For the last few years we’ve all looked forward to the coming together, at around  this time, of some of the world’s best musicians for the Ar Ais Arís festival in Buncrana.

And while the festival is not going ahead this year, we’re all delighted that some of Buncrana’s best are in fact coming home for a celebration of music. The Pyros will perform on two nights in the Inishowen Gateway and all at Scoil Íosagáin are especially looking forward to the concerts on Friday 27^th March and Saturday the 28^th.

In the week leading up to the concerts members of The Pyros, who are all past pupils of St. Columba’s Boys school (later to become Scoil Íosagáin) will have the opportunity to visit the school to see at first hand some Music Therapy sessions in action. Sessions are carried out in the music therapy room at a set time each week. In the room there is a piano, a guitar and a wide range of non-tuned percussion instruments. These require no formal training to play and are therefore ideal for children to use to express themselves. Importantly, the child is not expected to perform or to learn how to play music, rather the session is a safe space for them to communicate their needs in a non-verbal way.

Session duration depends again on how long the child feels comfortable within the setting. Thirty-minute slots are allocated for individual sessions and group sessions last up to forty-five minutes.

Children's natural interest in music is enhanced by the fact that they are occupied in stimulating motor and auditory activities more associated with play or fun than work or therapy. The careful and repetitious orchestration of such multi-sensory experiences, in the context of a contained and nurturing relationship, has a remarkable range of clinical benefits.

Music as therapy was used as far back as the First World War. Soldiers returning from battle who had been severely traumatised were not responding to conventional medicines but did however show responses to the music performed within the hospital. The neurological reasons behind this were unknown and so some musicians went on to study the connections made between music and the brain.

Juliet Alvin, a renowned cellist and psychoanalyst set up the first music therapy course in Britain in the 1960’s. She was followed by perhaps two of the most famous music therapists, Clive Nordoff and Chris Robbins who realised the potential and power of music with children with developmental disability and autism. Their influence is still an integral part of many music therapists approach to sessions today.

Music therapists believe that people can be engaged through music regardless of age, physical, emotional or mental disability. It uses music as the key to forming relationships with the client in a non-threatening environment to encourage interaction and communication. As a general rule both client and therapist take an active part in sessions by playing, singing and listening. The therapist’s job is not to teach or perform for the client but rather to encourage and respond to any communication made by the client. Much of the music is improvised thus enhancing the individual nature of each relationship formed in sessions. This has been the single most important aspect of the Music Therapy service at Scoil Íosagáin. The relationship that has developed between the child and the therapist has afforded a trust to be established which in turn has resulted in a reduction in anxiety levels for the child.  No learning can only take place, in any setting, where there is anxiety. Music Therapy is the only service of a therapeutic nature where the relationship between the therapist and the child has been a constant one.

Music therapists work in a range of areas and those who can benefit from music therapy include those with:

Learning Disability, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Challenging Behaviour, Mental Health difficulties, Emotional and Behavioural difficulties, Brain Trauma, Dementia and Eating Disorder

Due to the wide range of people who benefit, Music Therapists work in many environments including schools, hospitals, hospices and community settings. Scoil Íosagáin, is however the only school in Ireland to have established Music therapy as an integral part of the curriculum.

Our aim at Scoil Íosagáin is to ensure that all our pupils’ school days are happy ones.

Music Therapy makes an essential contribution to the realisation of that aim.

We hope that both Pyros performances will be well attended, not only because of the benefits to our school but also because a great night’s entertainment –and a great celebration of music is guaranteed.