Category: In Harmony Blog

By now, I am sure we have all become professionals navigating Zoom or Google Meet or any other video platform to connect with work, school, family, and friends.  It’s been almost a year since we were all sent home and learned about social distancing to help slow the spread of COVID-19.  I know personally, it’s taken me this time to find my footing in living month to month and wondering when I can be back in person with my groups and individual clients making music together again. 
However, during this time, I have been able to create fun and interactive sessions with  groups and individuals over the Zoom teleconferencing platform.  Today, I want to share with you what I have learned about holding sessions online. 

1. Teletherapy sessions can also bring personal relationship between therapist and client even when we are not in the same room together.  I do miss the physical presence of being in the same room as my clients, but holding regular teletherapy appointments has given me an appreciation of seeing my clients on screen each week. We continue to connect with one another through the back and forth playing of music.  I also allow time for them to talk about their day, their week, or other experiences they may have had since we were last on Zoom together.  I look forward to these conversations as well as making music together the best we can.
2. I am able to also focus on faces and body language during sessions to measure participation.  As long as a person has their camera angled onto their face and upper torso, I can read participation just as well as if I were in person. 
3. Subsequently, I can angle my camera where I can sit or stand to show choreographed movements or physical exercises, I  can go over and play my piano and still be heard, or I can sit closer to the camera to help a client see how my mouth is moving while singing. 
4. Slide show presentations are my friend.  In slideshows I can include lyrics, pictures, visual games, interactive songwriting activities, videos, and music as I go through a session.  This has been a  creative way to present songs and help folks follow along. 
5. The Zoom platform has created sound opportunity for musicians to sing and play their instruments!  There is a setting in Zoom called “Turn on Original Sound” that you and I can click on in our Zoom  settings to increase the volume of sustained singing and playing.  I’ve included a video below for a “how to tutorial” on how to engage in music therapy over Zoom and I’ve included this key point in it! 

Give this video a watch on how to engage in Music Therapy with me through Zoom and how to make your experience the best it can be! 

If you are looking for more music therapy experiences for a family member or yourself, Music Therapy services are available by appointment for private music therapy.  My specialties are as listed:

• Music Together within Therapy for early childhood developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, and special needs
• Music Therapy for children, youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and special needs
• Vocal music therapy for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (both private and group)
• Music Therapy for Memory Care and Older Adult Wellness

Be sure to share this post and sign up for the bi-monthly newsletter to find out more about music therapy and In Harmony Music Therapy Services!

All the best,

Ms. Carrie

Play is an important concept not only for childhood but also into adulthood.  Play is both a noun and a verb. It is both an act of being and doing.  There is non-scripted play and there is formalized play such as playing an instrument, a sport, or a game.   In young kids engaging or not engaging in play is how we mark development and find if there are any delays.  In adults, it is thought we “loose” our need to play, but I beg to differ.  Participating in the act of play every day is healthy.  

From the youngest to the oldest individuals I see in my music therapy practice, the act of making music calls upon the person to respond to their own inner creativity.  I allow time and space within the music for individuals to “play”.  

Singing a song while trading a maraca back and forth with a three year old, saying “My Turn”  is cooperative play.  While the three year old has the maraca, he or she is able to shake it as fast or slow as they would choose to play it during their turn.  This increases cognitive personal choice making skills in the earliest stages of development.  

When working with a teenager with Autism, it may be a goal to for them to break out of comfortable mindset patterns of playing or reproducing composed music and begin to create their own melodies on a piano through improvisation.  This can create new pathways to learning, increase self confidence, and allow them to have agency over personal decision making.  

Adults often need to be reminded that music making doesn’t have to be formal and “just right”, but I teach that it can be silly and playful with creating fun warm-up sounds to strengthen their voices, moving and dancing to the rhythm of music to encourage movement, and making up humorous lyrics to help lift feelings of depression and increase positive thinking.    

