Music Therapy
We believe in the power of music and its ability to transform lives regardless of age or ability.
The aim of music therapy is not to educate but rather to focus on therapeutic change and growth. Music allows the communication of feelings and emotions for times where it might be too difficult for your child to put how they feel into words or if your child is non-verbal.
Sessions are family-led and during sessions our therapist will aim to build a relationship with your child using sounds and music, with the aim to support and encourage your child’s emotional, social, and physical well-being.
Music Therapy allows your child to feel heard through their music. We all have innate musicality and by developing a therapeutic relationship through music, we can explore difficult emotions and give those feelings a ‘voice’.
We often use musical improvisation to encourage sensitive and immediate musical responses to your child’s own sounds, gestures, or movements. This responsive process will engage and encourage your child to develop a sense of themselves, the world around them, and the possibilities for relationships.
About Music Therapy
Watch this short film to find out more about Music Therapy at Noah's Ark and how it can support you and your family.
The Theory Behind Music Therapy
Music therapy takes inspiration from the musicality of parent and infant communication, which is non-verbal and highly musical.
When a parent and baby are communicating, and the parent is attuning with the baby, they are sharing their emotions and experience. The parent can communicate to their baby that their feelings are recognised, heard and shared.
In a similar way, when our music therapist and your child are communicating through sound, they too are creating a shared meaning and experience to build a therapeutic relationship. This shared musical play, enables those even with no language or at times when words can’t express what is needed to reach out to others and communicate their emotional experience.
Our music therapy is family centred, and our therapist will work with your whole family to gain an understanding, with the parent/carer very much a part of the music therapy work.
Resources That We Use
We have a wide range of musical instruments and sensory equipment available at The Ark, which allows us to create bespoke sessions appropriate to your child’s age and interests, which encourage their development.
Our sensory instruments offer both tactile and auditory stimulation.
Traditional instruments like the piano and guitar are often a popular choice, but we also offer more unusual instruments, like our resonance board, which is a sensory tool designed to provide tactile and vibrational stimulation.
Perinatal Music Therapy
Our Music Therapy team can offer services including:
- Making music together: Families can explore music together through singing, playing instruments, listening and movement. These sessions can provide opportunities for connection, expression and shared memories. For babies and young children, music can be used in gentle, playful and responsive ways to support interaction, communication, bonding and development.
- Recording precious moments: During music therapy sessions, we can help you create audio or video recordings of special moments, voices, songs or messages.
- Creating a special lullaby: We can help you create a personal lullaby for your baby using meaningful words, favourite songs, or melodies that are important to your family.
- Heartbeat memories: We can use a recording of your baby's heartbeat to create a piece of music that you can keep and revisit whenever you wish.
- Meaningful music playlists: Together with the music therapist you can feel supported with creating a playlist of songs that may bring comfort, joy or connection. These can be listened to whenever and wherever feels right.
