Music Sweet Music’s Board-Certified Music Therapist Carly Jewel Green got the kids bodies moving this past Saturday May 4th as she did a pre-celebration of “Cinco de Mayo” music activities that involved singing, dancing, movement, learning some Spanish words and even a little history during two group music therapy sessions at a children’s cancer center. MSM’s Carly Jewel had two group therapy sessions and each session lasted around half an hour. For the day, we had a total of 22 children participate between the two sessions that were separated by age groups.
The “Cinco de Mayo” Music therapy theme was energized and it empowered and engaged all participants in both sessions. Children started by learning in Spanish the words to their favorite Hello song, “Hola”, good to see you today, “bueno verte hoy”, which was a great way to break the ice and have each child introduce themselves, to each other.
During the counting of 5 numbers in Spanish, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, the kids shook maracas in various rhythms, which helped them to increase range of motion by reaching high, middle, and low for body awareness and movement.
During the “Mexican Hat Dance”, a sombrero was placed in the middle of the room and while music played, the kids danced around the sombrero in a circle, playfully marching and clapping to the beat of the music. Every time Carly said stop, the kids froze in place. For the kids, this was not only a form of exercise and the movement of different parts of their body, but also a lesson in learning to follow directions.
Both sessions were thrilling to watch, we saw kids that during the first few minutes were quiet and shy, but as soon as they saw maracas and that each had little Mexican hats to wear for a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, smiles started to appear on their faces, and lots of silly laughs could be heard as they wiggled while exercising their body and minds and for a while, and best of all, for a while, they forgot that they were in a hospital and ill.
Picture 1: Carly Jewel Green setting up before the sessions begin.
Picture 2: L – R Carly Jewel Green and Ted Wagner
No pictures were taken of the kids during their session.
