Sound Therapy

Decoda is dedicated to pushing back the boundaries of what’s considered possible for people with profound disabilities. We come from a music background and and are leaders in using sound technology to engage people who are hard to reach. We’re based in Hastings and we work mostly in East Sussex and Kent for sessions, and throughout Britain for consultancy.

Unless it says otherwise, the blog entries are written by Susan Heath, one of the founders of Decoda.

If you’ve come directly to this blog you can find out more about us on our website.

What is the Music Gym?

The Music Gym is fun, it’s exhilirating, engergising and creative. It’s also soothing and relaxing, depending on what you choose, or are able, to do there.
It has developed through our work with people with profound disabilities and always being on the look-out for new ways to enable communication with people who are out of reach.
It involves music - either triggering it or composing it. If you go far enough onto the bouncy castle music will start playing. If you dance on a circle of boards you’ll trigger dance tracks - a different sound on each board. If you move by the Soundbeam - “a keyboard in the air” you’ll not only compose music you’ll also feel it through the vibro-accoustic seating.
It has energetic aspects of a gym with the bouncy castle, the large inflatable ball, the play parachute and the huge space. Recently we’ve added dance software. The possibilities can be seen in The Short White Pulse. One support worker has been using the shadow screen to create shapes using dance ribbons and pompoms for a member who is visually impaired. She is able to pick out the contrasting magnified shapes of black and white images on the wall.
In its full glory the Music Gym takes place just once a week at the moment. If there’s someone you think would benefit please let us know. We can take out certain sections of it to day centres, schools etc. If you’d like more details either email us or phone us on 01424 444322.