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(via https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tvL3bSADQ1cIuhaOHgZDS?si=_xCH3MQeSpSWaCntiA3FiA)

Here is the playlist of all of the songs I am using in this blog.

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Disney

Finally, these two songs are aimed for younger children or even teens. They can be used for many different people with different disabilities. They can be used for a lot of the ways I have listed throughout this blog. For example, these songs can help and be used for memory, for dexterity, for mental disabilities, etc. I am listing these because they are Disney songs and many people can have an emotional connection to these songs. Primarily, they would be used for children with different disabilities. They are:

1. How Far I’ll Go from Disney’s Moana 2. Let It Go from Disney’s Frozen

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Development

The next set of songs are meant for children who may have developmental disabilities. An example would be a child with Autism who is a bit behind in learning school subjects. Music can help many people to learn things faster and help their memory. The songs are:

1. Five Little Monkeys by Super Simple Songs 2. Days of the Week by Super Simple Songs 3. The Animals on the Farm by Super Simple Songs

These songs are also helpful for children without disabilities who are just simply learning these basic things in school.

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Mood Boosters

The next set of songs are current popular songs that are fun and uplifting. The purpose of using these songs are to simply be a mood booster. For example, there could be a young teen in the hospital dealing with cancer treatments and is feeling depressed because of it. Simply coming in and playing these songs for the teen to just jam to and sing along with can boost their mood instantly. The mind is a powerful thing and having a chance to just be happy for a little while can help in more ways than one would think. The songs are:

1. Thank u, next by Ariana Grande 2. Sucker by the Jonas Brothers 3. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars 4. There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back by Shawn Mendes

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Alzheimer’s

The next set of songs are aimed towards the older adult population. The purpose of singing and playing these songs for these client’s is for their memory. Assuming these clients’ have either Alzheimer’s or dementia, these songs can help trigger their memory. The songs are:

1. L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole 2. My Girl by The Temptations 3. Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra 4. Yesterday by the Beatles 5. Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey 6. Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners 7. Take on Me by a-ha

Many people don’t know this, but the last part of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease is the part that retains music. Because of this, playing music can trigger their memories and they can actually come out of their forgetful state for a short period of time. These songs are all very popular songs from when they were younger and it can help trigger their memories.

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Dexterity

The next song is called “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars. There are many different disabilities that can affect a person’s dexterity. What can help with a person’s dexterity is holding and playing different instruments. For example, if a person needs to work on their grip of smaller things, they could hold and play small maracas.

For the purpose of this song, let’s say a person needs to work on their grip of larger things. You can play this song while the client plays and holds a large rain stick. This goes with the theme of the song of “rain” and it will help the client with their grip of the instrument.

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Walking

The next song is called “Slow Hands” by Niall Horan. There can be many examples of songs that can be used for this, but I am just using this one to get the point across. There are many people who have gone through different injuries that can cause them to struggle to walk. They need to go through physical therapy to learn how to walk again. For example, a person may have a stroke and because of the damage done to their brain, they need to re-learn how to walk. Another example would be a physical injury to somebody’s spine where they have some sort of nerve damage that has affected the way they walk.

Slow Hands has a very apparent beat. Hearing this beat can actually help somebody to walk. Because the beat is very apparent, the person learning to walk will subconsciously want to walk on the beat. This can help somebody take steps in a consistent way.

