Music Therapy Clinician: Supporting reflective clinical practice Volume 1 | Page 32

therapists who was involved in the
choir, but as I recall you also, kind
of,
had
a
whole
entire
choir…meeting of the choir minds
kind of an event at some point
[laughing].

Christine: We did! We had a
choral festival. Um, we had an
inaugural one, and we had a second
one, and then, unfortunately, I left
my position. And then shortly
after…you know, things changed
for the administration of the choir.

Roia: Mm-hm.
Christine: Ah, but…yes. We
had a big choral festival where we
had several choirs, therapeutic
choirs, come from all over. It was
actually held in Cherry Hill, New
Jersey the second year. And, yes!
We featured choirs from the place
where you’re working and another
group called Joyful Noise, which
are…who are wonderful. And it was
sort of the performance side of a
panel, that I was fortunate to
participate in, that was featured by
the American Choral Directors
Association. I was invited to talk to
that group about my choir and, um,
several…you know, over several
years had done a presentation and
then I got invited to do it at a
national conference. Um, and they
also invited several other people
who were doing that, you know,
similar work. Either choirs that had,
you know, featured singers with
disabilities or had some type of
therapeutic
intent.
Um…maybe…there’s an example of
a choir up in Boston that features
at-risk youth and adolescents that
is really meant to help develop a
sense of community among kids
who probably wouldn’t cross paths
with each other. And then…just…it
was really wonderful to kind of see
all those examples. But we’d been
doing this long enough…you know,
having this chorale, and performing
in the area long enough, and I had
been training enough interns that,
once they graduated and went out

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and got jobs, they were able to
start groups. Or people who had
come and seen us perform, and
then they would be inspired to go
back to their own jobs and start
groups, so that’s been really
rewarding…to see how there’s been
a ripple effect for how this group
has inspired other people.

Roia: That is cool, and that kind

of connects a little bit to, Angela,
what you were talking about with
regard to the fact that you were so
close to Montclair…I think you had
said that Montclair students had
come over and taken part in your
coffeehouses.

Angela: Yeah. Some of them

volunteered in different aspects,
some played, and what was really
nice…I mentioned earlier that we
have the Sensory Friendly Concerts
(The
Musical
Autist
http://www.themusicalautist.org)
as well. And there was one group
that came together to play together
at one of the open mic night
coffeehouses, and they decided to
come together and form a group,
and they played at our next Sensory
Friendly Concert!

Roia: Can you say more, please,
about
the
Sensory
Friendly
Concerts? I mean, I know that CJ
Da…she’s now Shiloh, so CJ Shiloh
actually trademarked that and
made it an official thing, but maybe
you could say a bit more about that.

Angela:

Sure.
Sensory
Friendly Concerts…CJ and I met
each other…it’s a few years ago
now…when I was mentioning that
we’d been doing these inclusive
community events for quite some
time. But she was telling me about
the Sensory Friendly Concerts, and
said, you know, I think we want to
start that. So we work in
conjunction with her, and we
have…so far we’ve been doing
them once a year, and their slogan
is “hand flapping is allowed,” so

[laughter] they are concerts where
people with and without disabilities
can perform. Oftentimes music
therapists do per-form, and the
amplification, if any, is always
towards the front of the room, so
sensory seekers can move more towards the front, and sensory
avoiders can move more towards
the back. And we try to use acoustic
instruments only - that doesn’t
always happen, but there’s always
an area, a safe area so if someone
needs a sensory break they can
move there. We expect proper
concert etiquette, so we don’t want
people to talk through the entire
concert just to talk, but if someone
needs to get up and vocalize or
hand-flap or move around or sit on
the floor, that’s all okay. It’s all
okay, and it’s a safe place. It’s for
families to come, often with their
children where maybe they haven’t
had the opportunity to attend a
concert before because there is a
stigma if you stand up in the middle
of a concert and flap your hands.
That’s not appropriate concert
etiquette in most concert halls. So,
oftentimes this is the place where
families can take their children for
the first time and feel accepted, and
feel that it is okay to vocalize, to
move around, to get up and walk
around.
And
it
is
fully
supported…music therapists help to
facilitate them, and it’s just…it’s a
great way to have community
engagement. It’s not just marketed
toward families with children with
special needs or adults with special
needs. It’s marketed towards the
entire community. So the others
that come, come full knowing that
it is a Sensory Friendly Concert, and
they come knowing what to expect.
So everybody goes into it with the
understanding that there may be
vocalizations, there may be moving
around, and it’s all okay.

Roia:

Cool! That’s a very cool

thing!

Christine: I love that! I love
that!