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“Look Who’s Dancing”

“Soundcheck Jams” is an initiative provided by Surfdog Records and Banding Together.  These two organizations teamed up to provide opportunities for teens and young adults with special needs to get on stage with various distinguished artists.  Last October, “Soundcheck Jams” had the special opportunity to share the stage with legendary artist Ziggy Marley at The Belly Up Tavern in Solana beach for a sound check!  This special occasion happened to occur during my internship at The Music Therapy Center of California, and I was very fortunate to be there with everyone!  When we arrived, we could hear the band warming up.  Ziggy Marley’s band was so polished, that their warm up sounded more like a full-fledged performance than a sound check.  When it was Ziggy’s time to take the stage, all of the participants were invited to join him on stage for his hit song, “Look Who’s Dancing.”   This was a truly magical moment.  Everyone was having such a great time feeling the music and dancing.  You could feel the wonderful energy coming from the band and the “Soundcheck Jams” participants!  To catch a glimpse of this beautiful experience that everyone shared together, you can click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDymEOUPyQ  Have fun watching and listening to these legendary grooves, happy faces, and great dancing!

-Brandon Wright

Client Appreciation Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Last October I had the pleasure to attend the Client Appreciation Day at the pumpkin patch in Rancho Bernardo.  This was a really fun event!  All of the clients from The Music Therapy Center of California were invited!  It was great to see all that were able to make it!  One of the things that I got to be exposed to was the singing of Halloween carols!  This was a great learning experience for me!  I had always wondered about what kind of repertoire to delve into when Halloween comes around.  It turns out that the Halloween carols were actually Christmas carols that had the lyrics adapted to fit the Halloween spirit.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun this was for everyone including myself.  One example of these adapted tunes was “Silver Bells” being adapted to “Shivery Yells.”  The participants loved it when the chorus of “Shivery Yells” came around where everyone was able to show off their spooky moans, cackles, and shrieks!  This was just another confirmation to me that in music therapy, anything can be adapted with the right amount of creativity.  The Music Therapy Center had also set up a lovely booth where participants could make their own corn shakers to shake to the music.  Pumpkin and skull shakers were also available.  I had a lot of fun at this event, and will definitely be prepared with sufficient repertoire for the next Halloween season!

-Brandon Wright

Fredericka Manor Sharing the Gift

The Clavinova is a digital piano created by Yamaha that has special features such as Follow Lights technology.  This is where the keys light up to guide the player to the correct notes!  This awesome feature allows everyone to be able to play the keyboard, regardless if you know how to read music or not!  Fredericka Manor has a great Clavinova class called “Clavinova Connection”, and is celebrating their 15^th year there!  This class not only teaches residents how to play the Clavinova, but also empowers residents to lead sing-a-longs, and have performances in the lounge as well!  Health benefits from learning the Clavinova include improved mood, self-esteem, and enhanced immune system! I had the great opportunity of helping facilitate this wonderful class at Fredericka Manor retirement community.  It was a very enjoyable experience for me during my internship at The Music Therapy Center of California!  Learning the Clavinova keyboard was wonderful and interesting, and I was also fortunate enough to get to know the delightful residents who were taking the class!  One of the things that touched me the most was when I witnessed how motivated the residents were to help share the gift of music.  Last December, Julie Guy brought to my attention how Yamaha Corporation of America was running a promotion where they would donate musical instruments to underfunded music programs in schools across the country.  The only stipulation was to make a video by performing a Yamaha pre-approved song while playing the Clavinova, and then post it on Twitter or Instagram.  When I brought this promotion to the resident’s attention, it was touching to see how motivated everyone was to participate with making videos of themselves so that an underfunded music program could receive free Yamaha keyboards!  Many of the residents in the class took to practicing the tunes beforehand to ensure that they made a good video.  Everyone at the Clavinova class came together to share the gift of music!  This was a fantastic and very sweet thing to witness.  This is one of the reasons why I really enjoyed being a part of the Clavinova class; because of the kind and thoughtful personalities that I had the pleasure of meeting during my time there.  You can view a video of one of the results of the YamahaSharetheGift promotion by clicking on this link: http://www.yamaha.com/us/promo/ShareTheGift/Home.aspx  #YamahaSharetheGift. This video is a testament of the power of giving, and how it can change lives!  Happy viewing!

