Roy Kennedy is currently the Interim Coordinator of
Music Therapy at The University of Georgia. Roy teaches
the music therapy curriculum and a Music for the
Exceptional Child course for music therapy and music
education majors at UGA. Among other research interests,
Roy has investigated the effects of musical performance
and cognitive strategies on the musical self-efficacy of
juvenile delinquents. Roy holds a Ph.D. in Music
Education from the University of Kansas, a Masters in
Music Education from East Carolina University, and a
Bachelor's in Music Performance from The University of
North Carolina at Greensboro.
Roy Kennedy
School of Music
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
706.542.2801
rkennedy@uga.edu
Pianist Arthur Rubinstein struggled to define what he called, "a metaphysical power that emanates from us, something floating, that has no place to disappear to," (Scovel, 1990, p. 106). Rubinstein was speaking of a tangible energy reaching out into the audience as a result of his piano performances. Music therapists also value the tangible qualities of piano music, but from a more objective perspective, the behaviors elicited by piano music used in music therapy. More specifically, the calming and energizing properties of timbre, rhythm, and varied harmonic possibilities, proliferated by the broad tonal range and percussive/sustaining capabilities of the piano, are elements that elicit therapeutic responses in clients ranging from premature infants to senior citizens.
For instance, studies have shown that neonates prefer low frequencies, most likely due to similar sounds heard in the intrauterine environment. Prematurely born infants with low birthweight are exposed to ambient noise on neonatal intensive care units, including pumping sounds, alarms, telephones, and printers, as part of the acoustic environment. Any noise pollution that produces agitated behaviors in the infant such as crying and increased limb movement can have deleterious effects on the infant's ability to sleep and to nurse properly, which consequently affects the newborn's ability to gain weight. When outfitted with speakers in their isolettes, which propagate low volume levels of Brahm's Lullaby and the Moonlight Sonata, these infants experience a calming effect which improves their feeding and sleep habits and their ability to gain weight. Infants receiving this type of music therapy treatment reach a healthy discharge weight and leave the hospital on the average of one week sooner than their counterparts (Cassidy & Ditty, 1998).
Another particularly effective use of the piano in music therapy is a method that was created by Paul Nordoff, an American composer, and Clive Robbins, a British special educator. This method emphasizes the use of unique instruments such as reed horns, birdcalls, trainwhistles, quarter-sized violins, miniature harps, and percussion instruments in small ensembles. The concept is that children are attracted to playing instrumental pieces and listening to unique instrumental timbres facilitated by tasteful piano arrangements. The central goal of Nordoff and Robbins' technique is to create a musical/emotional environment in which exceptional children come alive as their creativity, intellectual capacities and self-esteem are unleashed (Nordoff & Robbins, 1971).
Paul Nordoff was a master at creating simple piano compositions that use lush inversions incorporating sevenths, seconds, suspensions, and attractive musical phrases with lyrics that attract exceptional children to singing, playing instruments, participating in musical games and acting in childrens' plays. The following suggestions for the music therapist or special music educator using the Nordoff and Robbins' technique requires that the pianist simultaneously serve as accompanist, teacher and therapist.
1) The pianist should thoroughly memorize the score and learn every musical part that accompanies the score in order to go beyond the role of accompanist for the children and share with them the joy of making music. 2) In order to accomplish this, the pianist has to play with clarity, which creates order and involves the children in the music in a meaningful way. 3) Using the piano in this manner teaches children how to listen to the music and integrate their parts with the piano accompaniment.
Nordoff recommends avoiding playing with personal feeling. The pianist's enthusiasm should surface from experiencing the elements of the music that really live in your fingers as you play. Allow the rise and fall of melodies, played with a feeling for the space between each tone and the awareness of harmonic change, the interest in the relationship between the number of beats in each measure, and the rhythms of the melodic phrases over several measures to make the music enjoyable for the pianist (Nordoff & Robbins, 1971, p. 122).
