Goff Middle School student Savannah Prach uses a iPad piano application during her individual session with Questar III Music Therapist Mary Holliday.
Goff Middle School student Savannah Prach is learning about money. She looks at a pile of change on a desk and is asked to find a nickel and place in a drum. She then beats a drum five times to symbolize how many cents are in one dime.
Prach is learning the concept of money through an individual music therapy session with Questar III BOCES Music Therapist Mary Holliday. Holliday, who actually wrote the proposal for the Questar III music therapy program back in 1996, says music is an alternative and effective way of learning for many students.
“Some just connect better with music than with the spoken language,” she said. “They use a different side of their brain and it allows them to be engaged in more areas.”
Holliday works with students like Prach, many of whom use sign language or electronic devices to communicate. Her students range in their abilities and disabilities, but Holliday says they all benefit from the therapy. “Music raises self-esteem and the calming effect can decrease anxiety.”
Music therapy is intended to prepare the students for life outside the classroom. Many of Holliday’s students will enroll in day habilitation services to help develop, improve, and maintain independent living skills.
“The goal is to generalize what the students learn here and utilize it in other environments,” said Holliday.
Holliday utilizes various methods for both individual and group sessions including song books for literacy and various iPad programs for visual motor skills and physical strength. For example, Prach uses a drumming application to help her alternate between hands without rocking back and forth, and it was the Xylopone that gave her the ability to flex her wrists, something she was unable to do before working with Holliday.
“When the kids make progress and they have that ‘Aha!’ moment, it’s just glorious,” said Holliday. “They have to work so hard to get there and when they do they’re so proud of themselves.”
Holliday, who says she has always been drawn to music, went to Nazareth College in Rochester and received dual bachelor’s degrees in music therapy and music education. She received her master’s in music education from Saint Rose in Albany.
“Music therapy is an accredited degree program,” said Holliday. “You can’t just turn on the radio and call it ‘music therapy’.”
Holliday, who says her car doubles as her office, travels between five Questar III BOCES locations every week, and says the variety of the students is one of her favorite parts of her job.
