News Archive 2008

Nicci Gow visits the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland

Nicci Gow, our Fundraising and Events Manager, recently visited the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre was officially opened in 2004 after singer/songwriter Hinewehi Mohi, her husband George and daughter Hineraukatauri, who has severe cerebral palsy, spent time at the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Centre in London in 1999. The Centre in Auckland now provides music therapy services to over 100 children per week and is a growing resource for music therapy in New Zealand.

During her visit, Nicci spent time with Anne Bailey, Centre Director, Barbara Ward, Trustee and Justine McKay, Trustee. The trip was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and collaborate together on issues regarding funding and Centre activities.

Thank you to Anne and her wonderful staff for their hospitality and we look forward to hopefully seeing you soon in Sydney.

Photograph: Barbara Ward, Anne Bailey, Nicci Gow, Justine McKay

  Link:Click here to see more about the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland.

We just love Penrith Rotary Club !!!

A big thank you once again to the Rotary Club of Penrith for their incredible support. As well as providing the sausage sizzle for our Whitewater Rafting Challenge in October, they are also helping out at our Open Day. The Open Day is being held at the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre on Friday 28 November. Please see our 'Latest Events' section for more information.

Our events just wouldn't be the same without the wonderful assistance of the Rotary van. So, thank you - it is very much appreciated.

Sydney Morning Herald article on music therapy

The following article was featured in the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday 18 September 2008. Jane Richards reports how music therapy is producing exciting results, and science is only beginning to understand why.

1 - Taking the pressure down
Listening to 30 minutes of music each day may help lower blood pressure. A study of 48 adults aged 45 to 70 taking medication for mild hypertension found that those who listened to classical, Celtic or Indian music for 30 minutes a day for one month had significant reductions in blood pressure, Reuters reports.
"The results clearly illustrate the impact daily music listening has on ambulatory blood pressure," said DrPietro Modesti, of the University ofFlorence. Of the group, 28 listened to 30 minutes of "rhythmically homogenous" music daily while doing controlled breathing. The remaining 20 participants made no changes to their daily routine. Readings one and four weeks later showed systolic blood pressure - the top number in the bloodpressure reading - dropped significantly in the music listeners. The control group recorded non-significant reductions.

2 - Baby knows best
Lullabies can do more than soothe babies to sleep. A three-year study, Music Therapy for Vulnerable Infants, found that seriously ill babies who were in hospital for various reasons, including cardiac problems and surgery, showed physical improvements after being sung to. Dr Helen Shoemark, senior music therapist for the neonate and infant program at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, said the study, completed in 2005, showed music therapy was an affordable, effective investment. During the study, run by the hospital with the University of Western Sydney, 10 sick babies were sung to three times a week over four weeks by Shoemark and their parents. The babies, many of whom were attached to hospital machinery, were not held while they were sung to. Another 10 babies at the same hospital matched on a severity of illness and age and weight scale were not sung to. The results were then compared to a group of 20 healthy babies at another hospital. "The babies who did get the singing improved and started to come up to meet healthy prenatal criteria," Shoemark said. "Their neuro-behavioural development scores significantly improved." The neuro-behavioural scores - measuring stress indicators such as irritability and crying - of the sick babies who were not sung to deteriorated.

3 - Tuning in
Whispered words overheard in class were music to Ann Lehmann's ears. It was not what was said, but the boy who said it. The selectively mute boy with autism had only ever spoken at home, said Lehmann, a leading music therapist. Yet music therapy classes had helped prompt him to speak. "Confidence building is the main thing with autism," said Lehmann, national secretary of the Australian Music Therapy Association. She has seen some dramatic changes in autistic children she has worked with over the past five years at the South Coast School for Children with Autism. She said children with autism found comfort in structure and repetition and can fear the unpredictable. "Music has a structure through its underlying rhythm and repeated melodic patterns which can provide comfort to a child with autism, yet it also offers a degree of spontaneity and flexibility which can help children with autism become more playful." It had also helped them develop flexibility and confidence, skills they needed to cope in a world that was neither predictable nor structured, Lehmann said.