This results in playing motivated by a synthesis of the musical elements and the pianist's pleasure in playing the music rather than playing the way the music makes you feel. Musical investment, conveyed with this type of enthusiasm, is contagious, to exceptional children and instills a similar affect in their response. This changes your playing from interpreting the mood of the music to producing music that is conducive to therapy i.e., music that is related to the children's abilities and enhances a close rapport with them. This type of interpersonal interaction usually happens when the pianist has become familiar enough with the music that only an intermittent glance at the score is necessary while imparting the music.
Nordoff and Robbins techniques for children with autism are similar but with some interesting variations. Quite often children with autism possess debilitating self-stimulation behaviors, living in their own isolated worlds, with limited or nonexistent verbal skills. Simply put, the therapist is faced with the substantial challenge of establishing initial communication with these children. Music therapists trained in the Nordoff and Robbins method frequently use block chords and arpeggiated phrases on the piano to imitate the child's vocal utterances and rhythms on percussion instruments during initial sound exploration sessions. This type of interaction allows the therapist to meet the child musically in order to establish communication with musical sounds acting as the vehicle.
After several sessions of sound exploration using percussion and vocal sounds, many of these children become curious about the piano and begin playing single notes or clusters of notes on the upper range of the piano in response to the therapist's accompaniment in the lower register. As the child's sound vocabulary develops, the therapist begins to shape the child's musical behaviors with short, improvised, call and response motives. Through this exchange of musical motifs a musical dialogue develops which in many cases vacillates between instrumental and speech sounds. Vocal sounds are encouraged and supported via the piano accompaniment and the therapist shapes vocal utterances into intelligible words and propositional language as the child gains more confidence in his or her sound making capability (Nordoff & Robbins, 1971).
The use of piano music in singing activities with Alzheimer's disease patients has something in common with Nordoff and Robbins' use of the piano; the music has to be interesting. Wandering behavior is a chronic problem for Alzheimer's patients as many get lost even in their own communities. The results of monotonous singing styles that emanate from simple accompaniments may actually contribute to senior citizens wandering away from music therapy groups in hospitals. Simple block chording as accompaniment may be too relaxing and redundant since many Alzheimer's patients long term memories are still in tact and they remember jazz and swing music of their formative years which syncopates the lyrics. Even clients with latestage dementia, as a result of Alzheimer's disease, can respond more in other areas of musical participation such as reading lyrics, attention after the songs, initiating compliments and applause when percussive elements such as shuffle rhythms and stride-accompaniment patterns are used in group singing activities (Groene, 2001).
As the baby boomer generation comes of age, music therapists are finding themselves treating a new set of dementia patients that prefer live music with complex rhythmic features. Song preference is a key ingredient in reaching these clients since music from their formative years is used to facilitate their long-term memories. Lyric discussion of a favorite song may stimulate associated memories during the time the song was popular. Examples of associated memories may include the type of car one owned as a young adult or memories of the individual's spouse. Many couples also associate a certain song with significant stages of courtship. The piano's highly rhythmic and percussive capabilities may stimulate activities such as a dementia patient dancing with their spouse, recalling significant life events, and enjoying an enhanced quality of life.
Baby boomers now entering their golden years may prefer music with complex rhythmic elements from many styles of music including rock n' roll, country, Motown, funk and even heavy metal. Music therapists have to consider that, "a teenager, who at 17 listened to Elvis or Little Richard in 1957 is now 60 years old," (Groene, 2001, p. 49). The versatility of the piano in accommodating many styles of music is perhaps its most tangible quality in providing healing measures for persons of all ages in music therapy.
References
Cassidy, J.W., and Ditty, K.M. (1998). Presentation of aural stimuli to newborns and premature infants: An audiological perspective. Journal of Music Therapy, 3 5: 70-87.
Groene, R. (2001). The effect of presentation and accompaniment styles on attentional and responsive behaviors of participants with dementia diagnoses. Journal of Music Therapy, 38, 36-50.
Nordoff, P. and Robbins, C. (1983). Music therapy in special education. New York: The John Day Company.
Scovel, M.A. (1990). "Music therapy within the context of psychotherapeutic models." In Music therapy in the treatment of adults with mental disorders: Edited by R. F. Unkefer, 106. New York: Macmillan.
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|---|