Enquire about music therapyDue to COVID our centres are currently closed, but if you think music therapy could help you or somebody you know then please sign up to our waiting list. Get in touch with our team
Career OpportunitiesOur team of talented music therapists help people, in ways like these, every day.Join us
Sign up to stay in touchSupporters like you make our work possible. Fill in your details to keep up to date with our latest news, events and ways to get involved.Sign Up
PROSPECTUSView the 2020/21 prospectus for further information about how the course works and the sorts of things you'll be learning day-to-day.Download
Paying attention to musical detail Our Director of Music Services, Dr Simon Procter, writes: Within the Nordoff Robbins approach we regard the personal as the musical and the musical as the personal. Therefore, just as it’s so important to pay attention to a person, so it’s really important for us to pay attention to the music we are making with our co-musicians – and pay attention to its musical detail. The approach is named after Paul Nordoff (an American composer and pianist) and Clive Robbins (a British teacher of children with special needs from the anthroposophical tradition), who worked together in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. They shocked some of the places where they worked with their actions and their attitudes. One of their “shocking” attitudes was how seriously they took the children they worked with as fellow musicians. They didn’t try to calm children down with lullabies: instead, they attended really closely to all the musical qualities they were being offered and sought to offer. The result was often music that sounded quite “adult” and might be quite sophisticated or dissonant. Another “shocking” thing was the fact that they chose to record as much of their work as possible (using a heavy reel–to-reel tape recorder in a suitcase that they had to carry around with them) and then spend time listening back to the recordings. There is real value in this because music goes by in real time and we often emerge from it with perceptions and memories that are skewed by our own emotional world – that may have value but listening back to the musical interaction in a more analytical fashion enables us to notice things we will undoubtedly have missed. In particular, it enables us to challenge ourselves around our musical contributions as well as to hear and acknowledge things that we might otherwise missed in the other person’s contributions. So, as an example – here is an extract from a documentary made by Norwegian Television in 1971 about Paul Nordoff’s and Clive Robbins’ work in Oslo. They are thinking together about what is happening in the recorded session as they listen in detail to the recording. It’s not just about what they are doing, it’s also about why they are doing it. The detail of the recording matters every bit as much here as it would if the recording were of a studio session done by professional musicians. Our shared music making really matters – it is the very stuff of music therapy. More News Annual Legends of Rugby event in aid of Nordoff Robbins to go ahead virtually The long-standing Legends of Rugby event in aid of Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity, which sees the world of rugby and music come together in a celebration of one of England’s Rugby heroes, was due to take place today, at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House, and will now go ahead virtually on Friday 26 February 2021. Find out more The Government needs to urgently negotiate paperwork-free travel in Europe for UK artists At a time when the whole industry is on life support due to the Covid ban on live music, the Government's Brexit negotiating failure will tip many performers over the edge. Find out more