Saturday Shout Out: Justin Roberts!

Today’s Saturday Shout Out goes to my favorite kindie (that’s kid’s music + indie) artist, Justin Roberts!

Several months ago, I was thinking about how more toddlers seem to be into Justin Bieber than traditional nursery rhymes, and how I felt about that as a future music therapist. I started to think about the themes in all the children’s music I had heard so far and how they were all inadequate to broach some of the serious, real-world issues I know children sometimes confront in music therapy.

Out of sheer curiosity (or was it desperation?), I Googled “serious children’s music.” I found this article and I was totally blown away. I started listening to Justin Roberts music on YouTube, and that was followed by downloading as much of it on iTunes as my college budget would allow.

A quick evaluation of his lyrics reveals the themes are often ready-made for music therapy sessions. The music is also as satisfying, complex, and varied as children’s music ever gets. To put it simply, his music may be for children, but it’s in no way childish.

I have created some examples of how Justin Roberts’s music might be used in music therapy with children.

On his newest album, Lullaby, the first track, Count Them as They Go would be great for music-assisted relaxation, using imagery or Progressive Muscle Relaxation. This track would also be great for having clients draw to music.

Easier to Do would work well for lyric analysis. You might ask clients, “What is hard for you to do right now?” “What is something that used to be hard but now is easier for you to do?”

Nothing on You, Heart of Gold, All For You, Polar Bear, No Matter How Far, and Lullaby all contain loving messages from caregivers to children and could be used in a family therapy type session.They are also gentle enough they might be used by music therapists or parents alike in the NICU.

From other albums, songs like I Chalk, Taking off My Training Wheels, Giraffe/Nightingale, and Backyard Super Kid are all excellent for validating a child’s unique talents and abilities and for helping them to build self-esteem. Giraffe/Nightingale would be great for a group lyric analysis, and Backyard Super Kid might be perfect for a child who is hospitalized for medical or psychiatric reasons. Piggy-back songwriting can be used to customize the lyrics for each client.

There are so many more uses for Justin Roberts’s music that I couldn’t fit them all in one blog post!

His music covers nearly everything that is childhood, from the silly to the serious.

My personal favorite is Sandcastle. The song speaks of grief and loss with a very-age appropriate, relatable metaphor. It is excellent for processing grief with young children and can be adapted with fill in the blank song-writing.

And, just in case music therapists needed another reason to love Justin Roberts, he has links to chords and lyrics for his albums Meltdown! and Yellow Bus. 

Music therapists, have you ever used his music in a session? Would you?
Be sure to like Justin Roberts on Facebook and follow him on Twitter!

The Best Practice Tips You Haven't Already Heard

Every musician has heard the stock set of practice suggestions. You’ve probably heard them enough that they are starting to get really old. And as I am putting in more time in the practice room in preparation for my senior recital, I am finding that I need some more strategies for making the practice room productive and avoiding practice room burnout. (Seriously, you don't want this-->

 to be you at the end of your practice session!)

Here are the best ideas I have come to this semester for practice room success.

1. Get out of the practice room

Really, go practice anywhere else you can think of. Most university music buildings have at least one other rehearsal space that you can probably get permission to use for half an hour. Hearing yourself in a different environment can show you a lot of things you maybe weren’t hearing before. It can also reenergize your mind and focus. But if you really need out, then literally get out. When was the last time you played a gorgeous solo underneath a tree? Or in a rose garden? There are also probably some beautiful local churches around and the office staff are probably more than happy to let you serenade them from inside their fantastic acoustic spaces.

2. Introduce some noise

White noise, that is. If you are anything like me, there is nothing worse than trying to tap out a complicated polyrhythm or hemiola when the (talented and lovely!) soprano in the next room is belting out an aria at the top of her lungs. If a diagnosis of ADHD could be localized just to the practice room, that would describe me perfectly.

The best solution I have found to help me focus is to take my phone and turn on my white noise app. My favorite is the gentle rain sound. For whatever reason, having a more immediate but non-intrusive, non-musical sound next to me helps me block out all the sounds coming from the rest of the music building and channel my focus toward my practice goals.

3. Set an alarm and then forget about time entirely

When you are having to squeeze shorter practice sessions in between classes, or sessions, or meetings, or work, it can be hard to stop thinking about “When do I need to pack up and leave? How much time do I have left?” My solution: As soon as I walk into the practice room, I set an alarm for when I need to stop playing and start packing up. Then, I put the concept of a deadline or time limit out of my mind completely. This allows me to get to a place of deep focus with the music, trusting that I’m not going to be late for my next scheduled activity because I know the alarm will jolt me back into my day when it’s time to go.

4. Put your goal physically where you can see it

We have all been told that our most efficient practice will happen when we go into the practice room with a goal in mind. Some days, though, my thoughts are disorganized enough that having the goal only in my mind just won’t cut it. I find it extremely helpful to actually write down my goals or the spots in my music that need my attention the most and put them physically in front of my face. Index cards work very well for this. I like to stick them to the mirror in the practice room, and then, when I am having a hard time letting go of the rest of my to-do list, everything that I intended to accomplish in the practice room is staring me in the eyes and there is no avoiding it.

5. Use a decibel meter to gauge your dynamic contrast

I recently found a great sound meter app for my phone. The best thing about it is I can have it display a graph of sound levels over time in seconds. When I put this across the practice room from me and play a phrase, the shape on the graph should match the shape of the dynamics written in the music. If the peaks and valleys on my decibel graph are too flat, then I know I need to exaggerate my dynamic contrast even more to have the shape be apparent to a listener. The decibel meter is to dynamics as a metronome is to rhythmic accuracy. It forces you to be right on.

Those are my most recent and innovative practice room discoveries. Now I want to know, what helps you get the most out of your practice time?