What was the last year like for you as a music therapist or music educator?

I’m sure many of us can say that in some way or another, the last 16 months or so have been challenging, to say the least. This week on the Music For Kiddos Podcast, I sat down with three of my colleagues, who are also part of the Music For Kiddos Community, to talk about their experiences as music therapists and educators navigating through a pandemic.

Many movement songs can also help kids with transitions, and in the classroom, transitions can look like moving between locations, activities, or going to or from a center. Instead of just using our words when asking children to stop one activity and move to the other, we can use music to prepare children to start a different task, to promote self-regulation and to calmly transition to something new.

Burnout is an epidemic among music therapists and music educators and I think it's something that there's a lot of shame around. As someone who has experienced burnout three times, I experienced a lot of shame about burnout but have really grown to realize that I just didn't have the tools that I needed to get through some of the aspects that were causing the burnout for me.

I'm going to walk you through these different episodes of burnout that I had because they were all very different and maybe one of them will sound somewhat familiar to you.

Throughout the years, I was able to develop a step-by-step system to facilitate early childhood music groups and in episode 22 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, I want to share with you how I functionally use lesson plans in the preschool classroom, and go how I from idea to implementation.

Need a fun, catchy song for your early childhood music groups this summer? “Watermelon, Watermelon” is one of our favorite children’s songs that kids (and educators) LOVE!

What do medical music therapists do? How do music therapists use music for procedural support?

To answer these questions and more, we sat down with music therapist Amy Love of Pediatric Music Therapy to talk about the work she does as a music therapist working in a medical setting.

If you are looking for a list of valuable, educational, affordable or even free workshops and professional development opportunities for early childhood and elementary music teachers, you’ve come to the right place.

What do you do when you run out of ideas? As a music therapist or music educator, I’m sure you can relate to this. We look for inspiration for our lesson plans. We gather ideas for new songs we want to write for our clients. We search for intervention ideas for music therapy sessions.

I will admit: I have this kind of constant fear that I'm going to run out of ideas.

What better way to teach kids about our community than through music? Learning about the community and the people that makes it, can foster empathy, can helps kids understand the different roles and importance of different people living or working together in the same area.

Did you know that guitar is the instrument that is most requested to learn by kids? It probably comes to no surprise to you if you are a music therapist or music educator who teaches adaptive music lessons. The guitar is versatile, fun, and kids cannot wait to play and accompany themselves signing their favorite songs, that is, if we are successful in teaching them how to play the guitar.