The Tshwane School of Music is establishing a music therapy unit as an additional component. The music therapy unit will offer both individual and group music therapy to the wider community through referrals from schools, social workers and families. It will also offer a service to students at the academy should psycho-social needs require addressing. Our music therapy unit is in partnership The University of Pretoria’s Music Therapy Unit. The music therapist will be based at the school from mid 2015 working with children from the local school for the disabled as part of TSOM’s efforts to mainstream disability in our children’s bands. In addition to music therapy sessions, these children work with the school’s tutors to form their own bands. Music therapy interventions are also offered to our own students where necessary as well as in service to the other social development organisations in the community such as SANCA and National Youth Development Outreach.

Music therapy is a powerful intervention with both children and adolescents at risk. Techniques include: drumming, song writing, story creation through music listening, improvisation and combining other art modalities with music. Goals of music therapy would include: developing social skills, addressing emotional and psychological needs, providing a safe space for containment and self expression, allowing the children to tell their stories and be heard, cognitive stimulation and tapping into their innate creativity.

The field of Music Therapy is recognised by most major medical aids and is a growing profession in South Africa. The University of Pretoria’s Music Therapy Unit has been involved in the community of Eersterust providing music therapy interventions for youth at risk for the past seven years. This relationship has birthed new models in the field of music therapy as this powerful medium of communication as rehabilitation has been applied in a community context.

TSOM is establishing a Resource Centre and Music Technology Lab at the school. The Resource Centre will serve TSOM’s students as well as the general community, providing a safe space for children and youth to use after school to do their homework and use for general research, study and learning purposes. The Centre will offer wi-fi and internet stations so that community children have much needed access for facilities such as these for school projects and general learning about and exposure to technology. The facility will be equipped with a viewing room for watching DVDs, listening stations for music appreciation, computer workstations with internet access, tables and chairs for homework and comfortable flooring and cushions etc for cosy reading corners. TSOM currently experiences that many of our students come to the school even on days when they don’t have lessons, some because they don’t have anywhere to go after school, and some because the school provides them with a sense of belonging and safety when dealing with difficult circumstances at home. A Resource Centre such as this will create a safe space for these children in a supervised environment.

The Media Resource Centre will also allow our students to use the various programmes related to their music education such as ear training software, music scoring software, slow downers etc. It is envisaged that the resource Centre will be stocked with all the books relevant to the music curriculum we are teaching as well as CDs and DVDs and music biographies, music history books etc. The Resource Centre will also become an information hub for what is happening in the arts generally in and around the city and province. The Resource Centre provides a space that the whole community can have access to and enjoy.