Nordoff-Robbins creative music therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Paul Nordoff, Clive Robbins · 1959

What it is

Paul Nordoff (an American composer and pianist) and Clive Robbins (a British special educator) developed the approach over about 17 years of teamwork, from 1959 into the mid-1970s. They started with children who had varied disabilities, many of whom today would be described as developmentally…

Format

• The available sources describe no formal fixed phase model with session counts. NR is open-ended and individualised. The stages below put together what the sources describe, and the transition criteria are partly synthesis.
• Typical format. In the classic child model, sessions run about 30 minutes and are individual, with two therapists. The primary therapist improvises at the piano and leads the clinical-musical direction. The co-therapist works directly with the client, supporting participation and helping them…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Professional frame first. This is not a technique a psychotherapist can pick up and use. NR is an improvisational music therapy approach practised by qualified music therapists with postgraduate NR training. Its central tool is the therapist's live, clinically directed improvisation, usually at the piano, which takes years of musical and clinical training. In the UK the Nordoff and Robbins charity runs a two-year…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• imagery appearing in the client's improvised words.
• greater client risk-taking while the ostinato holds.
• the client turning towards the voice or vocalising back.
• the client imitating and then initiating rhythmic patterns.
• the client's sound becoming more audible and more deliberate.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.