The Musical Autist

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Creating Platforms for Autistic Culture and Advocacy through Community Music Therapy

  • About Us
    • What is a “musical autist”?
  • Elevating Autistic Musicians
  • Blog & Announcements
  • Sensory Friendly Concerts
  • Empowerment Jam Sessions
  • Troupes
Subscribe to our newsletter and blog posts

Chatting up the Hot Topic of Community Music Therapy

August 25, 2012 by The Musical Autist

This past month, CJ Shiloh was really psyched about being podcast guest on the Music Therapy Round Table, as well as on their adjoining, members-only site, Music Therapy Pro.

The topics?  Neurodiversity and SensoryFriendly Concerts of course!

Many of our Neurodiversity friends probably do not realize what an nice open niche there is for our SF Concert concept, within the field of music therapy.  On the same token, many of our Music Therapist friends may not realize how well connected we are in the Autism and Disability Rights Community, and how much we want to enable music therapists EVERYWHERE, to facilitate their OWN SensoryFriendly Concerts.

SensoryFriendly Concerts have been awesomely successful, since we started a year and a half ago, and our mission is for the idea to grow everywhere.  At the same time, we want to secure a strong foundation for these events to be utilized by and for the field of music therapy. For SensoryFriendly Concerts to simply display the OUTCOME of the therapeutic setting, to celebrate the goals reached by music therapy clients, while giving respect and acceptance to the autism community at large. (Equal rights to the fine arts!)

Going to a SensoryFriendly Concert is NOT receiving music therapy services. But by trademarking the name “SensoryFriendly Concerts,” these public events can fall securely within the category of “Community Music Therapy.”  This means that only trained, credentialed music therapists will be allowed to facilitate such events, because it takes this type of highly trained skill to make SensoryFriendly Concerts what they are intended to be.

At the risk of being redundant, we repeat, going to a SensoryFriendly Concert is NOT receiving music therapy. But when you go to such an event, you will get to see for yourself the magic HAPPENS in music therapy, AND you will get to hear performances from top jazz and classical artists as well.

To further explain what what we are talking about, here is one of our favorite quotes on Community Music Therapy. Gary Ansdell, Music Therapist with the Nordoff Robbins Centre in London since 1987, is one of our favorite authors on the topic.

Community Music Therapy is an approach to working musically with people in context: acknowledging the social and cultural factors of their health, illness, relationships and musics. It reflects the essentially communal reality of musicing and is a response both to overly individualized treatment models and to the isolation people often experience within society.
In practice Community Music Therapy encourages Music Therapists to think of their work as taking place along a continuum ranging from the individual to the communal. The aim is to help clients access a variety of musical situations, and to accompany them as they move between ‘therapy’ and wider social contexts of musicing.
As such, Community Music Therapy involves extending the role, aims and possible sites of work for music therapists – not just transporting conventional Music Therapy approaches into communal settings. This will involve re-thinking not only the relationship between the individual and the communal in Music Therapy, but also taking into account how physical surroundings, client preferences and cultural contexts shape the work.

Ansdell, G. (2002). Community music therapy & the winds of change. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 2 (2).

Physical surroundings, client preferences, cultural contexts, shaping our work.
Yes absolutely.

Share & Comment:

  • Tweet

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. c foss says

    August 26, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    Great work! Love the notion of a continuum for therapists from the individual to the communal!

  2. Andrew Dell'Antonio says

    August 26, 2012 at 9:46 pm

    It seems to me that this is precisely the kind of “therapy” that helps to move us from a medical/cure model to an acceptance-of-diversity perspective on Autism… thank you for all you do!

elevatingautisticmusicians

11

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Mar 15

Open
Last Main Street Wauchula open mic of the season. Finished it out with a bang @mainstreetwauchula

Last Main Street Wauchula open mic of the season. Finished it out with a bang @mainstreetwauchula ...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Mar 12

Open
Do you have stage fright? As an autistic musician I struggled with this a lot. Even neurotypical people suffer from stage fright. Learn how to change your mindset and overcome this in our newest blog article. As always...link in bio.

