May 2021

Mad Lib Songwriting

Songwriting is a very popular intervention for music therapists! It is an extremely versatile activity that can be adapted to any client’s needs and song preferences. For some clients, songwriting may be a daunting new challenge, but that’s where music therapists come in!

One of my favorite methods for songwriting is what we call the “Mad Lib” method. We take an existing song, remove some lyrics, and help our clients fill in new ones to make it their own. Our clients love this because we can take a song they already know and love, and make it personal!

One of my favorite songs to use the “Mad Lib” method with is Weezer’s “Island in the Sun.” I typically ask my clients about their favorite activities and places to visit in the Summer, and how it makes them feel. With just a short conversation about Summer fun, we can fill in the blanks of our song!

Here’s what a completed “Mad Lib” song might look like:

I have used Mad Lib songwriting to target executive functioning goals pertaining to problem solving, social goals like creatively collaborating with peers, or simply as a means of creative expression. Mad Lib songwriting can be adapted for any population, but I tend to use it most with children and teens. Many of my clients with autism benefit from the imbedded structure of this intervention. Nonverbal clients can select new lyrics with speech generation devices or the music therapist may choose to prompt them with visual choices (holding up a picture of ice cream or pizza).

Mad Lib songwriting can be adapted to any client’s preferred song! The music therapist can choose to omit as many words as their client can fill in and add new verses over time. This style of songwriting provides enough structure to make composition accessible to anyone!

-Emma

Using Slideshows for Visuals

I had many amazing practicum experiences in my music therapy clinical training at Seattle Pacific. I had opportunities to lead sessions in many different settings with all kinds of populations. My musical and clinical repertoire expanded greatly over those four years. When I started my internship at MTCCA, I noticed some differences in methods and techniques between my new supervisors and former supervisors. Something I noticed immediately about the music therapists at MTCCA is that they always use visuals!

So many of our clients are visual learners and benefit from visual cues with familiar characters and shapes. Many of our sessions happen virtually over Zoom, so we utilize screen sharing to prompt our clients with visual presentations we’ve created on Google Slides and PowerPoint. These slides can have lyrics for therapeutic singing, prompts for songwriting, or pictures that coordinate with themes in a song.

I’ve created some improvisation exercises inspired by my colleagues’ use of slideshow visuals. I created a piano improvisation intervention in which I prompt the client to improvise a theme for a movie character. I chose to begin with the client’s favorite movie, the Jungle Book. Each slide presents a different character from the movie, helping cue the client to play in a new style.

Using slideshows for visuals is an amazing way to utilize pre-learned associations to teach new concepts in an interactive and engaging way!

-Emma

Autism through the Pandemic

As Autism Awareness Month comes to a close, I thought what better subject for our blog? Many of our clients at The Music Therapy Center of California (MTCCA), including those with autism, have had unique experiences through the pandemic. Exciting milestones in their lives have been shaped by lockdowns and social distancing. For some, it has inspired songs about the lockdown lifestyle. For others, it has looked like drive-thru graduations and music therapy over zoom.

One of MTCCA’s most loyal clients, Reid Moriarty, has been inspired to write dozens of songs about his experience through the pandemic. His mother’s piece for the San Diego Union Tribune shares about their family’s resilience living with autism through the pandemic. Everyone has experienced jarring changes this year. Stark changes in routine can be especially challenging for families with autism. Author Andrea Moriarty writes, “If necessity is the mother of invention, autism moms are inventors of the century.”

What many may not know is that autism may be a risk-factor for COVID-19. The research is new, but slowly gaining credibility. A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology examines why autistic individuals may be at a higher risk for health complications with COVID-19. The physiopathology of autism can involve abnormal immune responses which can make recovery from COVID-19 more challenging.

Sophy Chaffee, a parent of one of our clients, writes about her autistic son’s experience with the global pandemic in her piece for the San Diego Union Tribune. A common aspect of autism is difficulty identifying and expressing pain. She shares about her concerns that if her son contracted the deadly coronavirus, he may not have expressed feeling feverish or losing his sense of smell and taste, which could delay interventions to help him heal. Thankfully, he is now vaccinated; but Chaffee emphasizes the importance of increasing research and health training to help autistic individuals who may have challenges identifying and expressing pain.

While everyone has faced much adversity this past year, autistic individuals and their families have shown their resilience and inspired us to keep pressing on.

-Emma

Image retrieved from https://ak.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/1926718/thumb/1.jpg