4 - Mental illness
Young adults with acute schizophrenia showed significant improvement when they became involved in music therapy. A study from 2005 to 2007 at the University of Western Sydney - co-funded by Nordoff-Robbins MusicTherapy Australia - recorded decreases in irritability and manifest psychosis, stress anxiety and depression, as rated by standardised psychological assessments. Improvements in communication and social interaction were also noted. The therapy mainly consisted of the group playing maracas, drums and xylophones. Dr Alan Lem, music therapy co-ordinator at the university, attributed this to the social aspects of making music in a non-judgmental atmosphere and the easiness of musical expression through playing relatively simple instruments. "Concentration and focus on musical tasks can divert attention from disturbing thoughts. Focus on others and enjoyment derived from playing music can alleviate the symptoms of depression and anxiety," he says.

5 - Peace of mind
There is no musical cure for cancer but Denise Grocke, associate professor at the Faculty of Music at the University of Melbourne, says there is good evidence that music therapy can reduce anxiety among the terminally ill. "This may be because it diverts attention away from their disease, their pain or their treatment and engages them in something meaningful and creative," she said. She cited a 2005 study of 25 palliative care patients by the university with the Bethlehem palliative care centre in Caulfield, Melbourne. Half of the patients attended a one-off music therapy session. These patients showed a significant reduction in anxiety as measured with the widely accepted Edmonton Symptom Assessment System scale - where patients rate their emotions and physical symptoms before and after therapy. The patients also showed improvements in wellbeing and in appetite. No changes were reported in the control group.

6 - Starting again
Singing can help map pathways to speech for those with brain injuries. Dr Felicity Baker, senior lecturer andco-ordinator for the music therapy program at the University of Queensland, says melodic intonation therapy is helping patients tap into verbal skills through alternative neural pathways which are opened through singing. "The therapy uses the musical parts of speech - the parts that make your voice rise when you are excited," Baker said.
"Patients are encouraged to create musical phrases and to sing them. Thiscan create a voice - even in those who have difficulty accessing speech because of brain damage or stroke - by tapping into different pathways in thebrain." Singing therapy can eventually help people regain speech and help those whose speech is slurred. "We sing song phrases and gradually build the tempo up so they are sung at a faster rate. It seems to work because the patients can focus on the process of singing rather than on forming words or worrying about what they are articulating." Music therapy may also help patients battling emotional trauma. "Patients who have been in car accidents, for example, may have difficulty in verbalising grief during a counselling session but they are perhaps more easily able to get their emotions across through music and song-writing."

7 - The feelgood factor
An elderly couple lie in separate beds in a palliative care ward. Suddenly the room fills with the sounds of a waltz - their wedding waltz. Staff look on as they leave their beds and move across the room and begin to dance. This is one of many amazing anecdotes told by Professor John Zalcberg, the chief medical officer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
For someone who has been involved in music therapy for 20 or so years, he is still moved by the powerful effects the therapy has had on his patients and he is one of its most passionate advocates. He implemented it at Peter MacCallum after seeing its benefits at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in the 1980s.

Wizard Home Loans, Penrith support Whitewater

Nordoff-Robbins is proud to announce that Wizard Home Loans in Penrith have come on-board as principal sponsor for our forthcoming Whitewater Rafting fundraising day.

Wizard Home Loans launched in the mortgage market in 1996 and in just over twelve years is now Australia's leading non-bank lender with a network of almost 200 branches. Nordoff-Robbins is very proud to be associated with Wizard and can't thank Edwin Dobson enough for his generosity and support of our vital work.

This exciting event will see local Penrith business’s compete in a whitewater rafting competition on the Olympic Whitewater Rafting Stadium in Penrith. The Stadium offers the public the opportunity of experiencing Olympic standard whitewater kayaking and rafting. Our event is attracting local Penrith business’s who will each enter teams of 8 people for a rafting competition. Plus each team will have the chance to invite 12 spectators and cheer-squads.

