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January 2025

One of my favorite experiences has been Jam Sessions through Banding Together. Banding Together is a partner non-profit founded  by Angela and Julie that hosts Jam Sessions led by board-certified music therapists for individuals 13+ years of age with varying developmental and intellectual disabilities. I participated in 2 nights of Jam Sessions every week. As senior intern, my role included providing musical support, leading drum circles, acting in skits and even standing in as a guest musician! 

Jam sessions are a great music-based social group experience for participants. There are opportunities for clients to practice social skills amongst peers like themselves.  Participants work on active listening, turn taking, how to participate or engage in group activities and conversations, following verbal, visual and musical directions, and musical entrainment through drum circles. 

Jam Sessions are run primarily the same every week with a schedule that includes: 

  • Welcome-targeting social reciprocation and greetings.
    • The hello song helps bring the group alive and oriented to the space, their peers and the music. When leading, I love to use a microphone and move around the room, interacting with clients and giving them a chance to sing over the speakers! 
  • Drum Circle-targeting active listening, group cohesion, musical entrainment, and turn taking
    • When I’m not leading drum circles and have the opportunity to sit in the circle with participants, I find so much joy in the little moments created within the music making. Whether it is a participant locking in to a drum leader, participants facial expressions between each other, or their laughter at a silly moment, there are countless small meaningful connections amongst participants and volunteers alike. 
  • Social Skills Skit-focusing on a new social skill concept every week by coordinating with the semesters theme (i.e. Beach Jam, Jungle Jam). Social skills can include active listening, how to have an adaptable or flexible brain, how to participate in a group context, how to join peers in conversation, how to use visual and auditory context clues when engaging with others, etc.
    • Having the pleasure of acting in several skits throughout my time at Jam Sessions has been such a joyful experience. Whether it’s a silly ice cream shop worker or a safari guide, I have seen countless participants engage and respond positively to social skill skits. 
  • Guest Musician/Live Stream-The guest musician will play 1-2 songs while participants are given the space to move, dance, and play instruments around the room. This performance portion is live streamed to the Banding Together facebook page.
    • As a new San Diegan, I have loved meeting and making music with talented musicians from all over the San Diego area-and participants love it too!
    • Here is an example of me as a guest musician! 
  • Jam Time-one of our jammers favorite times of the night is when they get to JAM!  Participants have the opportunity to choose a song for the group to explore rock instruments (e.g. sing at the mic, play a keyboard, drumset, electric guitar, etc.) or be a back up vocalist or dancer!
    • Some of my favorite Jam session memories are dancing, singing, or making music with participants during jam time. Watching participant interactions during this time is always a highlight of my night!
  • Closing-We use our upbeat goodbye song to send participants off on a high note!

Jam sessions are truly a safe haven for the participants. We create an atmosphere where participants can know that they are not judged, not alone, free to express themselves and be included in the music no matter what. Jam Sessions create opportunities for social interaction, camaraderie and musical opportunities. It has been one of the most fulfilling and educational experiences of my internship and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to work with these amazing participants. 

-Mia Falcon

In my time at MTC, I have had the educational and heart warming experience of running groups in a preschool setting. At this preschool, I lead two groups: a 2-3 year old group of 8-10 kids and a 3-4 year old group with 6-8 kids. The population of these clients are typically developing kids and medically fragile kids with varying diagnoses. Session planning with this age group was tough for me at first, but I quickly learned how to work off of a session ‘skeleton’ outline. Here is a typical skeleton outline for my preschool sessions with some examples that I use!

  1. Hello
    1. I use ‘Ways to Say Hello’ from Kibbles Rockin’ Clubhouse and In Harmony which prompts clients to practice verbally and physically saying hello to their peers through waving, shaking hands, and giving high fives. I find that this is a great way to get clients engaged with both myself and the group members-plus they LOVE singing and doing the actions. 
  2. Egg Shakers
    1. Shaker songs are a great way to target any sustained attention goals. Laurie Berkner is a staple in my group and lots of kiddos this age are familiar with her songs. I love using ‘I Know A Chicken’, prompting clients to shake their eggs fast/slow, high/low. Raffi is another favorite of mine and his song ‘Shake My Sillies Out’ is great! Not only fun, egg shakers are inexpensive so each child in the group has the chance to play their own instrument. 
  3. Scarves
    1. Using scarves is a great way to engage clients, target motor planning and coordination and pretend play. Like egg shakers, they’re fun, colorful, and inexpensive so each child can have their own! Stephanie Leavell of Music for Kiddos has great themed scarf songs available on Spotify. Some of my favorites are ‘Blowing in the Wind’ and ‘Swirly Whirly Scarves’. 
  4. Movement
    1. Laurie Berkner’s ‘The Goldfish Song’ and ‘We Are The Dinosaurs’ are group favorites. I love movement songs that are a little bit silly, engaging, and thematic. They also incorporate large body motor movements to get energy out and encourage creative play. 
  5. Drumming/attention
    1. After movement, I have found that interventions with percussion instruments such as bells, shakers and/or drums are effective in keeping clients engaged. I have used ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ with drums and prompt clients to play loud/soft, fast/slow.
      1. Another way to target client attention is using visual paddles with pictures represent loud/soft, fast/slow.
  6. Book
    1. Books are a great way to lower the energy level yet still keep them engaged. I have found that books set to songs and have interactive visual components for clients work best. Clients love ‘Pete the Cat’ books! 
    2. Interactive visuals with enough pieces for each client in the group have worked best for my groups! I like to have clients bring their visual component up to the front and match it to its corresponding picture. This keeps clients engaged throughout the book as they have to pay attention in order to match their visual, wait their turn, take turns with their peers, and practice fine motor skills!
  7. Manipulatives
    1. Similar to books, interventions that require alternating attention are great for this population! For example, I like to use a farm scene with velcro farm animals for clients to use.  I pass out an  animal  to each client and prompt them to put  their animal on the farm scene while singing, ‘Old McDonald Had a Farm’. 
  8. Goodbye!

