Songs
These songs are the basis for Rapport-Based Music activities. The songs have a flexible structure that allows the facilitator to respond to the offers (in-the-moment interest and behaviours) of the participants.
This video summarises the repertoire and briefly explains how to use each song, including how to play each song on the drum and ukulele. You can find the audio for each individual song further down the page.
Once you have watched the video make sure to complete the revision questions below.
Download the Rapport-Based Music Handbook and ukulele chords here.
Revision Questions
These questions are designed to help you remember key points in the video.
song Audio
You can listen to the songs using the audio players below or download the songs here.
in a singing mood
This is the other song that I often begin sessions with. It’s a perfect way to respond to the offers that participants make by singing what you see. Practitioners have told me that they get a lot of great responses from this song.
music here today
I begin most sessions with this catchy song. Play an instrument first to offer a pulse, then look for and respond to the offers by singing what you see. Download the song sheet here.
Play and stop
I often use this song when introducing instruments to a group. Starting and stopping together encourages the participants to listen to each other and develops a sense of group cohesion. Notice that the song does not tell participants what to play, which would potentially set participants up to fail if they do not have the required musical ability. The song instead only tells participants when to play, leaving exactly how and what they do up to each individual.
Everyone’s Turn
This song offers practitioners a way to give each person in a group a turn without having to go around a group one person at a time. Everyone sings and plays during the chorus and then the practitioner picks a participant to take a turn during the verse. The participant gets three cheers then we go back to the whole group playing. This way, no-one has too wait for a long time to get a turn.
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Too
This song was written with children with more complex needs in mind. The purpose of the song is to both welcome participants into a session and also explain to staff in a lighthearted way how to interact with the participant. We wrote the song so that we didn’t have to sit staff down and explain the practice in a way that could have felt heavy and confrontational.
Going On A Journey
This is a good song to play with participants who have verbal ability. Participants can add to each verse of the song to make a story. It’s always fun and eventually no-one can remember all the verses which gets a laugh too.
Who’s Got a Sound
I really love playing this song with people with more complex needs. When a participant makes a soound, I sing the song, leaving and intensive interaction style pause at the end. This pause encourages the participant to make a sound again, to which the practitioner responds warmly.
Somebody played for me
I sometimes use this song to end sessions. Each member of staff is asked to recall a particularly positive moment involving a participant and we sing about this together, celebrating the participant warmly. This is both a positive way to end the session and also help the facilitator to understand the highlights of the session which can then be recorded once the session has ended.