We look forward to working with Edwin and the team at Wizard, Penrith to bring music therapy to the residents of the Penrith Valley Area.

For more information on the whitewater event, please phone 02 4736 0240 or email musictherapy@uws.edu.au

  Download File: (2)(1)Whitewaterbookingform.pdf

United Way Sydney project - another success

United Way Sydney have been a proud supporter and charity partner of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy for over 5 years now. Previous outreach projects funded by United Way Sydney include early intervention and aged care programs. In 2007 they generously funded an important program for 'at risk' children in the education system.

The project used creative music therapy as a tool in schools to meet the needs of disadvantaged children who were not experiencing successful outcomes educationally and/or socially. It aimed to bring about positive outcomes for disadvantaged children and those who are considered ‘at risk’ by providing weekly individual and/or group music therapy sessions.

The project ran for 2 terms with students from local Penrith Valley Area schools who had never received music therapy before. Individual and group sessions were conducted on a weekly basis during school terms where the Creative Music Therapy approach was used as an intervention. This approach largely involved musical improvisation and interaction.

The children referred to us from the two schools presented various behaviours including: inappropriate social skills, violence, disruptive & aggressive behaviours, Oppositional Behaviour Disorder, poor self-regulation ability and some were suspected of having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Feedback from teachers and parents show that the project has been a complete success so thank you to United Way Sydney for their support - it is very much appreciated.

Open Mic night

Michael Garnett is running an Open Mic night at the Cat and Fiddle Hotel in Balmain with all proceeds going to Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy.

A collection of the most popular artists from the monthly Cat and Fiddle Open Mic nights will entertain you with 4 hours of wonderful music and fun. A $5 entry donation and some fundraising on the night will hopefully mean we can raise $1900 to buy much needed musical instruments.




Featuring:
Phoebe Waugh + Maurice Naguit
Ruby for Lucy
Russell "Rusty' Neal
Lyall Adonis
Lucy Rowe and the Fun Group

When: Sunday 6th July, 2pm-6pm
Where: Cat and Fiddle Hotel, 456 Darling Street, Balmain
Enquiries: Contact Michael Garnett on 0458 453 850

Nordoff-Robbins would like to thank Michael for his support of our vital work. It is very much appreciated by the team here at the Centre

  Download File: OpenMicShowcaseJuly08.jpg

Song competition winner announced

Congratulations to Jeremy Brennan, the winner of Nordoff-Robbins Song Competition 2008. Thank you to everyone who submitted their songs to us.

"It Exists (A Prayer for Inspiration) written and performed by Jeremy Brennan - Recorded at Eugene Goosens Hall, ABC Studios by Dennis Fox. Many thanks to Peter Lehner and Annie Lewis-Bramall. This song is dedicated to the incredible Sydney Street Choir."

Congratulations Jeremy !!!

Neil & Tim Finn, Jenny Morris, Jimmy Barnes & Iva Davies sign guitar for charity

Posted 04 June 2008

The Guitar Factory in Penrith have very generously donated a beautiful guitar to Nordoff-Robbins to auction which will raise much needed funds for music therapy.

Neil & Tim Finn (Crowded House), Jenny Morris, Jimmy Barnes and Iva Davies (Icehouse) all happened to be in town at the same time and have signed this guitar.

The guitar will be auctioned at the Nordoff-Robbins White water Fundraising Day which will be held on 10 October 2008.

For more information about the guitar and the event, please phone 02 4736 0240 or email musictherapy@uws.edu.au

Nordoff-Robbins would like to thank the Guitar Factory for their kind donation. Their support of our cause is very much appreciated

  Link:Click here for more information on where the guitar will be auctioned

AMP support Whitewater Rafting event

George Maroun from Maroun Financial Services in Penrith and the AMP Foundation have generously offered to match up to $20,000 of funds raised during the inaugural Nordoff-Robbins Whitewater Rafting event.

