Session 1
Today I had the great privilege to lead five intergenerational music sessions with over 250 participants. Although it was a cloudy day, it was nothing but sunshine and smiles in the neighbourhoods of Aspen Lake, the long term care facility I work at. The purpose of this blog post is to document my day and to inform other care providers regarding the benefit of intergenerational music. I welcome questions, and would be happy to do in-services where applicable.
For planning my session, I read through the material provided at http://www.intergenerational.ca as well as http://www.music2spark.com. The resource that helped me with the material for the sessions came from http://www.teachingmama.org 10 songs for fall. I was looking for a song that would be familiar to both children and seniors but something entirely new. The experience of learning a new song together was directed to me by our recreation manager Jenny Brown, who has also worked as a music therapist.
Learning new music together is a great way of socializing, it brings generations together on the same level, and it removes the anxiety related to performance. This shared experience takes the fear of performing away, to open the door of creative expression. I’m not saying that all performances are bad, just unnecessary for the context of intergenerational music. The job of the music therapist or care provider is simply to facilitate the experience.
Session 2
150 children from the nearby school were coming to visit, split up into 5 groups. The long term care facility had it’s recreation aids from each neighbourhood preparing crafts and snacks for their neighbourhood. I was to go to each group and do a 15 minute music session. Timing was critical due to the staging of buses.
With the goal in mind I searched for music that would fit. I decided on using a familiar hello song “Hello Ladies” repeated twice to give the children an opportunity to join in. After hearing the melody most of the children and seniors joined together. I also closed with the same song but gave the seniors an opportunity to sing “Goodbye Children.” The opening and closing songs I accompanied with acoustic guitar. I find the acoustic guitar portrays a sense of community with it’s unassuming but strong rhythmic sound. The next song was “I love apples” sung to the the tune of “You are my sunshine” I used a children’s karaoke track of “you are my sunshine” linked below. It has 5 verses and the “I love apples” song has 3 verses, on the 4th verse I took a vote on what colour of apples they liked by show of hands, we then sang the winning colours verse. After the song everyone clapped, not because it was an outstanding performance but just an enjoyable experience. I followed the song with two poems that encourage movement, child volunteers came forward to demonstrate the actions. “Five stuffed scarecrows”, and “Autumn” were read together, the children and seniors made the actions as if they were scarecrows and leaves blowing in the autumn air. The track I chose to play while doing the poems worked out very nice. I found a track named Kyoto Autumn Colour on Youtube(Linked below). Next I had the children sing one song that even I wouldn’t know and teach it to us. The rule was they had to know the whole song and would be able to sing nice and loud. This really steps out of the performance box, and offers a chance for the music therapist to be vulnerable in the shared experience. One group sang it’s raining taco’s to the tune of “It’s raining men,” how cool is that. We ended each session with a round of “Happy and you know it” then sang a goodbye song. I had printed the lyrics to “I love apples” lamented them and gave them to the children and seniors to share. I also provided the teachers with the materials used for the session.
Session 3
The sessions were full of energy and interaction. I did not know what to expect, and if there was anyone with a performance anxiety it would be me. It weighed on me that expectations were high, the team really enjoy having the kids come and wanted everything to go over well. Trying something new, also increased the pressure. Traditionally the music teacher would prepare a performance for the children. The new teacher felt that she would not have enough time with the children to produce something good. With out the music program the school was considering not coming this year. My recreation manager proposed the idea that I would take care of the music sessions, and they could still come. So it was made clear that the village was counting on me. I did not realize the music teacher had came as well today, I wonder what she thought? I certainly thought there was something good, without any need of rehearsal with the children. With a little luck, just being myself was enough.
Autumn Leaves
I personally enjoyed the poem pieces, with the music fitting perfectly. The children swirling around like falling leaves, and the seniors waving their hands in the wind was beautiful to watch. It reminds me of why Autumn is my favourite season, and Autumn leaves is my favourite song. These are some of the moments that make becoming a music therapist all worth it. Critically thinking, was the first session perfect, no. Could I have researched more on the topic of intergenerational sessions, yes. I was fortunate to run four more sessions afterwards, and I became more confident in the plan. Not everything goes to plan, but the plan helps everything go.
Please check out the links below, I welcome any comments or questions.
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