As Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaches, I am reminded of the joy and excitement of experiencing American culture together. Not everyone celebrates these holidays, but there is a feeling in the air that transcends any particular holiday as the days get darker, the weather gets colder, the leaves change, and we spend more time indoors here in Minnesota.
For music therapists, holidays give us an opportunity to acknowledge and explore the different ways that our clients relate to culture, themselves, their families, and their friends. Unfortunately, there are not that many Thanksgiving songs to sing together and discuss. “Gobble Gobble” by Mathew West is a fun and catchy song that will have individual clients and groups singing along in one or two listens. Another song that I have used, though it is not specifically a Thanksgiving song, is “Everybody Eats When They Come to My House.” Clients enjoy adding their own favorite food to the song and then having their food and name integrated back into it. Though the original song has rhyming, it’s not necessary e.g. Michael brought the potatoes, Julie made a pumpkin pie, everybody eats when they come to my house.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to discuss gratitude, so last year I wrote my own fun gratitude song that worked great as a fill-in-the-blank style songwriting intervention with groups and individuals. The song starts out with an exciting question: what would you do if you had a million dollars? There are spots in the song for clients to fill in whatever they would buy or do with the money. After painting a picture of what a million dollars could do, the song acknowledges that we all currently have things that can’t be bought. It creates an opportunity to reflect on the wonderful things/people/abilities that we already have. Please use and change the song as needed! If a million dollars isn’t enough try a billion etc. I think the song works with most age groups, but the melody may skew on the younger side. Try a blues progression/melody and a swung rhythm to age it up a bit!