I learned that it is better to over-plan when it comes to preschool sessions, as it’s always good to have a couple of extra interventions on hand if things go awry (because they will)! Preschoolers can be unpredictable, and having “tried and true” or go-to fan favorite  interventions can refocus any session. Working with this population has been such a fun and educational experience for me. Happy new year and happy session planning!

-Mia Falcon

Hello everyone! My name is Mia Falcon, and I am the senior intern at the Music Therapy Center of California (MTC). I’m late to the game, but for my first blog post, I thought I’d tell you all a little bit about myself and how I made my way here to sunny San Diego at MTC. 

I was born and raised in Kansas City. And before you ask, I’m from the KANSAS side, but went to school on the Missouri side. I completed my Bachelor’s degree coursework from the University of Kansas in May of this 2024, and am now here at MTC to finish the final component of earning my degree-my internship. 

You might be wondering ‘Mia, why did you choose to move 1,500 miles away from home for a 6 month internship?’.  And to you, lovely reader, I would say-because why not! My family has had a tie to the San Diego area for many years and I’ve always felt a pull to southern California. I’ve visited my family here since I was a baby and have always wondered how my life could look in San Diego-somewhere so different from home. Going to school only 45 minutes away from my hometown was a blessing, but once graduation hit, I felt that I could use this opportunity to try living in a new but familiar city. 

After sending in my application, I took a trip out to San Diego to get a physical walk through of the offices and meet the internship director and co-owner, Julie for my first interview! Every source on the internet about MTC had nothing but great things to share and was very interested in the private practice setting. My undergraduate practicum experience with clients was primarily working with young children and adults. I was very drawn to the diverse clientele of MTC and the opportunities that they provide for their interns (learn about MTC’s internship).

So after 4 interviews with the lovely internship directors and supervisors, I was offered an internship position! I could barely contain my excitement and started jumping for joy the moment I got off the zoom call. Fast forward to a few months later, and it was time to move out of my college house and start packing my things to move out to California! 

Moving to a new city is no easy feat, and neither was packing for it.  Oftentimes I was asking myself questions-do I really need these heavy pants? What about two different rain jackets? What about sturdy winter boots? Sweatpants galore? My full-length winter parka? But alas, I moved here in July and had no use for my once needed cold weather clothing. Instead I packed up my business casual clothes, sandals, swimsuits, my instruments and loaded up the car for a roughly 3 day drive to the West coast!

Highlights from the drive included stopping at several different scenic lookout points across Oklahoma (yes scenic views actually exist in Oklahoma), New Mexico and Arizona, perusing shops and gas stations along Route 66, finding a restaurant called ‘The Falcon Family restaurant’ in the middle of nowhere Arizona and catching a beautiful sunset on our last night of travel in Sedona.

Looking back on my journey traveling out to San Diego, I am so glad that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and accepted the internship position at MTCCA. As you readers will come to learn through my following blog posts, I can confidently say that this has been one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve ever made. Not only have I gained valuable professional experience, but I have also grown as a person that has learned to adapt, embrace change and find pockets of peace throughout my days at MTC. 

To any potential intern that may be reading this post, or anyone considering a similar leap of faith: take the chance! Moving to a new city, whether it be for school, work or just a fresh start-it will ultimately be an opportunity to learn more about yourself, your capabilities, your strengths and your areas of improvement. Though it will inevitably come with challenges, they will be challenges that you can learn and grow from. 

I’m excited to share some of my insights and experiences throughout my internship and can’t wait to see what San Diego has in store for me!

-Mia Falcon