Monkey Chatter

Here at Monkey Music, we are proud to share the power of music through our parent and child music classes, encouraging families to spend precious time together. Our Charity Partner of nearly thirty years, the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity, share that same ethos.

In 1959 American composer and pianist Paul Nordoff and special education teacher Clive Robbins developed a new form of collaborative music-making to engage vulnerable and isolated children, which they termed ‘therapy in music.’ The effects of the music therapy, which initially started in children’s homes, were felt early on; it helped children develop concentration, self-control and increased social and self-awareness.

Today, Nordoff Robbins is the largest music therapy charity in the UK helping thousands of people each year. They provide a range of different sessions for children and adults of all ages in 13 bases across the UK including London, Manchester, Newcastle and Scotland and work in partnership with over 280 organisations – including Monkey Music! Whilst changes over the years have been substantial, their ethos has remained the cornerstone of their work – to  use music to help the lives of the people who need them the most.

The charity uses the power of music to enrich the lives of people with life-limiting illness, disabilities, or feelings of isolation. The music therapists at Nordoff Robbins understand that music evokes different reactions and responses and work with music to focus on what people can do rather than what they can’t. Their tailored sessions help individuals reach their potential through music and Nordoff Robbins work to not only deliver music therapy but to educate the music therapists of the future, as well as undertake research into music therapy and the wide social value of music.

As with Monkey Music, Nordoff Robbins believe music education should be accessible to all. The charity is committed to overcoming the barriers to musical learning faced by many people with diverse learning abilities. Particularly at this time, recovering from the impacts of the pandemic, they believe that learning a musical skill can help provide a meaningful and focused creative activity to help people develop both musically and personally during this time. Despite their face-to-face music therapy being disrupted by the pandemic, 124,708 people were reached by the charity’s online musical resources in 2020.

Our most recent fundraising campaign for the charity is a Sing and Play Challenge, which has taken place over the past year with our Monkey Music families. Thanks to Monkey Music’s amazing franchisees, over 90 families around the UK have taken part and over 850 people have supported the campaign page with a donation. The aim is now to reach the target of £20,000 by the end of July.  This would fund two music therapists for a year to work in care homes, virtually and face-to-face, training staff, setting up dementia choirs and running groups and 1:2:1 sessions.

Our FINALE families will get a Monkey Music Magic Sounds book as well as their lovely activity pack to support their challenge which is to sing 4 songs a day for 5 days from Monday 19^th July to Friday 23^rd July 2021. Please visit our Just Giving page here to find out more, or to donate - any support for our amazing Charity Partner would be greatly appreciated.

To find out more about the wonderful Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity, please visit https://www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk/