Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services
Music Therapy Day Program for Teens and Adults with Special Needs
Success Stories and Information
In September 2016, we started the first ever Music Therapy Day Program at Harmony Garden. There is a need in Jackson, MI for programming that helps individuals with special needs when they have aged out of school or no longer have school five days a week. Families are seeking options that will allow their loved ones to grow, learn, socialize and find purpose in their day-to-day life. We wanted to help provide an option for families, so we started this program. (Don’t know what music therapy is? Read more here…)
In the last year, we have had 7 participants in our Music Therapy Day Program. The program’s capacity at any one time is 6 individuals. This group is almost always full now! We are working on adding a second program day/time in January 2018! Let us know if you are interested!
Each 3 hour program has a specific schedule that allows for a LOT of live music making, some crafting, music games, and song sharing. I’ve been working in the office during their jam sessions, they really sound like they are having a great time!
Some of the crafts they have made include rain sticks, key wind chimes, egg shaker maracas, and one string wooden box guitars! There is a small craft fee included in the enrollment, that allows us to keep making awesome crafts and instruments!
The group loves to come up with and plan party and theme days. They celebrate the common holidays (Halloween, Easter, Valentines Day, Christmas, etc) and create other theme days. They had a Beatles Day and a Wizard of Oz Day! The group brainstorms and create costumes, decorations, and pick all of the music to go with the theme.
One other awesome thing the group has done much of in the last year, is write songs! Here are the lyrics to a song they wrote last fall to the tune of Andy Grammar’s Honey I’m Good. Get that song in your head and read through! It’s catchy and appropriate for this time of year…
Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall
(Piggy Back to the Tune of: Honey I’m Good by Andy Grammar)
Written September 2016
Intro:
Oh yeah, summer is hot
I could go swimming in the pool and have fun outside
But now the pools are closing (closing, closing, closing)
Verse 1:
It’s been a blast this summer
And we can’t wait for next year
Now my eyes are seeing fall colors everywhere
Fall is fun, because of Halloween
We dress up and have fun on that night
I gotta be a rock star, a witch, owl, cheerleader
Or something neat
Fall is coming; leaves are crunching under my feet
Chorus:
Oh yeah, summer is hot
I could go swimming in the pool and have fun outside
But now the pools are closing
And we have to say goodbye to the ice cream shops
Oh yeah, summer is hot
Ice cream, we will really miss you
Smoothies, flurries with Reece’s, tin roof Sundays, moose tracks, hot fudge Sundays
Verse 2:
It’s been a blast this summer
And we can’t wait for next year
Now my eyes are seeing pumpkins everywhere
We smell donuts, cider and pumpkin spice coffee
While we walk through the bakeries
Then its Thanksgiving
We eat turkey, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole
Stuffing, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, apple pie and lots of rolls
Chorus:
Oh yeah, summer is hot
I could go swimming in the pool and have fun outside
But now the pools are closing
And we have to say goodbye to the ice cream shops
Oh yeah, summer is hot
Ice cream, we will really miss you
Smoothies, flurries with Reece’s, tin roof Sundays, moose tracks, hot fudge Sundays
Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!
