Life for an Elder in a nursing home can feel alienating. Dementia compounds the experience. Alive Inside is a new Documentary movie tells a story of hope and beauty in a place where they are hard to find. Produced and directed by Michael Rossato-Bennett, the film follows Dan Cohen as he discovers the power music has to "awaken" minds considered closed.  Featuring Dr. Oliver Sacks and Dr. Bill Thomas, and the amazing men and women in patient care. Commissioned by the The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.We are very excited to announce the world premiere for Alive Inside at the Rubin Museum in New York City on April 18th 2012. 

Here is an amazing clip from this movie showing just how powerful music can be for those who suffer from Dementia and Alzheimers. 

Music & Books

Today I'm sharing an activity that I use with some of my higher functioning music therapy pre-school clients. this activity uses a colourful story book to introduce different instruments and sounds. One of my favourite books to use in this activity is 'Say hello to the Jungle Animals' by Ian Whybrow and Ed Eaves because it is tactile and sensory with lots of colours and 'touch and feel' felt on the animals. As each animal is introduced they use a different sound which encourages vocalisations and also sound exploration of the instruments, while increasing concentration and attention,  multi-tasking and encouraging imagination and patience for turn taking. Check out the video for an example of this book in action or let me know if you are interested in finding out about other books that I use with this client group to introduce music skills. 

It's pre-school week at Harmony Music Therapy Scotland. This week I am going to share some fun musical activities that you can recreate with your child at home. It will also give you an insight into some of the musical activities that might happen during a typical music therapy session for pre-school children. All activities will be focused on one or more of the following goal elements: To encourage socialisation, To promote cognitive functioning, to facilitate movement and rhythm, to increase communication and interaction, explore instrumental sounds and most importantly to have FUN!!

Today is MOVEMENT MONDAY!!!!
This activity is a song that encourages listening skills, movement and choice making and its called "Dancing in the middle"

LYRICS
___________________(child's name) is dancing in the middle,
___________________ (child's name) is dancing in the middle,
___________________(child's name) is dancing in the middle,
He/ she's going to dance, dance, dance.

He's going to dance,  x 6
And now its time to STOP

(pick a new movement eg jumping, stamping, hopping, clapping)

Next week is Pre-school week at harmony music therapy and each day this blog will bring you a musical activity that you can do with your child at home or give you a little insight to what a music therapy session could be like for your pre-school child.  Stay tuned for more on Music Monday at harmony music therapy Scotland :)

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/08August/Pages/music-therapy-for-depression.aspx
When you are having a bad day and put on your favourite CD you usually feel better right? We know that music can lift our moods that it can get us dancing and singing and build us up or wakes us up. But what about if you suffer from Depresssion? Can music still have the power to lift your mood?

Good News: Last year BBC News reported that “music therapy can be used to improve treatment of
  depression, at least in the short term”.
Depression is commonly treated with medication and psychiatric counselling. 
  Studies have found that music therapy is a promising additional
  treatment for depression. This randomised controlled trial set out in the above article demonstrated that
  people receiving active music therapy in addition to standard care had a
  significantly greater improvement in their symptoms than those receiving
  standard care alone after three months of treatment.

If you are having a blue day today stick on your favourite song and start to sing along and have a music hug.

Alternatively if you or a loved one is suffering from depression dont let them suffer alone or in silence.  Counselling and medication can be a great help and why not try and book a trial session with a near by music therapist or  contact Harmony Music Therapy Scotland - www.harmonymusictherapyscotland.co.uk and we'll slot you in for a session.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronna-kaplan-ma/music-therapy-children_b_1188226.html

This is a great Article by the American Music Therapy Associations past president Ronna Kaplan.  She explores music therapy in Early Education stating that" Music therapists sometimes use arts integration to address state academic  content standards. In a preschool class where many of the children have speech and language delays, the music therapist helps children identify matching  sounds and recognize rhymes in songs and words, part of a core pre-kindergarten language arts standard."


For those of you interested in how music therapy can benefit pre-school children or ways in which Music therapists engage young children through music this is a great read! :)