Messy Music

On February 17, 2021, my sister @mogoro established the annual National Radiance I LOVE MYSELF Day to help me break free of my funk. It's a holiday for us all to recognize the beauty of being our authentic self! When celebrated, this self-loving holiday radiates from once a year, to once a week, and into every day of our lives. All you have to do is say - with genuine conviction - to someone else: " I LOVE MYSELF BECAUSE I'M ME!" ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🤎🖤🩶🤍🩷 #nationalradiance #ilovemyselfday #radiance #iloveme #selflove #holiday #love

Happy New Year everyone! 🎆 I'm launching new Messy Music Method workshops, lessons, and trainings in 2022. This arts-based social emotional learning program will help students ages 5-12 identify, process, and accept emotions in positives and affirming ways. Please get in touch if: - you're a PARENT with a child who could use extra 1:1 support - you're a TEACHER with interest in easing stress in your classroom. - you're a SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR looking for school-wide programming. Life is Messy! Let's teach it that way! #sel #socialemotionallearning #education #arts #music #newyear #mentalhealth #resolutions #teachers #trainings #workshops #lessons

LET IT OUT! my new social emotional album helps all ages IDENTIFY ACCEPT and PROCESS emotions and positive and affirming ways. And there's an #SEL curriculum to go along with it! (For 2nd-5th grades + K-1) Each song on the album is paired with a lesson plan to support students emotional well-being in the classroom! Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some snippets from the album and it's curriculum. Stay tuned! 🎨 By @laclodnft @diviroxx @diviroxxkids @kymberlystewartmusic @piercefreelon @uncledevinshow @hellounclejumbo @lindzamer @#socialemotional #learning #education #emotions #feelings #educators #teachers #earlychildhood #curriculum

IDENTIFY. ACCEPT. PROCESS… EMOTIONS That’s what my album, #LetItOut! is about. Being #human in all our #emotional glory! Many of the songs I wrote to #self-soothe my anxiety during the #pandemic, while others were composed in response to the increased #anxiety in 8 year olds that I’ve noticed in my teaching over the years. There are also #mantras and #affirmations in there, plus musings on 2020 and the countless conversations I’ve had in the deep work towards #racialjustice.  IDENTIFY. ACCEPT. PROCESS… EMOTIONS The songs might be mine, but the album, LET IT OUT, is yours! Need to #dance? GO! Wanna #punch a pillow? DO IT! Pause to take a #breath? I’m right there with you!  This music is here to listen and support you through all the highs and lows, the ebbs and flows, of every emotion you feel.  So what are you waiting for? Listen to LET IT OUT! now everywhere you stream music bit.ly/liolisten

We've got a serious problem on our hands... what's our plan? #heresthedeal #mentalhealth #children #pandemic #healing #traumainformed #ptsd #anxiety #depression #stats #identifytheproblem #lockdown #quarantine #pandemic #research #studies #recovery [Image Description: 6 slides with text in various sizes and purple, pink, orange, yellow colors against splash of pink purple background. Slide 1: What are the damaging long term mental health effects of the pandemic on children? Slide 2: 40% of youth have psychological problems following COVID-19. Source: The Effect of COVID-19 on Youth Mental Health Leilei Liang et al Psychiatric Quarterly (2020) Slide 3: 14% of youth reported PTSD. Source: The Effect of COVID-19 on Youth Mental Health Leilei Liang et al Psychiatric Quarterly (2020) Slide 4: It's much worse for children with disabilities or who are members of marginalized groups. Source: The Effect of COVID-19 on Youth Mental Health Leilei Liang et al Psychiatric Quarterly (2020) Slide 5: Never before has trauma-informed care been so important to protecting populations at greatest risk. Source: Trauma-informed care and the COVID-19 global pandemic. Delphine Collin-Vézina Sage Journals (August 4, 2020) Slide 6: What's our plan?]

