Harmony
Harmony
There are multiple definitions the word harmony. Here are three main ones.
1. Harmony can mean singing notes in a chord that are not the melody.
2. A state of being, everything is equal or calm/content.
3. A program created by music therapists and speech therapists to teach social language skills in a functional and fun way.
In regards to number 1:
Since beginning my internship I have attempted to sing more harmonies. This has taken me out of my comfort zone, but this is probably the safest place to practice without receiving too many raised eyebrows. I had to work my way up to singing harmonies, first I would only sing harmony on the last note or the last phrase of a song, now I am stepping up my game and working on harmonizing complete songs. There are still some interesting days. For example today in one of my sessions I could not even think of the starting pitch for My Bonnie, needless to say harmony was not attempted. I couldn’t even sing the melody. I probably stood up there for a good two minutes singing the most awful sounds trying to hear my pitch. Then I had some people try and help find my pitch so four or five people were singing random notes with me. Needless to say I became flustered and failed miserably. Looking back I still cringe. There is a happy ending though someone did save the day, but it wasn’t me.
Moving on to number 2:
Ummmm I’m in an internship right now working my but off. I don’t understand this…
(not complaining though, I am learning so much and wouldn’t give up this opportunity to learn from these amazing people here at the Music Therapy Center of California!!!)
Saving the best for last, 3:
This is program developed to teach kids functional skills. I first heard about this program a couple of weeks before starting my internship. Funny story time. There was a mix-up with sending me some documents before I started and I never got the music to all the In Harmony songs until two weeks before I was about to start my internship. Interns are suppose to have the music memorized and able to accompany oneself. So I spent the next two weeks singing and playing theses songs over and over again, my dad and I even listened to them for 80% of our drive out to California from Oklahoma (I think he has The Potty song memorized for life). By listening to the music and watching the DVD you can see how effective the program is and how the workbooks that are incorporated as well are very effective.
Each definition is different, yet all are important to being an awesome music therapist.
Beth
