This month JB Music Therapy is highlighting the 10th year of a well-loved music therapist in our company – Shannon Robinson, BMT, MTA.
I couldn’t imagine a better way to acknowledge Shannon than to share her beautiful work at the Emily Follensbee School – work that celebrates the students our company has the privilege to serve each week (since 1995).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Up9gxReC3I]
The students of Emily Follensbee have multiple – what the world would call challenges – but really are strengths. Strengths of character, clarity of emotion and a determined work ethic (most anyway – they are kids for goodness sake). Through improvised music these students have the opportunity to demonstrate their gifts.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzeNcKzaLfQ]
The use of improvised music in an improvised manner is the cornerstone of music therapy. London based music therapist, Mercedes Pavlicevic states “that music improvisation has always been. Before music was notated, oral tradition ensured that songs and pieces were kept alive through performance, and each performer added something distinctive to the music, which transformed it, albeit subtly” (1997, p.73)
Thank you Shannon and students for showing us an ALIVE performance..regardless of the subtlety…demonstrating the many strengths of character we all aim to achieve.