-Brandon Wright

ATPF/NCL Girls Drum Circle

I had the pleasure of leading the ATPF/NCL girls drum circle with Shannon Flaherty last February in Solana Beach.  The moment we arrived everyone gave us a very warm greeting, and were very eager to help Shannon and I set up all of the drums.  The drum circle was held in the back patio of the Solana Beach Center for Healthy Lifestyle, which proved to be a great atmosphere to have a drum circle.  Shannon and I started with a hello song, and then quickly segued into a drumming experience that challenged the group’s attention skills.  This was done by having the group drum when we were playing, and then to stop drumming when we unexpectedly stopped the music.  Everyone was very successful with this experience!  Shannon and I also utilized different drumming experiences such as playing the syllables of each participant’s name, and by having participants come up in front of the group and leading the drum circle!  At first, some of the participants were a little apprehensive with standing up in front of the group.  Once they started to give the group different drum cues, it was wonderful to see how their enthusiasm increased with every cue they gave.  It was also noticeable, how the group became more and more motivated to engage with every following intervention.  Everyone was so enthusiastic and eager to participate.  Shannon and I both had so much fun with the ATPF/NCL girls drum circle in Solana Beach!  Autism Tree Project Foundation is a wonderful organization, and I highly recommended checking into their upcoming events.  You can see what’s happening by going to www.autismtreeproject.org, and click on news & events, and then scroll down to upcoming events!

-Brandon Wright

Piano Improvisation Workshop

Improvisation in music is a lot like a good conversation. By definition, improvisation is making up melodic, rhythmic, or chordal structure on the spot that fits with what the other musicians are playing or with the structure of the song. A musician first has to listen to what his or her band mates are playing, recognizing the scale or chord progression he or she will be improvising over, then play a combination of notes that fit with the prior assessment. That’s a lot of complex steps but there is one key element that makes improvisation successful and enjoyable to both the musician and the audience. Listening, the essential foundation of improvisation and good conversation. Listening helps the improviser synthesize ideas from the foundation of the music and bring it out through a solo. A good conversationalist is able to pull ideas from what someone is saying and move deeper into the subject, adding his or her thoughts to the original idea.

Recently, members of the MTCCA team participated in an improvisation workshop with Jay Jay at the Greene Music School. During the workshop, we practiced blues riffs, scales and improvisation techniques. Jay Jay provided the group with some amazing examples that could help us facilitate improvisation with clients, colleagues, and friends. These ideas lay the foundation for further improvisational exploration we often work on with clients. Children and teens with autism often struggle with improvisational exercises due to its intangibility and conceptual nature. Modeling and motivating cues, however, increase the client’s likelihood to participate and succeed in improvisation activities. In fact, we were able to incorporate some of these riffs and groove patterns into our weekly Jam Sessions, encouraging participants to drum during the breaks in the grooves.

Many of the grooves were pulled from popular songs such as Billy Jean by Michael Jackson or Superstition by Stevie Wonder. They each provide a strong rhythmic foundation and breaks for solo fills. I have attached the grooves at the bottom of the page as well as a picture of Julie, Jay Jay, and Angela. Thank you to Jay Jay for creating an accessible and compelling format that allows our clients to more easily participate in improvisation activities. For more information on the Greene Music School, visit their website at greenemusiceducation.com.

Happy playing!

Shannon Flaherty

Music Therapy Intern at Music Therapy Center of California

Basic Public Speaking Tips

Hello!  I wanted to share a video you all that gives tips on public speaking.  The video is entitled “5 Basic Public Speaking Tips” and can be found on the website www.toastmasters.org  or at this URL address: http://youtu.be/AykYRO5d_lI.  In the field of music therapy, it is common to be in a position where it is necessary to give presentations in a variety of environments.  Recently, another music therapy intern and I had to give a presentation to a college class where the coursework focused on health, safety, and nutrition for young children.  Knowing this information was helpful with how to present the information to the class.  By knowing our audience, we were able to focus on avoiding terms that were too technical. This information also allowed us to introduce musical interventions that targeted the populations the class was studying.  We also communicated with the professor beforehand to find out what to bring for the power point presentation, which was very helpful with getting to know the space before the presentation.  This video briefly covers some very helpful and practical tips to be mindful of when speaking publicly, so that your presentation is successful.

A brief list of the tips that are clearly presented in this video include:

• Know what you are talking about.

When you become an authority on the topic, the audience will want to learn from you.

• Know your space and audience.

Understand the importance of who will be listening to you, and where you will be when giving the presentation.  Know what space you are working with.

• Never apologize when making a mistake when speaking.

If you make mistakes, remember that your audience will most likely not know it.

• Imagine yourself giving a great speech

Visualize that you will be successful, and that you will be able to make a connection with the audience.

• Focus on the message and not yourself.

Forget about your nerves, and focus on what you are trying to present.

I found this video to be a great resource, and encourage anyone to review it before speaking publicly.  Also, www.toastmasters.org has more videos that are available under the video library section such as “Great Icebreakers” and “Rehearsal Tips for Great Speeches.”  Thank you for reading, and happy viewing!

Brandon Wright

Music Therapy Intern at Music Therapy Center of California