Nordoff-Robbins a registered charity and also a non-profit company that is also limited by guarantee. Its work is managed through a purpose built Centre located on the Kingswood Campus grounds University of Western Sydney, including their outreach clinics.
Nordoff-Robbins its name from music composer Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins a special educator who initially first developed the creative music approach to therapy. The approach gives its focus to awakening an inborn and inherent musicality in each client so as to develop their full potential as a complete human being. Through creative music therapy Nordoff-Robbins uses improvised live music in building a relationship between clients and a therapist whereby the clients communicate and interact directly via music. It is a participatory and interactive therapy form where music s acting as an agent for healing and change.
Founded in 1984, Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia Ltd promotes and develops the training, practice and understanding of creative music therapy. A Sydney based music teacher, Enid Rowe, had been trained in London on music therapy and she brought Nordoff-Robbins to Australia in the year 1978. The tireless work of Enid towards the establishment of Nordoff-Robbins including fund raising for a prospective centre laid the ground for all that can be seen today.
A music therapist who was based in London, Robin Howat, was invited in 1993 by Enid Rowe to establish a branch of the Nordoff-Robbins training classes in Sydney, Australia. Upon acceptance of this challenge Robin moved with his family to Australia.
Over 1994-96 Robin Howat ran 3 one-year, Nordoff-Robbins full time training courses along with Enid Rowe, that were accredited and certified by the Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and in the year1995, Golden Stave Foundation trustees in Australia starting working with Enid and Robin in establishing a new Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre as well as a institute a instruction course having full accreditation.
In 1997 Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia Ltd (NRMTA got incorporated and is currently part of Nordoff-Robbins network of centres and programs all over the world which include Australia, Scotland, USA, England, South Africa, Germany and New Zealand.
In November of the year 2001 Robin oversaw the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre in Kingswood opening in Sydney. It's located on the University of Western Sydney (UWS) grounds. This became was the very initial purpose-built centre for music therapy in Australia. It had Robin as the founding director, who remained in this role until 2012 when he passed on. To date, it remains as the single music therapy training centre of its type in the entire Southern Hemisphere.
In addition in the year 2001, was launched a Creative Music Therapy Graduate Diploma at the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre coming under the auspices of University of Western Sydney (UWS). It was a 2-year part-time program managed run by Robin Howat until the year 2003 when its Graduate Diploma status got upgraded into a full Master’s Degree training course.
Sadly Robin Howat passed on in 2012, though the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Sydney Australia stands today as a living testament to his devoted and hard work as well as his determination. The work of Robin has been acknowledged as being one of the foremost significant contributions to Music Therapy in the whole of Australia. Specifically noted is his work in setting up a modern platform that caters to Creative Music Therapy being an improvisational methodology, which currently being utilized in lots of community and clinical settings.
The work Nordoff-Robbins work goes on and the year 2014 witnessed the establishment of 3 outreach clinics located in Sydney and the setting up of a vibrant and successful community based music program. Nordoff-Robbins is ardent advocators for the utilizing of music in addressing all facets of human health and they are excited in opening up their programs towards encompassing the full music spectrum meeting needs across the entire community.
Transitioning From Music Therapy into Community Based Music
At Nordoff-Robbins, it is possible for clients be there for both music therapy and also for community music programmes. In addition, it is also doable for individuals or groups to transition from just music therapy into a community based music program This could also happen for instance when the client’s therapeutic objectives or goals have fully been attained although the client still desires to continue with the program in one way or another. A different scenario would be when the music therapy objectives of a client are no more being realized yet in accordance to the feedback supplied by the client or the client’s representatives, the musical activity still remains a noteworthy contributor to wellbeing of the client. It should be noted that the Music programs of Nordoff-Robbins Community are actually not a therapy replacement.
Community Based Music Programs
The Nordoff-Robbins community music initiatives are founded on the promotion and support of music-making among the communities, lacking a therapeutic approach or framework. Whenever people are making music jointly, connections do develop. Those kinds of connections may go beyond differences, generate unity and bring about joy that could extend into daily life.
Community based music programs don’t offer treatment or therapy courses and in this manner aren’t music therapy. They however do, facilitate profitable connections that collectively joins human beings in a special and uniquely intuitive ways that develop into vital binding agents between and within communities. Nordoff-Robbins community music initiatives and programs include music bands, choirs, music clubs, drumming and many others.
Nordoff Robbins is an Australian national music therapy charitable dedicated to the transformation of the lives of the many vulnerable adults and children. It utilizes music therapy as well other forms of music services towards helping a variety of people having an assortment of challenges like autism, mental health problems, depression, dementia, brain injury, stroke, and other terminal or life-threatening illnesses like cancer. Most if not all of those helped have got one factor uniting them: that music radically enhances the quality of their life.
Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia is part of the global Nordoff-Robbins organizations network all drawing their inspiration from the unique and innovative work and efforts of founders Clive Robbins and Paul Nordoff.
