement. So I kept using my old version of Notepad until it was buried enough on an external drive to make it inconvenient for regular use at work... Googled... and found this!

I haven't found any major bugs as I've used it, nor any malware or spyware. I personally won't guarantee it will work seamlessly for you or won't have bugs or malicious code--always download at your own risk! However, here is a review from Norton (the friendly antivirus folks) that helped me make my decision to download. More info and reviews can be found here (wiki), here (reviews), and here (its online manual plus a download link!). It's open source, works with Macs and PCs, has an intuitive interface, and produces great, professional looking notation. I'm in love! I just used it to simplify some parts for a project at work, and will also be using it to share some PDFs of my recent folk songs posts (that's right, it lets you save as a PDF!!!). So exciting. :-) Hope this is useful for you!

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Effective Behavior Management

Building Rapport One Step at a Time Last month, I did a short presentation at my former graduate school for the student music therapy association there. One of the programs I work in is a public school day treatment setting with adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders, and the organizer of the event felt that presenting on behavior management strategies would be most informative for the group. I thought I would share parts of my presentation here, as a new series on the blog. If you're anything like me when I was going through my music therapy practica, this is the population that produces the most anxiety for you. Hopefully these practical, concrete tips will ease some of that anxiety, because I feel this is a very fulfilling pouplation to work with, and I hope you get the opportunity to do so someday. It's also possible that you are very comfortable with or excited about working with this population. If that is the case, I hope this series reaff...

PDF for Shake them 'Simmons Down

You can view the song from this blog post and find the file available for download here ! I've notated the song in the key of C--transpose to whatever key best fits your needs. I also notated V chords as straight Vs, but you are of course free to spice them up as V7s, or get more inventive with the chord progression as a whole--whatever best fits your population!

Movement Ideas with Music, #1: The Parachute

I finally got a parachute! It has taken me way too many years to acquire one! In fact, it's been a windfall year for parachutes--a 12' parachute was donated to me and a 6' parachute was finally found at a super affordable price that fit my budget. I'm really glad it worked out that way, as I need the smaller one for my tiny groups, but the big one is great for my big groups and my big kids! After check-in, I like to begin my groups with a fun movement activity. This energizes the group, increasing their attention and motivation for the course of the session, and setting the stage for whatever work we will do later. Sometimes it's just something fun, and other times it is directly related to other goals we will address later in the group. This is a simple activity that is paired with a relatively recent pop song, so I find it appropriate to use with all ages of children. Grab your parachute and a copy of " Shake It Off " by Taylo...

Songbird Studio

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