Do you have stage fright? As an autistic musician I struggled with this a lot. Even neurotypical people suffer from stage fright. Learn how to change your mindset and overcome this in our newest blog article. As always...link in bio. ...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Mar 3

Open
How @jennifermsumba turned a quirky little song she wrote into an award winning film! Link in bio. @disabilityfilmchallenge @eastersealssocal @nicnovicki @elevatingautisticmusicians #autisticmusician #filmmaking #songwriting #originalmusic

How @jennifermsumba turned a quirky little song she wrote into an award winning film! Link in bio. @disabilityfilmchallenge @eastersealssocal @nicnovicki @elevatingautisticmusicians #autisticmusician #filmmaking #songwriting #originalmusic ...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Feb 23

Open
NEW blog post about co-songwriting and autism, link in bio. “I can hear it.” He said. And he started playing some chords on his guitar as I shyly sang the melody I had been thinking of. From there we took off! Verse and chorus ideas were flowing. I was contributing even more lines from my book and other new lines right on the spot! We were smiling and laughing and singing. When it came time to write the bridge, the melody and phrasing came up through me and we wrote the lines in minutes! What a beautiful moment in time. #songwriting #songwritingsession #autism #autisticmusician @rebrandingautism @elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist

NEW blog post about co-songwriting and autism, link in bio. “I can hear it.” He said. And he started playing some chords on his guitar as I shyly sang the melody I had been thinking of. From there we took off! Verse and chorus ideas were flowing. I was contributing even more lines from my book and other new lines right on the spot! We were smiling and laughing and singing. When it came time to write the bridge, the melody and phrasing came up through me and we wrote the lines in minutes! What a beautiful moment in time. #songwriting #songwritingsession #autism #autisticmusician @rebrandingautism @elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist ...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Feb 18

Open
What is our new program Elevating Autistic Musicians all about?
#autism #music #autisticmusicians @elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist

What is our new program Elevating Autistic Musicians all about?
#autism #music #autisticmusicians @elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist
...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Feb 17

Open
Get to know autistic musician Sunny Ceferatti and Learn more about Relative Pitch vs. Perfect Pitch in our newest blog article! Link in bio. 
Photo description: Young Asian woman sitting on a couch chair in front of a fire place. Photo text says- Music has had a positive impact on me. I can’t really articulate the emotions that I feel about when I’m really into a song. My voice gets louder and I guess my emotions would be like passion. And like if the song has really powerful lyrics, yeah. I can connect with them. A quote by Sunny Ceferatti #autism #autisticmusicians #perfectpitch #relativepitch #music #musician @elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist @sunnycefaratti @rebrandingautism

Get to know autistic musician Sunny Ceferatti and Learn more about Relative Pitch vs. Perfect Pitch in our newest blog article! Link in bio.
Photo description: Young Asian woman sitting on a couch chair in front of a fire place. Photo text says- Music has had a positive impact on me. I can’t really articulate the emotions that I feel about when I’m really into a song. My voice gets louder and I guess my emotions would be like passion. And like if the song has really powerful lyrics, yeah. I can connect with them. A quote by Sunny Ceferatti #autism #autisticmusicians #perfectpitch #relativepitch #music #musician @elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist @sunnycefaratti @rebrandingautism
...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Feb 8

Open
Relative Pitch vs. Perfect Pitch- when I was 14 years old, I discovered my ability to play songs by ear. We were visiting my brother at his college, and when we entered one of the buildings and I heard the most beautiful piano music being played. I immediately recognized it as George Winston’s “Joy”. I had always wanted to be able to play his music, but at the time he did not print sheets. So I asked this young man, how did you learn that? And he shrugged his shoulders and said “I just listened to it”. The whole ride home I thought about what he said while listening to GW’s December album on my CD Walkman lol. I said to myself, “I can do that too”. Follow us here and on our website (link in bio) for my upcoming article with the rest of this story. I will also discuss Relative Pitch vs. Perfect Pitch, which one I have, and the differences between them. You can also follow me at @rebrandingautism @georgewinstonpiano #autisticmusician #autismandmusic #perfectpitch

Relative Pitch vs. Perfect Pitch- when I was 14 years old, I discovered my ability to play songs by ear. We were visiting my brother at his college, and when we entered one of the buildings and I heard the most beautiful piano music being played. I immediately recognized it as George Winston’s “Joy”. I had always wanted to be able to play his music, but at the time he did not print sheets. So I asked this young man, how did you learn that? And he shrugged his shoulders and said “I just listened to it”. The whole ride home I thought about what he said while listening to GW’s December album on my CD Walkman lol. I said to myself, “I can do that too”. Follow us here and on our website (link in bio) for my upcoming article with the rest of this story. I will also discuss Relative Pitch vs. Perfect Pitch, which one I have, and the differences between them. You can also follow me at @rebrandingautism @georgewinstonpiano #autisticmusician #autismandmusic #perfectpitch ...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Feb 6

Open
An autistic adults thoughts on Sia’s new film ‘music’ which casts a neurotypical actress as an autistic character. Follow our link in bio for the full article. Written by: @rebrandingautism  @siamusic #autism @communication_first #autisticmusician @disabilityfilmchallenge

