Laura Festa- North Yorkshire Music Therapy, "Downe Arms", Wednesday December 4th 2019.

Music is in the air: like water, it finds its way everywhere and most of us take it for granted that it will be of excellent quality and free at the point of use. Music education in schools is not as good as it once was, and those people who draw attention to this neglect, like the Principal of the Royal Birmingham School of Music, Julian Lloyd Webber, are very much voices crying in the wilderness. However, there are one or two encouraging signs .....

The growth of interest in choirs in the community and the use of singing as a tool to assist in the treatment of dementia both show the contribution music can make to the community as a whole and to the individuals within it.

And on Wednesday, we witnessed yet another use of this miraculous medium, stimulating and supporting youngsters in special schools. These youngsters had real difficulties with communication and with expressing themselves and in the hands of a skilled practitioner, music seemed to help them. And from my observations, Laura Festa, C.E.O. of North Yorkshire Music Therapy, is most certainly a skilled practitioner.

Prior to her powerpoint presentation, she managed to persuade Rotarians to bang, shake or otherwise attack a variety of percussion instruments, directing the initially random results by striking a tambourine,  producing a variety of tempi and range of dynamics, thereby  provoking a response and eventually establishing a semblance of order out of the initial chaos.

As a qualified Music Therapist, in the ensuing presentation she was able to briefly show us the principles behind her work. In the short video clips, we saw her working with a youngster using both keyboard and ukulele, carefully  observing and evaluating responses. It was clear that,  adapting an advert for a well known lager, "music reaches parts of the human being not reached by any other medium".

Surprisingly, getting funding for this work is difficult, perhaps because people are not aware. There are so many calls on Rotary resources but could we help? Are there other clubs who might assist?   Malton, perhaps?

Members are to be congratulated on their participation.                                                       Paul ~ December 2019