Often, I find as grown ups, we forget to engage in our ability to be silly and fun, especially when there seems to be so much bad news and many concerns in our lives.   Our outlook on difficult situations and news can be addressed by how we respond to the stressors in our lives.  Engaging in the act of play through sport, games, and artistic endeavors, like music, helps us express our thoughts and feelings in constructive ways. Play also helps us to move our bodies as in structured exercise, walking, or dancing which helps to relax us afterwards.  When participating in a communal play through activities like singing, playing instruments, playing games, or participating in sports, play helps us make important bonds and connections with family and friends.  
Here are some ideas to “play” more: 

1. Write down for yourself or collaborate with family 10 things you’d like to do together. 
2. Pick one and plan to do it within the next three days.  
3. Plan one for next week. 
4. If it’s a “bucket list” of vacations and trips, then plan one when it is safe to do so, or begin gathering information about places to visit. 
5. Go with the mindset of of having fun and playfulness.  I say this because often grown ups get bogged down with details of timing, traffic, fussy kids, and interruptions – don’t let this stop you from enjoying the moment.  
6. Take pictures not for social media’s sake, but to go back and remind yourself that you had some fun and play to your day, week, and month.  

Subsequently, we should all take some time to laugh each day.  I often have to remember to laugh, yes, I do!  And when I do, it feels good! 

And if your are curious how to increase a sense of playfulness through music therapy, feel free to send me questions or sign up for a FREE 30 minute consultation to see if music therapy is a good fit.

Schedule Appointment

If you are looking for more music therapy experiences for a family member or yourself, Music Therapy services are available by appointment for private music therapy.  My specialties are as listed:

• Music Together within Therapy for early childhood developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, and special needs
• Music Therapy for children, youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and special needs
• Vocal music therapy for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (both private and group)
• Music Therapy for Memory Care and Older Adult Wellness

Be sure to share this post and sign up for the bi-monthly newsletter to find out more about music therapy and In Harmony Music Therapy Services!

All the best,

Ms. Carrie

Happy New Year! 

Here is to wishing you a year that will be on the upswing of good news to come! 

Today, I’m sharing New Years Feel Good Friday Song.  I post these songs on Facebook and Instagram every Friday as a way for my followers to take a moment and sing a song that brings hope and positivity to our current social distancing practices.  For New Year’s Day I chose to sing the song, What a Wonderful World by George D. Weiss and Bob Theile. Of course, made famous first by the late Louis Armstrong and then by the late, Isreal Kamakawiwo’ole.  This song a favorite of many folks and I have sung it with many of my groups and clients over the years.  The lyrics speak of all the good things about living this life and the kindness we have as neighbors and friends. My favorite memory of this songs is when my kids were young and I would take them to the Downtown Nashville Public Library for weekly story times. I loved that Mary-Mary, Library Pete, and The Professor would end each story time singing and signing this song with the kids.

Take a moment to go to your preferred music platform and listen to the song or Click here to listen on YouTube

Today, after you listen and sing along to the song, I would challenge you or your loved one to think of your own verse to this song.  I’m all about lyric rewrites to bring out our own positive thoughts and feelings, especially, in a time when many of us are feeling distant from loved one’s and have experienced hardships this past year. 

Remember, lyrics do not have to rhyme to make sense to the spirit of the song.

Here is another example:

I love hugs from my son, and cuddles with the cat

I’m thankful for evening meals with my sweet family

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

It’s your turn! Give it a try!

If you are looking for more music therapy experiences for a family member or yourself, Music Therapy services are available by appointment for private music therapy.  My specialties are as listed:

• Music Together within Therapy for early childhood developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, and special needs
• Music Therapy for children, youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and special needs
• Vocal music therapy for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (both private and group)
• Music Therapy for Memory Care and Older Adult Wellness

Find out how music therapy can work for you or your loved one by scheduling a FREE 30 minute consultation. 

FREE Consultation 

All other appointments can be scheduled here:

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I am thankful for you!  You make this world wonderful just by being in it!