An autistic adults thoughts on Sia’s new film ‘music’ which casts a neurotypical actress as an autistic character. Follow our link in bio for the full article. Written by: @rebrandingautism @siamusic #autism @communication_first #autisticmusician @disabilityfilmchallenge ...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Feb 5

Open
🎹🎸🎤🎧A quote from today’s blog post by @rebrandingautism Click link in bio for the full story written by autistic musician, writer and filmmaker Jennifer Msumba. Follow us here for lots more content to come written by and for #autistic musicians! #autisticmusician #autism #autismacceptance #music

🎹🎸🎤🎧A quote from today’s blog post by @rebrandingautism Click link in bio for the full story written by autistic musician, writer and filmmaker Jennifer Msumba. Follow us here for lots more content to come written by and for #autistic musicians! #autisticmusician #autism #autismacceptance #music ...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Jan 26

Open
Everybody, meet Jade!

Jade Excell is a 12 year old autistic student musician from Maryland. She has been studying with Groove Studios - Ukulele , druming and singing in a disability inclusive music program and at the Academy of fine Arts in Gaithersburg, classical piano. She has been playing in talent shows in her school and community for the last 5 years and in 2020 was accepted to be part of the Maryland Fine Arts office yearly Celebration of artists. Jade was accepted into the Middle School Percussion Ensemble at Mason Community Arts Academy, George Mason University in 2019 to play percussion. Jade released 6 cover songs when she was only  8 on Spotify of her favourite songs. She has since learnt by ear her favourite songs from Nickjr, Disneyjr on ukulele and shared those on her instagram @Jadie_autistic_musician and facebook pages- Autismgirlsandmusic. She loves kid music, R& B music and classical music. Jade you rock!! 🎹🥁🎤 #autisticmusician #elevatingautisticmusicians #autism #musician

Everybody, meet Jade!

Jade Excell is a 12 year old autistic student musician from Maryland. She has been studying with Groove Studios - Ukulele , druming and singing in a disability inclusive music program and at the Academy of fine Arts in Gaithersburg, classical piano. She has been playing in talent shows in her school and community for the last 5 years and in 2020 was accepted to be part of the Maryland Fine Arts office yearly Celebration of artists. Jade was accepted into the Middle School Percussion Ensemble at Mason Community Arts Academy, George Mason University in 2019 to play percussion. Jade released 6 cover songs when she was only 8 on Spotify of her favourite songs. She has since learnt by ear her favourite songs from Nickjr, Disneyjr on ukulele and shared those on her instagram @Jadie_autistic_musician and facebook pages- Autismgirlsandmusic. She loves kid music, R& B music and classical music. Jade you rock!! 🎹🥁🎤 #autisticmusician #elevatingautisticmusicians #autism #musician
...

elevatingautisticmusicians

View

Jan 17

Open
Today we would like to feature Micah @rock_on_micah who is a 19 year old autistic musician. He has had a love for music for many years and he started an all  music YouTube channel in June 2020. Together with his dad they are a two man band called The Positive Autism. Micah is on vocals, keyboards and harmonica. His dad plays guitar and bass. They write and produce original songs, covers and even take requests! In November Micah released his first album of original songs called Autism Rocks! I Am Micah on iTunes, Amazon and all the digital platforms. Way to go Micah!! You can also find him on his YouTube channel Autism Rocks- Music by the Positive Autism. Micah thank you so much for sharing your talent and your story with us 😃 #autisticmusician #elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist

Today we would like to feature Micah @rock_on_micah who is a 19 year old autistic musician. He has had a love for music for many years and he started an all music YouTube channel in June 2020. Together with his dad they are a two man band called The Positive Autism. Micah is on vocals, keyboards and harmonica. His dad plays guitar and bass. They write and produce original songs, covers and even take requests! In November Micah released his first album of original songs called Autism Rocks! I Am Micah on iTunes, Amazon and all the digital platforms. Way to go Micah!! You can also find him on his YouTube channel Autism Rocks- Music by the Positive Autism. Micah thank you so much for sharing your talent and your story with us 😃 #autisticmusician #elevatingautisticmusicians @themusicalautist ...

Follow on Instagram

 

Connect With Us

Want to keep up with everything that's going on at The Musical Autist? Follow us across our Social Networks.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Recent Blog Posts

  • Troupe 2022 Cookout!
  • Support Neurodivergent Musicians!
  • Autism and the Artistic Eye
  • SWAP Autistic Acceptance Compilation Album Blog Post

Copyright ©  2020 The Musical Autist · All Rights Reserved · Log in