Encanto Ideas & Resources for Music Therapy

Mar 25

The Encanto soundtrack has been at the top of the charts for weeks, and I cannot get the music out of my head. I’m a fan of Lin Manuel Miranda anyways, but I thought the movie also had some great characters, opened up opportunities for discussion, and beautiful artwork (whoops, I maybe watched it twice in 24 hours the first time I saw it…). I’m excited to share some intervention ideas with you to incorporate this music into your music therapy sessions or music lessons! I’ve seen individuals of all ages be drawn to the Encanto soundtrack, so I wanted to provide resources that were geared for a variety of ages, including teens and adults.

One note first about leading discussions - I’m really encouraged to see so many people relating to the characters and their struggles. As you help your clients process through this, just be cautious of how you’re approaching Colombian culture. It is one thing for a client to relate a feeling or struggle to their own life and another to judge the characters in the movie, which could in turn be associated with a people group. Music For Kiddos gave some informative resources on their Encanto blog of Colombia’s cultural context and history that would be helpful in navigating this!

Learn the Dances

On TikTok, I’ve seen a multitude of accounts posting videos of themselves recreating the character’s dance moves. Check out some of these videos with your clients to learn the dance moves yourselves!

*Disclaimer, as with my other TikTok blog, I do recommend caution when approaching TikTok. As with other social media, there may be things that are inappropriate or triggering. Please be mindful of how you use the app and of course privacy/confidentiality before posting anything related to direct work with clients.

Ukulele Play Alongs

I have multiple clients who I’ve built a ukulele with and teach them how to play (for therapeutic reasons, rather than musical goals). I came across some awesome Youtube channels, who had the following videos:

UkePlayAlongs* has a ukulele play along video for “Dos Oruguitas,” with lyrics and chord tabs to follow along with on the screen
*(this is the only Encanto song, but looks like they have a variety of other good videos as well!)
Abby Lyons also has several Youtube videos, that has not only the lyrics and chords to follow along with, but also an introduction at the beginning to teach the chords and strumming pattern. She has the following songs: "Waiting on a Miracle," “Surface Pressure,” “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” “What Else Can I Do,” and “Dos Oruguitas”
Andy Ramos also has a variety of play along videos, including “Colombia Mi Encanto” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”

Sing Duets

TikTok also has videos that people call “Duets,” where the original poster sings a portion of the song (whether it’s originally a song formatted as a duet or not) and leaves prompts for someone else to sing. A lot of versions have lines divided out by their natural phrases, but I’ve also found some that have a “fill in the word” format/different phrasing that can increase the difficulty! You can also use these as ideas to then sing live on your own, even printing out the songs and highlighting various lyrics to make your own duet. Here are a variety of videos that you and your clients can sing along to:

Rhythm Ideas

I love using rhythm interventions in my sessions - it can provide opportunities to work on motor skills, speech goals, impulse control, and it’s often very engaging for my clients. Here are some ways I’ve seen rhythm used with Encanto songs:

Cup and Clave Rhythm Game (“We Don’t Talk About Bruno”)- by @theonewith.music.therapy
Music For Kiddos listed a multitude of Encanto rhythm videos on their blog

Relaxation

I found this beautiful version of some of the soundtrack pieces with visuals of La Casita on Youtube that could be used as the music for a relaxation script. The first 18 minutes or so are various songs, with the remaining portion of the recording repeating.

Songwriting

I love making songwriting worksheets to help empower other music therapists to incorporate songwriting into their practice with clients. March 2022’s free songwriting worksheet for my email list is for “Surface Pressure,” and if you missed it - you can enter your email below to immediately receive a free PDF version and recording reference to download. I’ve ALSO included for this month’s freebies a visual for clients to identify the pressures in their life. You’ll be able to download this for free as well!

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