Session Sneak Peek: Imagine Dragons + The Affirmations Rap

I don’t know about you, but I love to take a peek into what other music therapists are doing, especially if they work with a similar population as I do (middle and high schoolers with autism and related disabilities).

It helps give me some fresh ideas, which are sometimes needed after nearly TWENTY YEARS in the field!!

I thought maybe you would like to do the same, so over the next few blog posts, I’m going to do a summer series called Session Sneak Peeks.

You can take a peek into what I’m doing with my MT clients and students, and see if the ideas spark some new ones for you.

This past week, in my group sessions with middle schoolers, high schoolers, and young adults with autism and related disabilities, we did:

Movement Patterns to Pop Music – “Enemy” by Imagine Dragons (a crowd favorite for these clients) to work on gross motor skills and alternating attention

• Verses: Left Hand tap knee, Right Hand tap knee, clap, rest (repeat)
• Chorus: Pat knees, Clap, Snap, Clap (repeat)

Affirmation Rap by Snoop Dogg – I used a rap track that I’d created on GarageBand and rapped over top (yep, I rapped). The students clapped to keep the beat along with me, and echoed each affirmation back. Then, the students gave their own suggestions for affirmations and we added those to the rap. Afterwards, we  talked about why affirmations are important and how we can incorporate them into our daily routine.

This musical experience was designed to help improve self-esteem and self-image.

Auditory Perception Training (APT) with Pop Music – Again, I incorporated client-reported favorite tunes. On YouTube, I found versions of each song played on a symphonic instrument:

• “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”  from Encanto on trumpet
• “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi on marimba (check it out – it’s very cool!)
• “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift on flute
• “Levitating” by Dua Lipa on clarinet

Students were then asked to name the tune AND name the instrument playing that tune. Super fun and engaging, and a great way to work on those auditory perception and listening skills that are critical for success in the classroom.

Stay tuned as I share more Session Sneak Peeks this summer! My kiddos are home with me for summer break, but I want to stay on top of blogging and sharing, because I love doing it.

If you’d like more creative ideas for your sessions this summer, check out the Virtual Session Planning Pack for Summer, or better yet, the Spring / Summer Combo Pack.