Music Therapy, Resources

Using music to support everyday transitions

From a Creative Therapy Adelaide team discussion.

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Moving from a favourite activity into the evening routine can be difficult. In a recent team discussion at Creative Therapy Adelaide, we explored how music might help. These ideas came from a fictional scenario involving a teenager.

Start with what is happening for the person

The situation in our scenario is a young person who finds going from task to task and being organised a challenge. When his caregivers say it’s time to go and get ready for bed, he gets distressed, avoids and escalates verbally.

He’s going from gaming to the bathroom and getting ready for bed. He’s being told to get off gaming and start doing the other steps of his routine for the rest of the evening.

What sort of musical things can we imagine supporting him? What could help him be motivated to do the things, help him engage and help him regulate?

When we’re trying to support caregivers, the individual strategy words can get quite technical. But if we say we want to engage him, motivate him or support him to regulate, it’s at a much more accessible level.

We know the theory in our heads. When we’re trying to deliver this for day-to-day caregivers, it might be better to look at the overarching question: what are we trying to do here?

Use something he already enjoys

A lot of people at this point would probably go for a social story or a visual schedule, which are great strategies to use. What we wanted to zone in on was how we could use music in this situation.

One idea was a curated playlist that’s enjoyable and low stress, to start the ball rolling with the nighttime routine. It’s actually music that he likes.

If he likes gaming, could we incorporate his games and music into the transition?

One suggestion was Minecraft music. If that’s enjoyable and it’s on the playlist, that could be the cue in itself: come off Minecraft and listen to Minecraft music. It’s a little stepping stone towards getting off the game.

There are so many game soundtracks with slow-build parts you could use. You could transition to something that’s more energetic, depending on what the person is moving into. Or maybe it’s just something steady.

The point isn’t that Minecraft music is calming for everyone. It’s an example of starting with the person’s interests and checking how they respond.

A song can belong to part of the routine

Once you’ve made that first transition away from the gaming situation, there are still all those tasks like having a shower or brushing teeth that someone may find challenging.

The idea is to have some music for the next part that is regulating for him.

Maybe you’ve got a specific cueing song that is the shower song. It might have a chorus about washing this part of your body and that part of your body, so it’s very specific and focused on those executive function tasks.

Or it could be a song that he likes, maybe a Nirvana track? It doesn’t necessarily have to be about having a shower. It’s just: that’s the song I listen to in the shower.

Then the person can start thinking about what they’re supposed to be doing when this track comes on, helping them organise those things themselves.

Keep the option to change it up

As long as you have the option to change it up.

When it’s not going quite right, sometimes you want to jump around a little bit to match the particular moment of that day.

If you’re noticing that they’ve sprinted down to the end of the backyard and come back really hyped, you’re probably not going to put that energising song on next.

Being able to change it up also means giving the person agency. Sometimes giving the person agency can be motivation. Asking which song they would like for their shower could help too.

The nuances of how you set it up matter. It’s not just a case of putting on some music while someone is having a shower. Having a really good conversation about which actual songs it’s going to be is important.

Fewer instructions, more room to participate

In the moment, it’s going to be stressful and you’re going to want to give all these instructions. One reminder from our discussion was to keep our words limited.

Especially by the time someone is 17, they’ve had many years of being spoken to about what they’re meant to be doing. It could be quite refreshing for them to be successful and not have people directing them all the time.

For caregivers, it also helps to have things ready to go, rather than manually searching for songs during high-stress moments.

It’s quite specific and then builds over time. We think that can be a lot more effective.

These are ideas to explore with the person’s therapist, not a fixed routine to impose. Respect their choice to stop or have no music. If music increases distress, stop and seek guidance. Everyday music listening is not the same as music therapy.

If you’d like help exploring music within everyday routines, get in touch with Creative Therapy Adelaide.

Explore our music therapy services in Adelaide to learn more about individualised support.