What is Music Therapy?

Music Therapy is recognised throughout the world as a powerful force for transforming lives. In 1999 Music Therapy became a registered profession with the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine, now the Health Professions Council, an acknowledgement that Music Therapy is respected and established within education, social services and health care.

The Nordoff-Robbins Approach

The Nordoff-Robbins approach to music therapy developed from the pioneering work of Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins in the 1950/60s. It is grounded in the belief that everyone can respond to music,no matter how ill or disabled. The unique qualities of music as therapy can enhance communication, support change, and enable people to live more resourcefully and creatively.

“Music is universal in that it can encompass all heights and depths of human experience, all shades of feeling. It can lead or accompany the psyche through all conditions of inner experience, whether these be superficial and relatively commonplace or profound and deeply personal.”

The basis of the Nordoff-Robbins approach to music therapy is the use of clinical musical improvisation to reach even the most profoundly isolated and troubled human beings.
Music has the power to touch us all deeply and this power is used in music therapy. Through improvising and creating music together, a trusting relationship is built up as the therapist helps the child or adult to find renewed self confidence, self esteem and improved quality of life.

“The overall aim of music therapy is to actively engage individuals in their own growth, development and behavioural change and for them to transfer musical and non-musical skills to other aspects of their life, bringing them from isolation into active participation in the world. We create music through improvisation or composition specifically to meet the needs and capabilities of our clients”.