Musical Monsters - When the music therapist doesn't just use music...

As a Registered Music Therapist for 20 years I am used to playing, singing, composing and listening to music with clients and in planning for such sessions. However the more I explore the power of music to drive change and realise identified goals the more I am also aware of the need to expand my creative output. Sometimes just the music isn't enough and working together to create something else can be super powerful.

Whimsical monster stamps inspire a musical adventure with percussion instruments.

Today I'm going to share 3 different ways creative activities other than purely music allowed goals to be met and clients to develop and how those activities have deepened my understanding of the process of therapy within a music therapy session.

Drawing/Inking - using stamps, colour and coloured pens to create our own monsters allowed a group of 4-7year old girls to develop the ability to share together, to communicate individual ideas clearly and to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishment. After an improvisation brought out the comment that it sounded like monsters we were able to 'create' our own individual monsters using ink, stamps and colours. Once each person had a monster as a group we were able to return to our improvisation and create verses about our collective monster horde. With much giggling we realised that all our monsters were actually very friendly and very funny. This activity met both social and communication goals for the group members and also allowed the group to create something together for the first time - a moment of self led change and development for all.

Brightly coloured ripped paper arranged on a purple background creates a playful and sunny collage, highlighting both creativity and motor skill development.

Ripping paper and creating pictures from it gave a group of teenagers with complex needs the chance to show their creativity in a different way and to also create a soundscape that had never been heard before. This encouraged both gross and fine motor skills to develop, allowed tight contracted fingers to relax and extend and brought a sense of achievement and pride to all, which also led to more motivation to try new things to experiment and to continue practicing hand skills at home. This activity also led to a group discussion around summer, playlists and music we should play together. Again a sense of group and community emerged from this simple but super fun activity.

Lego Building - using lego to construct elements of a story or song or to play together or in parallel can be used to build connection, develop fine motor skills, planning and organisation skills, language and communication skills and to give a sense of achievement. For the child who didn't do anything else having someone come to them and meet them in their space - their Lego world was super powerful and eventually led to many great connective moments, and a wider range of activities being able to be participated in both in and out of the music therapy session.

Lego Creations created through discussion around everyday life

All three of these activities were inherently non-musical in nature but enabled the clients to connect and develop in ways that they engaged well in. All three of these activities led to musical and emotional connection between the Registered Music Therapist and the clients and development towards the identified functional goals for music therapy.

Using creative activities that are not musical has enabled me as the Registered Music Therapist to become more observant, connected and empowered to engage with the clients on their level, to allow them to lead and to guide them through development towards meeting their non-musical goals. And the really interesting fact is that the musical creations that emerged after these activities were always more intense, creative and free than any I could have conceived prior to doing the non musical creative activities. I wonder how many other creative activities my clients will show me over my upcoming sessions, or how many creative activities will other Registered Music Therapists engage in when given permission to do so.

Megan

Director & Registered

SBMT Director Megan Spragg

Music Therapist 

Megan Spragg

MMusTh, RMT, NZRMT, Clinical Supervisor

Megan Spragg is a Registered Music Therapist, based in Melbourne, Australia and trained in New Zealand. She has worked within both mainstream and special education settings for over 20 years and has a passion for working with clients with physical disabilities and complex high health needs. She works with both Children and Adults and loves to use music to enable people to do things they didn't think they could. She is the director of Sounding Board Music Therapy Services, and loves to resource therapists, parents, carers and teachers in their ongoing work.