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An Article Weekly: “Elementary-Aged Children’s Aesthetic Experiences with Music”

Each Monday, I will be writing up a short, non-academic review of an article I’ve found interesting. These articles will be taken from music therapy peer-reviewed journals. 

The article I’ll briefly review tonight is, “Elementary-Aged Children’s Aesthetic Experiences with Music,” by Phyllis M. Paul. The article was published in Journal of Music Therapy, XLV(2), 2008, 135-146.

After reading this article, I have two big questions. First, though, let me tell you a little bit about the piece:

  1. On page 136, the all-important definition of the word “aesthetic” in this article is this: ” ‘… intense subjective and personal experience; feelingful reaction; requires perception, experience of feelings and reactions, and psychological involvement.’ “
  2. The measurement tool is the Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI), which is “a potentiometer interfaced with a computer that allows the measurement of a response simultaneously with stimulus presentation” (pg. 136), on which the left side was marked “0” and the right, “255.” The study considered whether fourth grade students of three types — normally developing, students with special needs, and gifted students — could use the CRDI to express aesthetic experiences.
  3. The piece used in the study was “18th Variation” from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, by Rachmaninoff. Reasons given for using this piece were that it is a “complete piece of music (pg. 138)”; and it is relatively short, at three minutes 38 seconds long.

My first big question stems from the sentence directly following the descriptions of the reasons given for the piece selection. The sentence reads,

“In addition, some research … suggests that listeners may experience a more immediate enjoyment of, and appreciation for, music from the romantic period” (pg. 138).

Huh. Of course the author cited the research (an article published in Psychology of Music called “Towards and Understanding of Music Appreciation,” by E. Payne), but I for one would love to know more about said research. 1. What is “immediate” in “immediate enjoyment?” 2. Define “enjoyment.” 3. Define “appreciation.” 4. What leads a person to believe fourth graders in the year 2008 (the year in which this article was published) are among those people who have this enjoyment of music from the romantic period?

The results of this study show that there was a large difference between the group of normally developing students and the group of students with special needs, whereas a similar (but not identical) study that was conducted on preschool-aged students with and without developmental disabilities showed there was “no difference when comparing the preference discriminations” (pg. 142). My second big question is, How does age affect these results? I recognize, though, that this same test was not administered to the preschool-aged students.

Any insight?

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Newfound podcast: WSJ on Small Business

One way in which I have been trying to branch out as a young professional is to develop my business skills. My fiancé offers endless assistance, for which I am grateful. I am also trying to seek out any resources I can utilize on my own.

Podcasts are huge for me right now. I am in the car a lot, driving from client to client to contract to client, etc. Perhaps it’s my Suzuki upbringing, but I absorb a lot from listening to interesting content; I love to read, of course, but I think I gain more from the act of listening.

One podcast I’ve liked this week is Wall Street Journal on Small Business, which can be found here. The podcast is short and provides synopses of several pieces that are applicable to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

 

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My Epic contract

I began another contract today. This one will last for eight weeks. I work with groups of adults with developmental disabilities throughout the day, and end the day with a debriefing session that includes staff members. Today was the first time I’d met most of the clients and many of the staff members. I loved the experience and am fortunate to feel very comfortable with and welcomed by the staff.

One of my biggest challenges with this particular contract is that I am charged, if you will, with the task of designing music experiences that non-musicians can facilitate  with the clients in my absence. The facility owns a collection of instruments that I used today and will be using in the future, but the facility’s biggest hope is that when I leave, the music won’t. The staff provides music sessions on a daily basis, and I understand my job to be to provide new resources for them and new techniques with which they feel comfortable. Apparently, some of the staff chose not to be a member of my particular project because music was too intimidating. Based on the responses I observed in the clients today, I definitely believe music is a powerful force at this facility (and most places). My big question is, How can I lead and teach in a way that is musically stimulating and pleasing, but not impossible for non-musicians to perform? 

I do love challenges.

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Kid Talk: Advanced Children’s Therapy

Today I presented to speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists at Kid Talk in Victoria, Minnesota. Half of the group was familiar with music therapy, and all of them seemed very supportive and interested in it and its work toward speech goals for their clients. I shared some resources I have, and was happy to receive some new resources from them as well. Not surprisingly, many of the speech-language pathologists shared that they use music in their treatment.

A few days ago I posted here that I’d love to co-facilitate sessions with other therapists. This topic came up in my talk this afternoon. Perhaps I will have such an opportunity in the near future. 

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Newfound podcast: …in their words

As I am now working almost entirely with children, both neurotypical and those with special needs, I am in search of more resources, relevant material, and tools.

I drive a lot. When I drive, I love to listen to a variety of podcasts.

Over the past couple of days I’ve been listening to the podcast …in their words, which is published by the American Music Therapy Association‘s early childhood online magazine, Imagine.

I’m curious about the podcast, though, because I’m not sure whether or not it’s still being created. Does anyone know?

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When the majority of a presentation happens in a circle on the floor, it’s a good thing

I had a lovely time tonight, presenting to a group of families who have children with Down syndrome. I was happy that the children seemed interested in participating in the experiences I shared, and also excited to answer general and specific questions about music therapy and how, for example, I might address a child with a short attention span.

We spent about 45 minutes together. I used half an hour with the children and some of the parents in a mini session. We began with a Hello Song, we used some egg shakers, we played some drums, and most popularly, we worked with some Boomwhackers. We closed our mini session with a Goodbye Song, and then the adults moved over to a table where I provided explanations for the experiences I led.

I was happy to work with those children, and to spread the music therapy word a little further. None of the parents there, save my client’s parents, knew about music therapy. I hope I gave them some useful information.

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Presentation tomorrow

Tomorrow evening I present to a group of families who have a child with Down syndrome. I am excited for the experience. The first portion (maybe even half) of my presentation will be engaging the children in experiences on a 1:1 basis as well as in a group. I do not know how many people will be in attendance at this meeting. But, I do know that most of the parents aren’t too aware of music therapy (as was told to me by the family who invited me to speak).

For this reason, I will be breaking the presentation into these pieces:

  • Mini music therapy session with the group of children (complete with the therapeutic arc)
  • Repeated mini music therapy session with the children’s parents taking the place of the children
  • Explanation of some goals I’d have for children in this population
  • Explanation of how the experiences I implement targets those goals
  • Instruction for parents of one experience that will help generalize and build skills, that they may utilize in the home

I’m looking forward to the event. I’m even looking forward to the fact that there are many mysteries involved.

Wish me luck. 

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Using a list to engage

I remember a time only a while ago, maybe only a couple of weeks, where I proclaimed that I was making progress toward goals with one of my private clients. Tonight, however, I feel that the one step forward we’d made has disintegrated and my grasp on the best approach to working with this client has faltered.

I had had a certain amount of success engaging this person with providing a list of experiences that he and I would target during the session, and ask that he put them in order based on his preference. (Thanks, Lynn, for this awesome tip.) Tonight, the client seemed just as willing as he has been to arrange an order of experiences for his session, but essentially refused to participate in them. I feel that I floundered in his session tonight, and that, again, I don’t have enough tools to utilize for him. Yet. I have to have some sort of hope that I will acquire them. And patience. Uch. Patience. I have trouble with that.

 

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Guitar lessons

I am excited that I now will be offering guitar lessons (both adaptive and traditional) through the studio where I have been offering solely music therapy sessions. My first student will start next week.

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Termination of treatment

I have experienced my first private client’s leaving. I have seen her on a bi-weekly basis since June, and her last session with me was last week. I have a variety of paperwork to write up surrounding her treatment termination. Is there anyone out there who is willing to share some templates?