|
 Cathy Bollinger, Music Therapist & Singer/Songwriter
and
Elly Tucker, Marketing Director
Cathy Bollinger, a much-loved singer-songwriter, received her Master of Arts in Creative Arts Therapy from Drexel University College of Medicine (formerly Hahnemann Medical School) in Pennsylvania. She has been working with children through music for more than 20 years.
Cathy has written children’s music which is so much fun that kids don’t even realize they are learning. Teachers and parents like Cathy’s music as much as their little ones do! Beloved by her young audience, she holds songwriting workshops, practices music therapy, performs, and can often be found in the classroom singing with preschool and elementary audiences and helping teachers use her songs with their curricula. Cathy established Rivanna Music in 1988 to create tunes that teach. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband, Bob and children Will and Kate. Older son Ross is attending school in New York at the School of Visual Arts.
Cathy and her business partner, Elly Tucker are both committed to helping children by creating tunes that teach social skills, reading skills and other important daily living and school readiness skills. Elly received her Master's in School Counseling from The University of Virginia. She has served as County Extension Agent with the 4-H Program and then as an Elementary School Counselor and most recently as a Career Counselor at University of Virginia. Elly now serves as Marketing Director for Rivanna Music and is committed to providing customers with great children’s music. Elly and her husband, Bill, live in Albemarle County Virginia, with their son, Josh. Their daughter Dory is just completing her Master's of Education at UVA and will begin teaching elementary school.
Elly and Cathy began working together in 2004, on MY TURN, YOUR TURN when Cathy contacted Elly for consultation on children’s developmental issues and social skills issues. They both really enjoy collaborating, and their work is infused with good humor as well as the understanding of the importance of using music to facilitate children’s learning of important concepts.
Cathy’s knowledge of music therapy mixed with Elly’s background in developmental issues with children allowed them to recognize the importance of incorporating certain goals in using music to help children learn various skills. Songs and rhymes are written in a friendly upbeat way that
- Uses repetition of sounds (alliteration) and words for supporting maximum reinforcement of concepts.
- Uses Multisensory Interactivites for learning in a variety of ways.
- Utilizes a variety of styles and instrumentation for student with learning disabilities and for traditional learners.
- Provides clear images of concepts.
- Makes available written lyrics to visually reinforce key points.
- The songs ask questions in a way that helps the child gain confidence.
- Repeats or re-words concepts and issues.
- Frequently offers variety of examples from real-life situations.
- Uses music to teach and reinforce important ideas.
- Has practice exercises available for lessons, in case the student has problems with cerain concepts.
- Has students with learning disabilities vary their approach to learning using music.
- Paces instruction carefully to ensure clarity, using variety of rhythms and instrumentation.
- Provides and teaches memory associations (mnemonic strategies).
- Supports one modality of presentation by following it with instruction and then use another modality.
- Sings and speaks distinctly and at rates that a student with learning and processing difficulties can follow.
- Uses plenty of examples, musical and movement, in order to make topics more applicable.
- Presents concepts logically, one at a time.
- Encourages students to work with others , if possible to increase social reinforcement.
- Incorporates cross-age presentations and voices for modeling purposes.
The winner of FOUR Parents’ Choice Awards, as well as the National Parenting Publications Award (NAPPA) for children’s music, Rivanna Music has earned ”Parenting Magazine Pick” for the past 2 years and Cathy’s music has been acclaimed by the American Library Association’s Booklist, School Library Journal, and Autism Spectrum Quarterly.
Contact Cathy: cathy@rivannamusic.com. Contact Elly: elly@rivannamusic.com |