Ms. Carrie

I’m just that “age” aka Gen-X, that I remember watching the Sound of Music every December on TV.  I looked forward to it every year.  A somewhat tragic story of German Occupied Austria in the 1930s that centered on one young women trying to find her path in life and the lives of a family she changed along the way.  The music was so rich and lovely it left me feeling good and hopeful the von Trapp Family was going to make it out of war torn Europe and go on to lead beautiful lives as the von Trapp Family Singers.  Rodgers and Hammerstein were at their peek with this musical and it is a classic to this day.  In college, a friend gifted me her cassette (yes, a cassette!) of the soundtrack to the movie.  Later, after I received my music therapy board certification, during my first work driving to Kentucky to see children in schools I would play this soundtrack and “warm-up” my voice! 
My vocal range is Mezzo Soprano so I enjoy singing both low and high notes along with Julie Andrews.  The Sing-A-Long nature of the movie includes so many opportunities for the audience to participate with the voices of the cast, such as So Long, Farewell and Do, Re, Mi.  The song, My Favorite Things is one I use most often in my music therapy work.

It is healthy to talk about the things that give us pleasure and feel safe in life.  With children and youth, often this song is used for basic communication and self expression.  Asking, “What are your favorite things?” Is a way to open up communication and increase cognition by thinking through an answer.  I also have used this song for engagement and reminiscing with my group members who have Parkinson’s.  I have seen their moods lift as they think and talk excitedly about their favorite things.  This song is also good for folks with dementia diagnosis as it helps support memory care by utilizing memories that are still present.  

Recently,  the Peterson’s Choir for Parkinson’s have been singing this song, My Favorite Things.  Since we are meeting each week on the Zoom platform, through the Fall season we have done several lyric rewrites.  Here is what they came up with: 

Dark Chocolate Candies and Honey Wheat Bread, Butter on Popcorn and a warm cozy bed, Singing with friends on Zoom every week, These are a few of the things that I seek!

Sweet Carrot Cake and Sunshine in Blue Skies, Walks in the Park where green trees sway! Seeing friends, dogs, and birds makes me happy today! These are a few of my favorite ways! 

Bacon and eggs to fill out our morning, Grandma’s Beans in the evening with fresh buttered corn bread, Steaks on the grill with friends playing music, These are a few of my favorite things!

When the Arms Shake!When The Feet Freeze! When I’m feeling off! I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad! 

What are some of your favorite things in life?  What have been hardships or challenges that you or a loved needs encouragement for? I would encourage you to write a list of your favorite things and perhaps sing about them too!  Need a refresher of the song? Check out my Feel Good Friday Video on Facebook from July 24, 2020. The song starts at minute 1:14.

One of my favorite things in life is my music therapy work.  I’m passionate about it. 

I wish you good health and wellness for the New Year to come! 
Happy Holidays!

 Ms. Carrie 

First written in December 2020, this blog has been updated to be used with any year end reflection!

I hope you and your family are doing well.  I know, in typical years past, the holidays sometimes come with a mixed bag of emotions for folks.  Children can feel anxious when off schedule.  People with Parkinson’s can have feelings of apathy due to isolation and little social stimulation.  People with cognitive impairment can become more confused.  Caregivers can feel very fatigued.  Finding ways where we, or our loved ones, can have good moments of respite, relaxation, and engagement in enjoyable but relaxing activities is key. What are some ways that help you or the one you care for rest from the stress of life and the holidays? 

Here’s an idea: If you were to write one verse of song to reflect your hopes for the new year what would you write? 

Have you caught any of the “Feel Good Friday” videos on the In Harmony Music Facebook or Instagram pages?  This past week, to start off December, I sang the traditional carol, Deck the Halls.  While I was practicing, it struck me that the last verse talks about looking forward to the new year ahead!  

Fast away the old year passes…Fa…La…Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa…La…Sing we joyous all together, Fa…La…Heedless of the wind and weather, Fa…La…

Back in December of 2020 when this blog was first written I was glad to see the year move on! It was not an easy year!.  So I wrote this verse: 

Finally 2020 passes! Fa…La…Hail soon vaccines are coming in masses! Fa..La..,Sing we now all social distanced ..Fa…La..Mindful of wearing our masks in this instance …Fa..La!

Rewriting song lyrics and “piggybacking” on familiar tunes is a way to creatively express what one is feeling at the time.  The familiar melody and the sentiment of the song brings structure to the activity, but the lyrics are our own to figure out. As a music therapist, this is one of the activities I often use to bring out creativity, support communication, and encourage self-expression in individuals. All non-musical, individual goals of making music for therapy.

Again, if you were to write a verse about your past year how would it go?  You could use this song tune and structure, or find another that fits your feelings and thoughts at the moment.  

