E-Book of Articles - World Federation of Music Therapy

Wheeler, Barbara: WMFT Proceedings of the Education Symposium
NORDOFF-ROBBINS TRAINING WORLD-WIDE
Helen Tyler, B.A., M.Phil., S.R. As.T. (N-R)
Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre, London
Introduction to the Nordoff-Robbins Approach to Music Therapy
Paul Nordoff (1909-1977) and Clive Robbins (b.1925) began their
collaboration in 1959 when they met by chance in a Rudolf Steiner school in
Britain, where Robbins was a teacher of children with special needs. Nordoff
was an American composer and pianist with involvement in the
anthroposophical movement while Robbins had a commitment to bringing
creative experiences through the arts to children in his care. Their meeting
and subsequent pioneering work at Sunfield School is well-documented in
their first book, Therapy in Music for Handicapped Children. (Nordoff and
Robbins, 1971) 55 and even at this early stage, key elements of the approach
are already apparent. Four aspects in particular are evident:
The belief that within everyone is an innate responsiveness to music.
Use of improvised music as the primary medium of the therapy.
Tape recording, analysis and evaluation of the sessions so that goals,
both musical and personal, could be identified.
Belief reinforced by evidence, that changes brought about in the
musical relationship would be reflected in the client’s emotional,
physical, cognitive and psychological well-being.
As the work of Nordoff and Robbins became widely known through
lectures, workshops and demonstrations, it attracted research funding from
various sources including the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S.A.
They subsequently spent five years (1962-67) working on a music therapy
project as part of a team at the ‘Day-care Unit for Psychotic children under
7’ in the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. From this work came
much of the contents of ‘Creative Music Therapy’, (Nordoff and Robbins,
1977) 56 which is a key text in Nordoff-Robbins training. Each of the five
sections of the book contains a core aspect of the training:
1. Meeting the Music Child
2. Three Case Studies
3. Clinical Techniques and Procedures
4. Evaluation
5. Developing Musical Resources
55 Nordoff P. and Robbins C.1971, Therapy in Music for Handicapped Children, London: Gollanz
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