WHAT IS MUSIC THERAPY
Music Therapy involves the uses of sound, rhythm and improvised music to form a musical relationship between the client and the therapist.  Much of the music is improvised, thus enhancing the individual nature of each relationship. The therapist aims to facilitate positive changes in behaviour, development or emotional well-being.  The therapist also aims to help the client to develop an increased sense of self-awareness, self-expression and communication to enhance the client's quality of life.   

WHO IS MUSIC THERAPY FOR?
Music therapy is used with individuals of various ages, abilities and musical backgrounds.  This includes, but is not limited to:
-Developmental delay
-Emotional and behavioural issues
-Mental Health issues
-Autistic spectrum disorders
-Learning difficulties
-Communication disorders
-Other special needs
-Emotional stress (e.g. bereavement)
-Consequences of physical illness/diagnosis (e.g. cancer, HIV/AIDS)
-People who would like to engage in a self-exploration and development through a creative form
-Palliative care and bereavement

WHAT HAPPENS IN A TYPICAL MUSIC THERAPY SESSION?
The basis of music therapy is the use of active, or live, improved music.  Music therapists assist people in participating in a creative musical process that is a dynamic interplay between client and therapist.  The way in which this process unfolds will vary greatly according to circumstance.  A wide range of instruments are normally available, including percussive instruments (drums, cymbals, etc). The therapist may also use voice or movement/dance throughout the therapy process. 

HOW CAN MUSIC THERAPY HELP?
For people with communicative disorders, music therapy can enhance expressive and interactive ability; for people isolated by illness or disability, it can prove a means of socialization, sharing and developing community.  Music therapy can also facilitate a process of self-exploration.

Scientific studies have demonstrated that music has a physiological effect on the body (e.g. lowering the blood pressure).  It can alter the way we feel and move; it affects our mood and therefore how we think. 

Music therapy cannot cure n illness or disability, but it can provide strategies for helping a person to cope with their difficulties, and for cultivating existing or latent abilities and strengths.  In this sense, music therapy is often said to work with the part of a person that is well, rather than the part that is ill or disabled.  In circumstances where a direct correlation can be found between the progression of a condition and the way the sufferer relates to it (for example Alzheimer's disease, or in chronic depression), the positive effects of music therapy on the person's mental state therefore impact directly on the condition itself.   

WHY IS MUISIC THERAPY EFFECTIVE? 
Music therapy is based on the power of misc: it works, simply because music 'works'.  People benefit from music therapy because responsiveness to music is our universal inheritance. 

The basic substances of music - tone and rhythm - are deeply embedded in human physiology and functioning.  Our heartbeat and breath, for example, are rhythmic processes that go on continuously within us, while in speaking we use tone which we vary (for example becoming louder, quieter, higher or lower) for expressive purposes.  We might say that human beings are put together in the way that music is put together.  This is why it energizes and appeals to us; we identify with music and it reaches our emotions. 

WHAT ARE THE SESSION FEES?
$60 per session
Sessions are typically 50 minutes and are offered in private or group settings depending on individual needs and condition.