Click Here to watch me singing my version of Deck the Halls!

In my practice I have worked with individuals and groups of all ages and various needs to promote wellness and support.  If you’d like to know more about music therapy services as the new year approaches, feel free to reach out to me at carrie@inharmonymusicmidtn.com

Bell well. Sing a song!

–Ms. Carrie

How are you? 
It’s been awhile.  September and October seemed to have melted away, the weeks have blurred together and I’ve experienced the most challenging time of my life being home with my children and keeping up with their virtual school.  If you are a parent reading this, hang in there, I know you are in the trenches trying to maintain a “new normal”.  We can get through this with support from one another.

The phrase, “You have to put on your own oxygen mask first before you can help others” comes to mind.  Although I’m still doing some of my music therapy work virtually, I had to let go of what did not come into fruition as I hoped in September.  My music therapy groups for kids and youth didn’t form.  In the midst of that, I was trying to navigate virtual school with my kids. As a mom, I’ve had to navigate both my emotions surrounding the “safer at home” lifestyle and also my children’s emotional wellbeing.  Honestly, it has felt overwhelming.  So, I took a step back.  This is the first blog post since September.  I needed some time away, to take care of myself, reorganize my work flow, and to spend much more time with my family. 

Recently, my husband and I realized that we had gotten away from having regular family dinners at the table with our two kids.  They are 14 and 10 years old.  During the pandemic and maybe a little before that, we got into the habit of watching TV while eating dinner. It looked like family time, but then we realized we were missing out on time to talk to one another.  To make it more appealing to our kids, who were unsure of wanting to “go back to the table” to eat dinner, Mike, my husband, proposed we all play our favorite songs to listen and talk about during dinner.  My 14 year old has been all over it!  My 10 year old not so much, but still comes to the table to eat.  Yet, what has happened is that sometimes the kids get to talking about their interests and we have actual conversations!  Ha!  The music sharing has been cool too.  It’s challenged me to recall songs I’ve liked in the past and want to share with my family.  My 14 year old can really find some new and interesting bands I didn’t even know about!  For this time during social distancing, I have been grateful.

So, I am grateful for the time with my family.  I’m also hopeful for the future.  As I write this blog post, we don’t have a definitive view of what society is going to look like in the near future, when there will be a vaccine, and if there will be day we can go back to “the way it was” before COVID-19. I’m taking it one day at a time to know just my one next step back into my work as a music therapist. I’m hopeful that I can continue to write more blogs over the next month or so.  My plan is to support you with songs and at home activities that the clients I serve can engage in.

I’ve made a few changes you might have noticed. In Harmony Music of Middle Tennessee is changing to In Harmony Music Therapy of Middle Tennessee. My focus as a Board Certified Music Therapist, is driving this change in title. You may have noticed the logo has been updated. I’m proud to announce that along with the Facebook Page you can now also follow me on Instagram @inharmonymusicmtn. Work is picking back up. Along with the Petereson’s for Parkinson’s Group I see on Zoom every Tuesday at 10:30 AM and the Individual teletherapy sessions, I’ve recently began to hold music therapy with one, in-person, socially distanced, memory care group for the next few months at a local skilled nursing care home. In January, I hope to continue to offer virtual classes and some limited in person therapy appointments at my therapy room on West End, Nashville.  However, I’m also watching the COVID cases reported in Tennessee to make the best decisions possible for the safety of my students, clients, my family, and myself. I will stay connected with bi-monthly news letters and blog posts to keep you updated!

What does teletherapy look like? How can I help you or your loved one the best during this time? You can schedule a free Zoom session here to speak with me about how teletherapy works for music therapy. I’d love to talk with you! Click here to Schedule a Free Zoom Informational Session!

Be sure to follow In Harmony Music Therapy on Instagram and Facebook!  What content would you like to see?  Have you checked out my “Feel Good Friday” videos on social media? Each week I sing a song that you can sing along with me!  In the interim, feel free to reach out to me and tell me how you and/or your child are doing at carrie@inharmonymusicmidtn.com

Thank you for your support and I am grateful for the work I have done with you and/or your child in the past and I’m hopeful to see you again in the future! 

All the best,

Ms. Carrie