Books are a great way to maintain a client’s attention while making music and working on their goals. This month’s post is dedicated to the wonderful children’s book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” written by Bill Martin, Jr. and Illustrated by Eric Carle. This is such a classic book, loved by many and absolutely a favorite in my house with my own kids. I love this book so much because it is simple yet expressive, repetitive which allows the reader to catch on to the lyrical nature of the words and phrases and allows for the reader to identify/express what they see. Because the words are so repetitive it can easily be created into a chant, sung with a simple drumbeat, and can of course be sung with an easy chord progression. Whichever way you choose to play it, the book can give the client a lot of opportunity to engage. 

 

Additionally, there are a lot of different ways to adapt the book to achieve different goals. I’ve outlined just a few below. 

1. Receptive: The music therapist can change the color and the animal of each phrase to name of the client and then play an instrument (so that the client can’t see it) and have the client name the instrument. For example,
   1. Therapist: “Sara, Sara what do you hear?” (as Therapist is playing the piano)
      Client: “I hear a piano playing for me!”
2. Recreative Songwriting: Write the words down on a piece of paper but take out the color and the animal. Have pictures of other animals laying out and ask the client to describe and name each animal, so that the client creates their own version with different animals. Or the make it more open-ended, the client can do the same without visual aids laying out.
3. Improvisation: The music therapist can chant the words while both the therapist and client improvise on various instruments. The therapist can also provide a prompt that includes, playing with each animal may sound like. 

 

This is such a great book and incredibly versatile. I hope this can be of help in your sessions and maybe spark another way of adapting the book for your client’s needs. Happy reading/singing!

 

Sara Chigani, MA, MT-BC, FAMI