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Mental Illness

The next set of songs in this playlist can be used in a few different ways. They are generally aimed for people dealing with mental illnesses. Some examples would be: clinical depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, etc. This list goes on and on. These songs are all songs about overcoming something. They all have a positive message about moving on and becoming happier. The songs are:

1. no tears left to cry by Ariana Grande 2. Firework by Katy Perry 3. Roar by Katy Perry 4. breathin by Ariana Grande 5. Praying by Kesha 6. Fight Song by Rachel Platten 7. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara

This list is much longer because these songs can help so many people with various different disabilities. Mental Health is such an important topic that needs to be talked about. Music Therapy can help anyone who has a mental illness. • “no tears left to cry” has a positive message about feeling like you have cried everything out and you are ready to move on and live a positive life. The lyrics “right now I’m in a state of mind I wanna be in, like, all the time” show that you can reach a happy point and you can strive to make it your goal to feel that way. • “Firework” by Katy Perry is all about how sometimes you can feel down and you can have extremely low points, however, you have to embrace who you are and you can push through it. • “Roar” by Katy Perry is all about finding strength within yourself. The lyrics I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath. Scared to rock the boat and make a mess. So I sat quietly, agreed politely” can resonate with so many people. So many women feel like they need to be silent. This can help someone who has been through an abusive relationship, for example, to find their voice. • “breathin” by Ariana Grande is all about the struggles of having anxiety. Through the lyrics, Ariana sings about how she feels on a day to day basis living with anxiety. Many people forget to stop and just breathe. This is why she sings about the importance of just “breathin” in these situations. • “Praying” by Kesha is an especially important one. Many people know the horrible situation Kesha was in when she was sexually assaulted. This song has lyrics that many people can unfortunately relate to. While Kesha went through such a horrible situation, she uses this song to find the light in this situation. She sings “Oh, but after everything you’ve done, I can thank you for how strong I have become” and “I’m proud of who I am. No more monsters, I can breathe again. And you said that I was done. Well, you were wrong and now the best is yet to come.” She shows that even in the worst of situations, you can come out on the other side a stronger person. She realizes how beautiful life can be even after going through this. • “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten is a similar song. These lyrics are all about how strong a person can realize they can be. With the lyrics “this is my fight song, take back my life song, prove I’m alright song,” she shows that she is ready to take life back into her hands. • “Scars To Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara is the final song in this set and it is extremely important. With social media nowadays, so many girls feel so much pressure to look a certain way. Right now, there is a trend called “Instagram models.” These girls are on Instagram with highly edited photos, typically unrealistic body types, and an extreme amount of makeup and editing done so these girls look like what society would call “perfect.” While of course is more than okay to post photos like this, most girls in reality do not look like this so they feel the need to try and change themselves to look this way in unhealthy ways. This song can help someone dealing with an eating disorder or body dysmorphia.

These songs, of course, are mostly aimed for a pretty specific age group (tween – young adult) just because they are songs that are popular with this current generation. There are a few different ways these songs can help people. One way is just playing them the songs. Allowing a client to just put in headphones and listen to these songs can already change their mood and perspective. Another way is for a Music Therapist to play these songs live for the client either on the guitar or a piano. This can give a more organic feel to the songs and can sometimes have more of an affect on the client.  Another way is to play these songs (either live or just on a speaker) and allow the client to sing along with them. Some clients can find more meaning in singing along to the songs. One last way that can be very affective is to allow the client to change some of the words throughout the song so the song is more personal and has more meaning to them. This can be very therapeutic because they are getting their feelings out through lyrics and an art form.

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The first three songs in my playlist are songs that can help someone focus:

1. Rain Check by Dylan Sitts 2. I brought her flowers. by frumhere 3. Cityscape by Guustavv

These songs help me personally because I have a few learning disabilities. Primarily, these songs help with my ADHD. When I am studying or doing homework, it helps me to put in my headphones and listen to these types of songs because it will help tune out whatever is going on around me. Having ADHD, it is very easy for small things to distract me. However, when I have my headphones in and I am listening to these songs, I am able to focus much easier to get my work done. Part of what makes these songs so helpful are that they are just instrumental beats. They typically have little to no lyrics in them. For me, when I listen to songs with lyrics, it is easy to get distracted and want to listen to the song. These songs all have a pretty low key beat to them and help to focus. Some of these songs also have sound effects in them that can be calming and help to focus. For example, in “Cityscape,” there are birds chirping in the song quietly in the background.