CMTE J. Music Together Within Therapy: Support for Session Planning in Early Childhood
Thursday, November 6th 7:30am – 12:30pm
With
Andrew Knight, PhD, MT-BC
What will you be sharing?
My CMTE (J) is called “Music Together Within Therapy: Support for Session Planning in Early Childhood.” Music Together is an early childhood music and movement program and a philosophy of music in early childhood. Music therapists who have also been trained by Music Together put together the Music Together Within Therapy program to help support clinicians working with this population. This session explains the background of the philosophy and the research behind it, gives specific song-based examples from the Music Together Family Favorites collection, and provides structured workshop time to develop strategies for clinicians who want to dig right into using the concepts when they get back to work.
What is your experience with this topic?
I have been a board-certified music therapist since 2005, a Music Together teacher since 2006, and an educator and researcher since 2008, and I was part of the team that produced Music Together Within Therapy in 2012. I have experience as a clinician, an early childhood music education teacher and center director, a researcher, and I teach future music therapists as my “steady” job.
Where will attendees be able to implement the information you share?
Attendees who work with populations that have a chronological age of birth to 7-8 years old and a “cognitive age” of five years or less will benefit from this information, because it is meant to address several varying developmental levels in early childhood. My goal is to make sure each attendee has three new tools for use on “Monday morning” (the day after conference) so there are aspects of the session that are instantly applicable to clinical work.
Tell us something that makes your CMTE unique or different.
The affiliation with Music Together is unique to this session. Music Together is a worldwide early childhood music and movement program, with thousands of teachers and centers who also provide a great deal of ongoing support. This session should be seen as a kickstart to embracing a broad network of other music therapists who can help you continue to develop your clinical practice after the basics are provided in the five hour session.
Why is this topic of interest to you?
I’ve been interested in early childhood music and movement education for almost a decade now, having been a music therapists in these settings before and after taking the Music Together training. As a university professor in my seventh year, I’ve also enjoyed seeing how music therapy students grasp the concepts from Music Together Within Therapy in several different populations in early childhood and the results that we all (including parents of clients) are seeing. As a father of three who led Music Together classes for their early childhood, I have seen the full range of ages and abilities benefit from this combination of philosophies.
Who should attend your class?
Interns and new professionals will benefit from this CMTE as they will gain some more concrete ideas on structuring their music therapy sessions, regardless of the population they think they may want to work in at some point. Music therapists who have never heard of Music Together can be introduced to the ideas of the program, while music therapists who are familiar with the program and work with any diagnoses that may be considered early childhood will be able to instantly transfer some of the basics to their sessions after conference.
What kind of information will attendees be walking away with?
Songs, philosophies, updates in research on early childhood populations and musical implications.
