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 working with autistic children whose sessions focus on the creation of musical dialogues.
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.