Why Sound Therapy?
Sound Therapy can be used to describe two different therapeutic methodologies and while both make use of sound, their approaches couldn’t be more different.
One school of ‘Sound Therapists’ use technologies such as Soundbeam to engage individuals with complex needs, some of whom have very limited movement and have never been able to control something in their lives. The nature of this therapy means anyone can create sound and in doing so be empowered to express themselves.This therapeutic method was developed by Professor Phil Ellis of Sunderland University.
The other set of Sound Therapists believe that when healthy every single part of our bodies resonates at certain ‘energy frequencies’. As we become ill our bodies stray from these ‘good vibrations’ and so the road to good health is to ‘retune’ ourselves to these frequencies through the use of techniques such as the classical ‘Ragas’ of India or singing bowls of Tibet.
In naming this blog we’re following loosely the Phil Ellis route, with the additional learning acquired in running the Music Gym. We come from a music background and are leaders in using sound technology to engage individuals who are hard to reach.
If you’re still unsure, here’s an earlier article we wrote to describe our choice of name:
Elsewhere I’ve explained why we don’t describe ourselves as music therapists and that “therapy” can imply fixing someone whereas we start from where the person is now and value that. We don’t impose any goal other than using whatever we can to engage the person.
So why name the blog name Sound Therapy? In the field in which we work, using music to engage those with profound disabilities, “sound therapy” is a particular term first used by Dr. Phil Ellis to describe his work with a Soundbeam.
The professor of Music at Sunderland University has been researching and developing his approach for the past fifteen years and now has an impressive body of evidence for his methods.
He works on the premise that we can look at the elements that make up music – melody, accompaniment, rhythm for instance – and view them without the prejudices built up from hearing music in its everyday context. If we drop the idea that there are musical rules then who is to say when a sequence of sounds can be called “music”? One person’s racket is another person’s contemporary symphony.
Dropping the idea of rules, including the chromatic scale (do-ray-mee etc.) opens the way for anyone to make music, including people with profound disabilities. Dr. Ellis began his work in special needs schools where he found it benefited children with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairments and challenging behaviours. It can also be effective when used with children who are autistic.
Since then Dr. Ellis has developed his work with the elderly who have suffered strokes, demential or depression. He has added vibroacoustic equipment so that the user can feel the music as well as hear it.
Dr. Ellis has given academic credence to an approach which many others including Decoda are using. Reading the conclusion of a school head in Sunderland echoes our own experience:
“Sound therapy has opened up a creative world for our children where they have control – a control that in their normal everyday life is so often denied to them. We have already seen children become so fascinated and interested that muscular spasms become manageable. For some autistic children it is a key to unlock their prison and to enable them to experience communication.”