Christmastime is Here!

By: Ashton Becks, MT Intern

One of my first lessons in my Intro to Music Therapy courses in college was about the idea of client preferred music. Everyone has a specific genre or era of music that they like most or grew up listening to most. “Golden” from the Netflix film “KPOP Demon Hunters” is a great song, but it’s likely that a 74 year old client would not enjoy including that song as much as a 10 year old client who loves the movie that it's from. This is one example of many ways this is applied, but statistics say that 88% of Americans celebrate Christmas, and 60% of those people listen to Christmas music before December even begins! You can imagine that there are not many genres or songs that have that universal of a statistic. The lyric “I’m offering this simple phrase to kids from one to 92…Merry Christmas to you” is pretty accurate in this case. All those childhood memories of presents, red and green colors, snow and Santa Claus permeate the season and the hearts of those of all ages. So, here are some creative ways these Christmas Tunes can be implemented into music therapy sessions.

1. Instrument Play: Sleigh Bells/Jingle Bells/Winter Wonderland

Combining lyrics with sounds is a good way to make an experience immersive. Singing “Sleigh bells ringing…” and hearing the same quintessential sound of Christmas can create pictures in your brain of Santa and the reindeer. This would work well for all populations by splitting a group up to play at different times, prompting an individual client to only play when they hear “bells” or “sleigh”, and even using adaptive instruments or the Velcro straps on a wrist bell to ensure clients with a variety of abilities can participate. 

2. Drumming: Little Drummer Boy

This song also implements a word/sound association while using a common musical device in drumming. Little Drummer Boy even says a rhythm repeatedly throughout the song: “Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum”. Incorporating this rhythm could increase auditory discrimination. With an individual, a music therapist could continue to use phrases to play rhythms. “Christmas Time” could be played as 3 quarter notes; “sleigh ride” could be played as 2 eighth notes. In a group, a music therapist could also use the song as a “backing track” for a group drumming activity. Incorporating solos, split play, loud and soft dynamics, and other distinct rhythms can help meet goals of increasing socialization, self expression, and ability to follow directions.

3. Sing Along: Christmas Song/Santa Tell Me

This activity probably requires the most specificity to age and music preference. An older adult population may want to sing more of the Nat King Cole’s, Bing Crosby’s, and the Temptations’s of that era, but the younger folks may want to sing along to Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Pentatonix, or Kelly Clarkson instead. The cool thing about Christmas music is that there are renditions of several songs from multiple eras and in multiple genres. It would be best practice to ensure the arrangement that is played is what the client or clients prefer. This becomes important when, for example, you listen to Michael Buble’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” versus the Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”: those choruses have the same lyrics but could not be more different. There are many examples of this, so music therapists should be sure to keep in mind client preferences like stated at the beginning of this blog.

4. Pitched Percussion: Deck the Halls/We Wish You a Merry Christmas

This may just be me, but when I think of handbells, I think of Christmas time. There’s even a Hershey’s Kisses Candy commercial every year where the chocolate morsels play a Christmas tune as if they are a handbell choir! Music therapists and music educators use all types of pitched percussion instruments like Boomwhackers, resonator bars and bells, and of course hand bells throughout the year, so Christmas time is a great time to integrate into some classic carols with these instruments. Many of PMT’s pitched percussion instruments are color coded, so using corresponding color coded sheet music can make for easy group or individual playing. Using familiar melodies or simple accompaniment are two accessible ways to incorporate them in effective ways.

5. S-I-N-G-O: 

This is a fun spin off of “Name That Tune” but with a little help from a field of choices. This would work for all ages, but probably would be best done in a group setting. This S-I-N-G-O board attached was created by PMT for this specific activity. Essentially, the music therapist will play the melody, accompaniment with singing, or a recording of each song, and the group will guess the correct answer. This could be done as a group working on one board or done as traditional BINGO with variants of this board. Again, the great thing about Christmas music is that it’s familiar and repeats every year. Naming a song that you heard for a few months and haven’t listened to in a while can be harder to recall.

Image description: Shiny tinsel and ornaments on garland.

6. Movement: Feliz Navidad

Movement and exercise are great for your body. Singing and moving can decrease stress levels, improve respiratory and cardiovascular functioning, and even boost the immune system! It’s also a cool opportunity to learn about Christmas around the world by singing and dancing in another language. Creating a simple choreographed dance to an upbeat and fun song like Feliz Navidad would be a good way to incorporate a lot of cool elements of music’s intrinsic benefits.

7. Song (re)Writing: 12 Days of Christmas/Favorite Things

The 12 Days of Christmas is a Christmas classic! And, songwriting is a great way to foster collaboration, creativity, and self-expression in a group or individually. This could be done in a few ways, but one example is asking the group to replace all 12 items with some of their favorite holiday items that hold nostalgic or sentimental value. Maybe a client grew up in Wisconsin and loved to sled in the snow on Christmas or a client had a family tradition of hanging candy canes on their tree.

It’s also important to be inclusive to those who do not celebrate Christmas. “Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music” is a holiday song that can be adapted for any time of year. The elements of joy, hope, family, and love that Christmas brings are things that everyone cherishes, and using a song like this can emphasize these elements without explicitly being Christmas related. It could be a song about a client or group’s favorite “winter” things or “family” things instead.

To continue, I also think it is important to note that not everyone has positive associations with the holidays, justifiably so. It can bring about a

somberness, grief, heartache, strife, and stress as everyone has unique life experiences. A part of a music therapist’s job is to implement wisdom and therapeutic sensitivity with their clients to ensure that the activities are actually beneficial and not resurfacing negative emotions.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, of course, but now you know a little bit about how a music therapist may incorporate client preferred music into a session. Think about what songs could potentially be your “preferred music choice”. If you're hosting a holiday party, think about what songs on your playlist would be preferred by your guests. You should have a good starting place after reading this blog. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!