Music Therapist to Sing at Olympic Games

Meghan Watkins of Mt. Lookout is one of five singers in the country to be chosen to join the World Youth Choir, which will sing at the Olympic Games in China.

Watkins is a therapist with Music Therapy Services of Cincinnati and is the music therapist for Stepping Stones Center for children and adults with disabilities.

Watkins is part of the Team Lachey choir which won the nationally televised Clash of the Choirs last year. She was notified in April that she was accepted in the World Youth Choir, which is open to singers age 17 to 27. Watkins is 24.

She will leave for China on July 11 and be gone a little more than a month. The choir is made up of singers from around the world. Five are from the United States.

Watkins is a graduate of Ohio University in Athens. She originally planned to major in vocal performance, but a workshop on music therapy changed her course. “It all seemed to click,” she said. “I’ve always enjoyed working with people. I could still do the performing and follow this other path,” she said.

Watkins staged the May 15^th Spring Celebration musical at Stepping Stones, where she created a musical version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with a central cast of characters, a narrator and choruses ranging from toddlers hugging stuffed bears singing “Teddy Bear Turn Around,” to adults adding their voices to a recording of The Beatles’ “Help” as Goldilocks ran shrieking from the bears’ house.

“We keep everything age appropriate,” said Watkins. “I’d never have adults singing a children’s song,” she said.

At Stepping Stones, the types of disability are as varied as the notes in the music. The 45-year-old United Way partner agency serves children and adults with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, cognitive deficits, multiple disabilities and participants who are medically fragile. The toddler and preschool programs are open to typical children as well as those with disabilities. The Step-Up program provides an alternative educational experience for students with severe autism who have been removed from their typical school settings. Adult programs provide social, recreational and pre-vocational options for adults with physical and mental disabilities ranging from mild to severe.

Putting together a musical performance for all of those program participants was a challenge, Watkins said. “Working at Stepping Stones, my number one thing is building a relationship, even before the music, you have to have a good rapport. Music is an easy way to do that. Most children like to sing a song. They like experimenting with instruments. Even if they don’t want to be in the group at first, they’re drawn in by the music. Watkins carries a suitcase packed with easy-to-play instruments – drums, rhythm sticks, tambourines, shakers. Some participants are non-verbal, but they can still make music.

“You can see it bring out the confidence in them. They understand they’re an important asset in the group. My goal is to make everyone feel they’re an equal part of the group. Music brings out the fun side of people. It works on some core things – creativity, socializing.”

The performance gave the music therapy classes a goal and strengthened the social bonds as everyone worked on the show.

“We read the story aloud and gave different people a turn saying the lines,” she said. You never know what’s going to happen on the day of performance, so we had some back-ups.”

For weeks, adults and children talked about their parts, rehearsed songs and made costumes. A chorus of adults dressed as the forest. Toddlers and preschoolers wore bear ears and pinafores painted with bear faces. After the show was over, classes watched a video of their performance, giving the performers a chance to be the audience, clapping and laughing and pointing to themselves on the screen.

“They are very proud of themselves and rightfully so,” said Watkins.

“It reminds them of what they are capable of.”

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Stepping Stones Center offers year-round programs for children and adults with disabilities and has the region’s oldest summer camp program for campers with disabilities. Day camp runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday from June 16 through Aug. 15 at the 23-acre Stepping Stones Center in Indian Hill and at stepping Stones’ Camp Allyn in Batavia. Residential camps and respite weekends are available at Camp Allyn. For information, call 513-831-4660 or see Web site www.steppingstonescenter.org

May 2008