Robbins, C., & Robbins, C. (1998). Healing heritage: the tonal language of music. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers. 240 pages. ISBN 1-891278-06 1. $32.00

Abstract

Robbins, C., & Robbins, C. (1998). Healing heritage: the tonal language of music. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers. 240 pages. ISBN 1-891278-06 1. $32.00. The single most defining aspect of Creative Music Therapy, as originated and developed by Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins, is arguably its over-arching emphasis on the itself. Grounded and centered in the belief that music-making is intrinsically healing, the model is a prime example of as therapy. As a music-centered approach, it owes many of its essential features to the remarkable musical sensitivity and energy of Paul Nordoff. Healing Heritage: The Tonal Language of Music is a transcription of a series of lectures on and improvisation that Nordoff conducted during a training program in London in 1974. As such, the book is affectionately meticulous in its attention to detail. As Clive and Carol Robbins explain in their introduction to the volume, Nordoff's lectures were a constant mixture of talking, singing, playing piano, and rapidly sketching excerpts of musical scores on the blackboard. The editors have done their best to capture Nordoff's unique energy, adding their own contextualizing commentary and illuminating Nordoff's nonverbal expression as they arise. The end result is a remarkably vivid portrayal of Paul Nordoff as musician, therapist, and teacher. Perhaps one of the most striking gifts that Nordoff brings to the therapy table is a profound attention to, and passion for, the details in music. (There are, for example, several chapters that focus on intervals.) He plumbs the clinical impact of each musical element to a degree that is rare even in our own music-centered discipline. In Nordoff's approach, no musical choice is taken for granted. His discussion of the use and significance of various scales, melodic and harmonic figures, tones, and textures reflects the high value that Nordoff places on as a source of joy, meaning, and healing. Just as evident, if not as explicitly stated, is Nordoff's level of caring for the clients, predominantly children, that are served by him and, ultimately, by his students. He speaks of these young potential clients with noticeable tenderness, and one senses that his careful attention to each musical nuance is a natural outcome of his regard for their particular, unique sensitivities and needs: We're bringing the child experiences-tonal experiences-that he has not had before, certainly not used in this way. We want to make them part of him. Don't forget, the therapist is communicating, or should be, to the He's communicating whatever he has to communicate through music: his care for the his acceptance of the his interest in the his respect for the All of that can be communicated through the you make with and for the child. An important aspect of this communication, as Nordoff emphasizes to his students, is the need for the therapist to nurture his or her own music child, exploring and savoring purely for the pleasure and joy of it. In so doing, the therapist builds the necessary inner resources to share the gift of with his or her clients. Nordoff himself clearly has this quality of relationship with music, and he not only encourages but insists that those who would follow his lead should seek a similarly rich inner musical life. …