*real talk alert* WHY DO I MAKE MESSY MUSIC? I wrote a script, because I so badly wanted to get my point across clearly. But then I realized... that's me trying to avoid the messiness of the real thing. So, I have to talk about the "why". The "Why?" The WHY I do things. It's because I struggle with anxiety and depression... and that's a really lonely feeling. Being with others makes it less lonely. So, I spend a lot of my time trying to heal and function. Messy Music is, I guess, my way of trying to heal. Part of that healing process is trying to understand "why". WHY I think this way. WHY I have stories in my head on the inside, and how they might not match up to what is really happening on the outside. I spend time deconstructing these narratives - understanding what the stories are in my head and rewriting them in a more helpful way. And songwriting is like that, for me - at least when I do away with the goal, or expectation of what a song could be. Then, it opens it up so that there are endless possibilities - ways that I can construct these narratives, these stories, these songs. It's really hard to do this stuff alone, so I prefer to do it with other people, and I even prefer more to share that with kids - the experience of reconstructing stories with kids - because they're just so open to those possibilities. They're curious. And they remind me that I can be curious, too. And I can see things in a different way. So, that's the "why". That's why I do it. That's WHY. #mentalhealth #anxiety #depression #vulnerability #realtalk #emotions #feelings #narratives #healing #lonely #songwriting #music #musicheals #curious #stories #personal #why #construct #deconstruct #reallife [image description: Amelia talking to camera in horizontal position with sky and brick building in background speaking what is written above]

Messy Music is a play-centered, highly responsive approach to music-making that activates creativity free of standards, judgement, and criticism. Through collaborative music-making experiences, we focus on process over product and interpret emotions through a lens of curiosity and improvisation. WHAT WE ACHIEVE: Direct access to the arts, Disruption of bias, Reframing of dominant narratives, Social emotional skills, Stronger relationships, Community. OUR PURPOSE: To help all ages understand how realities are constructed in order to accept differences in others around us. OUR VISION: For every individual to engage in a life-long and loving creative practice. #messymusic #play #teaching #artsed #musictherapy #healing #traumainformed #sel #responsive #songwriting #nojudgement #collaboration #processoverproduct #curiosity #improv #constructionism #bias #relationships #community #challengesocietalnorms #socialjustice [Image Description: white text (as written above) on splattered turquoise, pink, and blue blended background]

What stops us from really "going for it"? Why don't we get messy more often? Why so afraid to make mistakes? I think about this alot: how does our fear get passed down to our students through our teaching practice? What fear-driven behaviors are we aware of, and what remains locked in the unconscious? How can unearthing our own fear serve our collective growth and healing in the classroom? Along this journey together, I'll share anecdotes from my own teaching experiences along with SEL-themed music and resources to help us all identify, accept, and process these crazy difficult emotions. I also really want to engage in deeper dialogue from all y'all curious minds willing to provoke an internal investigation into our own teaching practices and dismantle implicit bias. WHO'S OUT THERE GETTING MESSY AND STIRRING SH!T UP?! Leave a comment if that is YOU!!! 💥 #unlearn #deconstruct #rebuild #dismantle #implicitbias #messymusic #getmessy #sel #teachers #teachingpractice #musictherapy #bias #fear #emotions #kids [Image Description: video of Amelia in white jumpsuit throwing blue Holi powder against white background. Blue, turquoise and pink powder strewn across backdrop and floor] 📷 @dagphotog

Real life is messy. As much as we try to keep it all contained in the palm of our hands, there are always gonna be parts that seep out and fall all over the place. #amiright? It has taken me a long time to figure this out - and I still struggle with it daily... #canyourelate? Kids, in particular, have gotten a serious lesson in REAL-life this past year. I know so many of you are working so hard to heal from the pandemic and give your kids tools to thrive in this crazy world. How are you doing it? HOW DO YOU TEACH THAT LIFE IS MESSY? #messy #reallife #teachers #teaching #parents #lifegoals #sel #socialemotional #emotions #realitycheck #pandemic #healing #traumainformed #dailystruggle #lifeismessy #lessons #questionoftheday #parenting #success [Image Description: closeup of palms facing viewer holding blue powder] 📷 @dagphotog

Clearly I'm not as concerned about the content of the box as I am with the experience of opening it! Where do you find PLAY in your day? #play #joy #experience #processoverproduct #fun #sel #education #perspective #socialemotional #pink #teaching #arts #healing [Image Description Amelia against white background playfully ripping open a pink gift box and throwing the wrapping paper up into the air.] 📷@dagphotog

I made you something! #getready #whatisit #becurious 📷@dagphotog [Image Description: gif of Amelia Robinson of Mil's Trills presenting a gift wrapped box to camera]