I had no idea how much fun Jenga could be with simple adaptations! This is a big game with counselors and therapists working with children, not only because it’s fun but also because it is re…
Let's Make Session Planning A Breeze
A place to share music therapy activities and get new ideas
Music touches people of any age. Music activities for seniors are fantastic options for keeping your family members connected to music.
Music therapists work with populations and clients across the lifespan, combining expertise in the functions and elements of music with an understanding of developmental, educational, health, and psychological needs.
Let's Make Session Planning A Breeze
Music Therapy Check-in Template that focuses on establishing rapport before session, attention to task, completion of multi-step tasks, emotional awareness, and organization of session.
Music therapy can be a fantastic way to support our kids development whilst they have fun. Both my boys have got on well with music therapy. I this post I will look a little at what music therapy is along with music based activities for the home with young children. Who is music therapy for?
Drumming! What a huge world of possibilities! Conversation Drum Circle - Group plays a beat. Pairs take turns exchanging musical dialogue. Descriptive Drumming Use a drum circle to describe a specific place, song, phrase, etc., such as the beach, the song "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" with instruments representing the chracters, or a common phrase or mantra. Which instruments especially remind you of characteristics of the activity? Which ones? Why? Drum Circle Rhythmic Assignments - The MT-BC
For decades, scientists have been studying the effects of music on the brain. Here are the benefits of music therapy for autistic patients.
Hearing loss intervention in speech therapy! Use the auditory sandwich strategy as a language tool for auditory processing.
How music therapy can help non-verbal children and children with speech and language delays.
The 6th graders have just finished up a unit project on Musical Styles. The goal of this project was to get the students to explore music outside of the country/pop/rock bubble that we tend to be in in our small town. I also wanted them to listen to music more closely to analyze things like the meaning of the lyrics, why & how music is used in different situations, and where they hear music. I gave the students 4 projects to choose from. The project was to be done mostly at home, but after starting the project, I realized that I could do the project in school next year using the classroom tablets each student has a putting music into a Dropbox (something new I'm just learning how to use). After starting the project, I realized there were a lot of things I wanted to change for next year or just make more specific. I have listed those things in red. Overall, I really enjoyed the project and for my first year trying it, I think it went pretty well. The projects options were: Soundtrack of My Life (lesson from TeachersPayTeachers-my document is a slightly modified version of the download): Students created a soundtrack of songs that had lyrics that related to their lives. They had to explore the meaning behind the lyrics and label what style of music each song was. After doing this project, I realized that it didn't really expose students to any new styles of music, so it didn't really fit the theme of my project. However, it was still fun to see their answers! Musical Interests Survey Students created a 10 question survey about musical styles and had to survey 10 people from at least 3 different age groups. When they were finished, they graphed their findings. Most students created very simple graphs on notebook paper (I realized we needed to have a discussion about using a ruler!) and had questions that were open ended so they were hard to graph. Next year, I'll tell them to make their questions multiple choice or keep their answers to one word so they are easier to graph. One of the most creative graphs I received! Music Journal For one week, students kept a journal of all of the music they heard each day. They were supposed to record music in stores, businesses, on commercials, or in classrooms. I encouraged them to record at least 3 per day (the problem with saying that was every single student turned in ONLY 3 examples for each day). At the end of the week, they had to write a one-page reflection on what they noticed. Some students were very observant, and noticed that the dynamics of the music being played differed by the size of the store. They also noticed that the style of music was generally selected to fit the overall likes of their desired customers (ex: a punk clothing store in the mall played loud, punk music. Not country or jazz!) Although a few good recordings were made, several of the students just recorded the music they heard on Pandora or the radio, not music they heard by chance. Something to make more specific next time! Explore 3 New Styles This was probably the best project for accomplishing my main goal: exposing students to new music. Each student had to pick 3 styles of music they don't normally listen to and then find 3 songs from those styles that they liked. They then researched the song and presented it to the class. This is where I used the Dropbox and had several different examples of music on there for them to listen to if they couldn't find new music on their own. The songs presented were very original and it was fun to hear what they had picked. The only change I would make to this project is teaching the kids how to better articulate "why" they liked a piece of music. Most of them could only come up with answers like, "it had a good beat" or "I liked the way he sang it". I realized I haven't really taught them the vocabulary words to explain what they wanted to say. As I said, overall I felt it was a fun project, it just needs a bit of tweaking before next year. I tried to create a rubric that met all 4 projects. Here is the one I used and I just made some modifications as I was grading. I will post a copy of the rubric so you get a general idea, but just know that it is not a perfect rubric and definitely needs some changes.
Music can be extremely enjoyable to listen too and it improves our health. Discover 3 ways music therapy improves brain function.
What are your top 5 best hits? Here's a fun way for any music lover to analyze their favorite songs.
This worksheet will help you find and organize the music you need to get through your day and to help cope or enjoy emotions. Print it out or use it in Goodnotes, Evernote, etc. Be prepared for any emotion!
Music activities for children with special needs require some careful teacher planning and preparation to ensure the class is fully inclusive and caters to the needs and abilities of all learners. This is particularly true when running music activities for children with physical or multiple disabilities, as their needs for accessing and using equipment and instruments can be quite specific. Think about instruments that are suitable as well as how to adapt them for use with students with special needs. There is also advice about respecting students' various levels of music giftedness.
