Songbird Studio

The careful use of YouTube can be so helpful in connecting with tweens and teens.  These are two of my current seasonal favorites on this popular video sharing site. Angels We Have Heard on High (above), as performed by The Piano Guys . This video is amazing--it would make for a great lead-in to a teamwork discussion, or a collaborative music project of your own!  Especially great for groups.  Even better if you have access to a piano so you can crack it open and do some exploration--maybe even create your own soundscape. Little Drummer Boy and Carol of the Bells , as performed by Pentatonix . If I haven't shared this group before, I apologize, because they are my hands-down favorite.  Everything they do, even the covers, are family friendly modifications that still ring true to the originals, and the fact that there are no instruments used is just amazing.  Their channel in general is a great resource for discussing teamwork, but also for buildin...

In this series, we discuss various strategies for creating a relationship through therapeutic rapport. To see the entire series, click here . Take advantage of out-of-group interactions . Greeting clients warmly if you see them around the building, stopping and chatting with them when they're waiting by the front office, etc., can go a long way.  Sometimes, I am the recipient of results from their weekly cooking class, get to see videos of piano playing that happened in the sensory room while I was gone, or get thrown a big holla and wave when I walk into the building.  I am not in this facility full time, and so I take full advantage of any random encounter I may have to touch base and have a positive encounter with my clients.  For me, this may look like simple eye contact and a head nod, a big smile and wave, or responding warmly to a conversation they initiate.  To me, this has built trust and attachment which has allowed us to have some truly remarkabl...

In this series, we discuss various strategies for creating a relationship through therapeutic rapport. To see the entire series, click here .   Use client suggestions:  My next strategy for turning rapport into a true relationship is to acknowledge and (sometimes) take a client's advice.   This isn't as ethically problematic as it may first appear.  For example, an obvious client suggestion that all music therapists are familiar with and take seriously is the client's opinion and personal preference for music.  We know that preferred music is more powerful and helps increase client motivation within a session.  There are plenty of other suggestions a client may offer, however (at least, if they are anything like mine!).  Maybe they have a suggestion for a different instrument to try, a new arrangement for the room, or even where to grab a rockin' mocha down the street.  If you take any of these suggestions, be sure to point out that y...

In this series, we discuss various strategies for creating a relationship through therapeutic rapport. To see the entire series, click here . Establish a check-in and check-out procedure.   And no, not necessarily a hello and goodbye song...*  For many music therapy students, a hello and goodbye song seem de rigeur...  but you must consider the age of your clients.  My focus in this series is on notoriously tricky population--adolescents.  I do not want to risk my relationship with these clients by patronizing them or attempting to engage them in a process that is obviously not age appropriate.  Instead, I keep it simple and age appropriate.  I greet each person as they enter the room and begin and continue a light conversational tone as the group gathers.  Once we have all arrived, I then greet the group as a whole and pose a question to the group.   When I sit down in my place and ask that question, looking around and taking a...

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...