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What is Music Therapy?
What is Music Therapy?
Our approach to music therapy draws from Nordoff-Robbins music therapy, and from Interactive music therapy, an approach developed by Amelia Oldfield. Paul Nordoff was an American composer and pianist who developed an approach in collaboration with Clive Robbins, a British early childhood educator. In their sessions, Robbins and the child would play together within the flexible musical spaces Nordoff created at the piano. Amelia Oldfield is a British music therapist who works with autistic children, and who emphasizes the importance of creating musical dialogues with children. (For more information about these approaches, you can watch the videos at the bottom of this page.)
Our approach to music therapy draws from Nordoff-Robbins music therapy, and from Interactive music therapy, an approach developed by Amelia Oldfield. Paul Nordoff was an American composer and pianist who developed an approach in collaboration with Clive Robbins, a British early childhood educator. In their sessions, Robbins and the child would play together within the flexible musical spaces Nordoff created at the piano. Amelia Oldfield is a British music therapist who works with autistic children, and who emphasizes the importance of creating musical dialogues with children. (For more information about these approaches, you can watch the videos at the bottom of this page.)
Musical Play
Musical Play
Sometimes children immediately enthusiastically engage with music, and sometimes children need time to explore what can be possible in the space of music therapy. In such cases the co-therapist plays with your child, entering into imaginary play, dance, or sorting, for example, while the music therapist plays music in a mood and tempo determined by the rhythm and feeling of your child's play.
Sometimes children immediately enthusiastically engage with music, and sometimes children need time to explore what can be possible in the space of music therapy. In such cases the co-therapist plays with your child, entering into imaginary play, dance, or sorting, for example, while the music therapist plays music in a mood and tempo determined by the rhythm and feeling of your child's play.
The Inaccessible World of a Child
The Inaccessible World of a Child
A lot of the young children we see and work with seem to be in their own time and space. It is hard to know what causes them so much joy, or sometimes so much suffering and anguish. Rather than work to bring your child into the space and time that we are in, we work to sustain and support the spontaneous work that your child is doing. Our objective is not to use your child's interest as a lever to modify his or her behavior, but rather to help them explore and develop their interests so that these interests become a way to engage with others.
A lot of the young children we see and work with seem to be in their own time and space. It is hard to know what causes them so much joy, or sometimes so much suffering and anguish. Rather than work to bring your child into the space and time that we are in, we work to sustain and support the spontaneous work that your child is doing. Our objective is not to use your child's interest as a lever to modify his or her behavior, but rather to help them explore and develop their interests so that these interests become a way to engage with others.
Jacob Barnett, who was diagnosed with ASD as a child, remembers that when he was a small child he spent hours sitting on the floor of his bedroom trying to understand the relationship between the light from the sun, the tree on the other side of the window, and the shadow cast by the tree on the floor of his room. Yet from the outside, he notes, it looked like he was sitting there vacantly staring into space. One day when he was in the country with his mother he noticed his mother was looking at the stars and thought to himself that if other people were interested in light, maybe there was a good reason to talk with, and engage with, other people. (Barnett tells this story in a short interview that is included in the audiobook version of The Spark.)
Jacob Barnett, who was diagnosed with ASD as a child, remembers that when he was a small child he spent hours sitting on the floor of his bedroom trying to understand the relationship between the light from the sun, the tree on the other side of the window, and the shadow cast by the tree on the floor of his room. Yet from the outside, he notes, it looked like he was sitting there vacantly staring into space. One day when he was in the country with his mother he noticed his mother was looking at the stars and thought to himself that if other people were interested in light, maybe there was a good reason to talk with, and engage with, other people. (Barnett tells this story in a short interview that is included in the audiobook version of The Spark.)
This story expresses something that is true for all children, and for all human beings. We each live in a universe of lived experiences that others cannot observe. It is good for children to have as many experiences as possible that others are not an obstacle to what they are exploring in their inaccessible experience, but rather a way for them to go further. These kinds of experiences can open a new mode of engagement with the world.