Nordoff-Robbins is embarking on an exciting adventure that will see local Penrith business’s compete in a whitewater rafting competition on the Olympic Whitewater Rafting Stadium in Penrith. The Stadium offers the public the opportunity of experiencing Olympic standard whitewater kayaking and rafting. Our event is attracting local Penrith business’s who will each enter teams of 8 people for a rafting competition. Plus each team will have the chance to invite 12 spectators and cheer-squads.

George Maroun has visited the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre and seen music therapy first hand, he is proud to be associated with Nordoff-Robbins and looks forward to working with us on this exciting event.

This kind donation is part of the AMP Foundation's Community Fundraising Program which supports the community work of AMP Financial Planners. This program began in 2002 and since that time, AMP Financial Planners have been involved in fundraising events that have raised over $16 million for their local community.

To contact George at Maroun Financial Services, please phone 02 4722 6655 or for further information on the Whitewater rafting event please phone 02 4736 0240 or email musictherapy@uws.edu.au

On behalf of the team at Nordoff-Robbins, our heartfelt thanks goes to George for his ongoing support of our vital work.

  Download File: (1)Whitewaterbookingform.pdf

Music Therapy & Autism Information Day

At the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre we specialise in helping people of all ages reach their potential through music therapy, especially their capacity for relating and communicating. For children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders building relationships and developing communication skills are especially important. Come and hear about the work we are doing and learn more about music therapy.

Date: Friday 16 May, 2008
9.30 am – 12.30 pm

Venue: Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre
Building E, Second Avenue, University of
Western Sydney Kingswood NSW 2747

Contact: Iani or Brenda
Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre
Phone (02) 47 360 240
Email: musictherapy@uws.edu.au

This information session is free and open to everyone. It will be of special interest to parents, teachers, and professionals working in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders.

10th Annual Trivia Night - a huge success

The 10th Annual Nordoff-Robbins Music and Entertainment Trivia Night was held on Thursday 13 March 2008 at Paddington RSL.

This popular event was a complete sell-out with a record number of 31 tables and $20,000 raised.

Thanks to our incredible host, Rob Duckworth from Triple M and our legendary quizmasters James Blundell, Iva Davies, Melinda Schneider, Glenn A Baker and Mark Gable. As well as our Ambassadors and helpers on the night - Jimmy Barnes, Diesel and Jenny Morris.

As well as raising over $20,000 net, all who attended had a fantastic night. 1st place went to APRA Research, 2nd place was JB Hi-Fi and 3rd place was Talk Force. The challenge is set - who will take home the title in 2009......

Highlights of the evening including Jimmy Barnes leading the crowd in a game of Heads and Tails, Jenny Morris taking on the crowd in Rock Paper Scissors and the auction of a signed Gibson electric guitar.

A big thank you to all our supporters who attended on the night and we look forward to seeing you in 2009.

  Link:Click here to view photos

Call for volunteers

Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy would like your help !!

We desperately need assistance with administration tasks such as mailing out our newsletter.

If you are able to get to the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre in Kingswood and are keen to help then we would gladly welcome you to our team of volunteers.

Please contact Brenda if you are interested on 02 4736 0240 or by email B.Fuller@uws.edu.au.

Thank you for your support, it is very much appreciated.

Song Summit Sydney - S³

Music makers of Australia – this is the event you have been waiting for.

APRA|AMCOS is proud to present with the NSW Government the inaugural Song Summit Sydney otherwise known as S³.

This industry-wide event, taking place 3-5 April 2008 will gather together the full spectrum of the music industry – creators, managers, publishers, technicians, marketers, lawyers and deal makers – for three dynamic days of learning, networking, workshops and, of course, performances.

S³ will span all genres of music and each facet of the music life-cycle; from creation, through promotion to distribution. So whether you’re just starting out or trying to get your music to the next level, S³ will provide you with crucial networking, educational, retail and cultural opportunities.

Keep your eye out in the exhibition hall for the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy booth. We will be showcasing the work of the Music Therapists and the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre.

For more information on this exciting event call APRA on 02 9935 7900 or email s3@apra.com.au

  Link:Click here to visit the official Song Summit website