It is important to note that Clive was not sentimental about this tender moment, but very matter of fact. As he proceeded with the session and the course of therapy, he always worked to find the key to Nicole’s further development. He clearly loved all of the children he worked with, and utilized that love to discern the unfolding potential of each child. Morgan: In Therapy with Alan and Clive Clive’s work with four-year-old Morgan, with Alan Turry as primary therapist, was another case in point. According to Morgan’s mother, he had been developing normally until age two when he “stopped trying to communicate.” She reported that he was not a happy child, was uninterested in other people, and had trouble sleeping at night. He appeared tired when entering his first music therapy session. But a positive tone was set through improvised music that matched his assertive stride into the room, with Clive welcoming him and inviting him to play instruments, while allowing him space to explore. As a co-therapist, Clive maintained an exquisite balance between patiently, unobtrusively waiting for a child’s initiatives, and actively facilitating the child’s engagement.
Watch Morgan – Discovering Music
In this first session, as Alan played at the piano with Morgan who alternated between drum, cymbal, and xylimba, Clive was visibly enthralled. His enthusiasm for Morgan’s discoveries encouraged both Morgan and Alan to continue, to listen to each other, to find ways to meet in the music. Clive’s expression of joy was genuine – he truly took pleasure seeing how creative and active Morgan quickly became in the music room. Yet he was also assessing what Morgan could do next: Could he respond to a song with words celebrating his discovery that music could be a wonderful way to relate to others? Clive began to sing the theme that would be brought back throughout the course of therapy: “It’s Morgan’s music day. It’s Morgan’s music day! It’s music, music, music, music, music all the way.” Though simple, it captured the essence of Morgan’s attitude and celebrated the experience of shared music-making. As the sessions went on, Clive continually found new ways to engage Morgan, whether by singing, playing, or spontaneously dancing. Clive always had what seemed like an inexhaustible reservoir of energy to tap into when engaging with young children.
Watch Morgan – It’s Morgan’s Music Day
Even late in his life, when he was clearly struggling physically, Clive would occasionally come into sessions with clients. On one such occasion, Clive substituted for the co-therapist with a young child who was having difficulty relating to the primary therapist at the piano. He quietly observed the boy, sensing the possibilities for engaging him. The boy was sitting close to
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the wind chimes, and Clive was sitting on the other side. Slowly, Clive moved his face closer to the boy. The wind chimes were between him and the child, and Clive kept moving closer, until his nose – a nose not insignificant in size – crossed over to the other side where the boy was situated. This amused the boy to no end, and he became interested in playing the wind chimes. It was a key moment in the therapy process and Clive had initiated it in his own inimitable way. Closure Over the past five decades, Nordoff-Robbins music therapy has expanded into diverse settings and populations internationally, reflecting the extensive reach and enduring influence of Clive Robbins’ clinical practice, research, teaching, writings, and media presentations. In his teachings, no less than in his clinical work, Clive was a motivator, a visionary whose passion was contagious. He imparted the essence of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy largely by enabling his audiences to share his own experiences. Using the vast archive of case material that he had recorded, he shared with students all over the world his experience of working with music, and the remarkable growth and development it facilitated. They were enthused by his enthusiasm; inspired by his inspiration; transformed by the transformations they heard occurring, one after another, in the music therapy sessions. Just as he sparked intrinsic motivation within children to come more fully into being through creative musical exchange, Dr. Clive Robbins empowered therapists to work from their own direct experience of relationship in music with each client. As he wrote, The longer music therapists work in this way and experience directly the commitment children bring to bear on discovering or extending musical interactivity – and experience the intensifying individual presence of a child in his or her musical activities – the more evident it becomes that within the music child, and self-actualizing within it, manifests the core self of the individual, the center of personhood, the being child (Nordoff & Robbins, 2007, p. 17). By embracing this experience, therapists place their “creative potential, musical resources, and personal maturity” at the service of clients’ needs; allow themselves “to be led and taught” by each client; and open themselves to “a source of untold and unforeseeable inspiration for the realization of creative healing in music therapy” (Nordoff & Robbins, 2007, p. 17).
Watch Dr. Clive Robbins – Enthusiastic Teaching
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