This story expresses something that is true for all children, and for all human beings. We each live in a universe of lived experiences that others cannot observe. It is good for children to have as many experiences as possible that others are not an obstacle to what they are exploring in their inaccessible experience, but rather a way for them to go further. These kinds of experiences can open a new mode of engagement with the world.
The tunnel of special interests, showing how a person breaks through from the extremely detailed into the extremely general, by going deeper into narrow interests. From A Field Guide to Earthlings by Ian Ford
Child-Led Play
Child-Led Play
There are things that a child cannot do alone -- just like there are things that all of us cannot do alone. A child who is interested in watching objects spin will need others' help and support to explore the full complexity of this interest, to move from tops and yoyos to models of solar systems and galaxies to the mathematics of centripetal and centrifugal forces. Through child-led musical play, we work to put the conditions into place so that a child can experience that it is possible to go farther in their own interests with others, than it is possible for them to go alone.
There are things that a child cannot do alone -- just like there are things that all of us cannot do alone. A child who is interested in watching objects spin will need others' help and support to explore the full complexity of this interest, to move from tops and yoyos to models of solar systems and galaxies to the mathematics of centripetal and centrifugal forces. Through child-led musical play, we work to put the conditions into place so that a child can experience that it is possible to go farther in their own interests with others, than it is possible for them to go alone.
Our objective, in engaging in child-led play, is to accompany and sustain your child's curiosity, attention, and interest. Sometimes a child's singular focus can seem like an obstacle to their participation in family and social life, and to their independent and creative future. But these singular and inscrutable interests can be the pathway to an engagement in the world, as well as to a career and an independent life. An intense interest in sorting, in stacking, or in the alphabet is not something that cuts a child off from an engagement with society and the world, but rather a path to an engagement with the world, to a future as a historian, a linguist, a mathematician, a physicist.
Our objective, in engaging in child-led play, is to accompany and sustain your child's curiosity, attention, and interest. Sometimes a child's singular focus can seem like an obstacle to their participation in family and social life, and to their independent and creative future. But these singular and inscrutable interests can be the pathway to an engagement in the world, as well as to a career and an independent life. An intense interest in sorting, in stacking, or in the alphabet is not something that cuts a child off from an engagement with society and the world, but rather a path to an engagement with the world, to a future as a historian, a linguist, a mathematician, a physicist.
Information about Nordoff-Robbins and Amelia Oldfield
Information about Nordoff-Robbins and Amelia Oldfield
The clip above is a recent example of Nordoff-Robbins music therapy. In the clip, the music therapist and co-therapist work with an autistic preschooler. The opening scenes are representative of the kind of work we do. As you can see, it can take some time for young children to take in this new environment. However, once they become comfortable, children often begin to investigate the space, and to enjoy exploring and controlling the music in the room. It is exciting to watch children engage creatively both with music and with others.
The clip above is a recent example of Nordoff-Robbins music therapy. In the clip, the music therapist and co-therapist work with an autistic preschooler. The opening scenes are representative of the kind of work we do. As you can see, it can take some time for young children to take in this new environment. However, once they become comfortable, children often begin to investigate the space, and to enjoy exploring and controlling the music in the room. It is exciting to watch children engage creatively both with music and with others.
The YouTube link below takes you to Operation Syncopation, a documentary film about Amelia Oldfield's work. In the film, Oldfield and her colleagues invite autistic adults that she worked with as children, as well as their parents, to speak about their experiences in music therapy. Together, they watch excerpts from the film of the music therapy sessions that took place 18 years earlier as they discuss the experience of music therapy.
The YouTube link below takes you to Operation Syncopation, a documentary film about Amelia Oldfield's work. In the film, Oldfield and her colleagues invite autistic adults that she worked with as children, as well as their parents, to speak about their experiences in music therapy. Together, they watch excerpts from the film of the music therapy sessions that took place 18 years earlier as they discuss the experience of music therapy.
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