Poised in the Creative Now

Abstract

Nordoff-Robbins music therapy was founded through the pioneering collaboration between Paul Nordoff (1909–1977), an accomplished composer and pianist, and Clive Robbins (1927–2011), an innovative special educator. Their partnership began in 1959 at Sunfield Children’s Homes in Worcestershire, England, and they worked together for approximately 16 years in Europe and the United States. In 1975, formal training began at the newly opened Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre in London. In the same year, Clive Robbins formed a new music therapy team with his wife Carol Robbins (1942–1996). The Robbins’ developed and disseminated the Nordoff-Robbins model, and in 1990 they established the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Throughout its history, the clinical techniques, training methods, and research within this model have been based in close engagement with clinical work.

Exploring the lived experiences of teenagers in a children’s home participating in a choir: A community music therapy perspective

“…Music therapists regard every human being as musical (Guerrero et al 2015). Every person possesses a natural ability to vocalize (Wan et al 2010); however, through socialization many people are judged by others as not being able to meet society's definition of 'good singing' and then stop attempting to sing publicly (Ruddock and Leong 2005).…”