Celebrating 1 Year as a Music Therapist

Last week, I celebrated my first full year of being a board certified music therapist!  I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown and how full of changes it has been.  I thought this “anniversary” would be a good time to tell you a little bit more about myself, my music therapy journey, and how On A Good Note came to be. I have always, ALWAYS been involved in music making.  My mom will tell you that I was singing before I was talking, dancing before I was walking, and rocking along to every song that came on the radio.  It was never option for me to not go into a music related field. I first heard about music therapy when I was at a choir camp at Western Illinois University prior to my sophomore year of high school.  I remember the moment like it was yesterday.  We were all sitting on the risers of COFAC recital hall after a rehearsal, listening to Dr. James Stegall talk about the different music majors at WIU.  I hadn’t had much interest Read More

Council For Exceptional Children, Music Therapy Presentation

I want to give a big thanks to the Council for Exceptional Children, Chapter 99, for allowing me the opportunity to preform/present at their awards banquet this past Tuesday in Jacksonville, IL.  What  a splendid group of people!  Hearing the stories of these teaches of children with special needs was incredibly inspirational! I truly enjoyed being able to share a little bit on music therapy and perform some of the songs I use in sessions with my clients.  THANK YOU CEC Chapter 99 for the amazing opportunity! If you are interested in learning more about the Council for Exceptional Children,please take a look at their webpage! Council For Exceptional Children:  http://sped.org/ Council For Exceptional Children, Chapter 99:  http://www.cec99.org/ Read More

Music Note Memory Game – Printables

To get the printable instructions for the Music Note Memory Game, click here!   If you would like to use ready-made flash cards for your game, the resources below have FREE printable flash cards!             http://www.makingmusicfun.net/htm/f_printit_lesson_resources/flash-cards-tc.htm           http://www.opusmusicworksheets.com/free-music-flashcards/ You can also view the full post about the Music Note Memory Game.   Read More

Music Note Memory Game

During a session the other day, I had a client jokingly ask me if we could play a game.  Instead of refuse, we adapted our session plan to create a game incorporating things we had already been working on.  I teach adaptive lessons to children with a variety of needs.  Often, using music “games” is a far more productive use of our time and a better way to get through to my client. During this particular session, I had two individuals working on reviewing notes on the staff. We first took flash card size pieces of paper and drew staff lines on them.  I then had the kids each draw a treble clef on one of the cards.  They then had to correctly draw whatever note I named.  Because we had a matching pair for each of the notes, I thought a game of memory would be PERFECT!   I jumbled up the cards and turned them over on the floor. But this wasn’t any ordinary game of memory, once you found a match, you had to correctly identify the Read More