Communicative musicality, music and transformation in the lives of parents and their children with cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities (CPMD) — Efrat Roginsky & Cochavit Elefant

Special Issue 11 (1) 2019 “Exploring the spiritual in music: Interdisciplinary dialogues in music, wellbeing and education” – Article (first published on 24 November 2019)

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Communicative musicality, music and transformation in the lives of parents and their children with cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities (CPMD)

Efrat Roginsky

University of Haifa, Israel

Cochavit Elefant

University of Haifa, Israel

ABSTRACT

The births of children with cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities (CPMD) challenge their families’ wellbeing. This article, which is based on a theme generated from an interview study, suggests that communicative musicality and the everyday use of music transforms these families’ experiences. The research questions aimed to explore the musicality of individuals with cerebral palsy, and the use of music within their families. Six parents to individuals with cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities participated in this study. The data were collected through a three-interview series with each participant, integrated with home-video viewing. The interview transcripts were analysed with interpretative phenomenological analysis and grounded theory. Initially three core themes were generated (and presented in another publication). The ‘transformation’ theme is a fourth theme generated from a later analysis of the research interviews. It is presented here through the parents’ voices as well as the researchers’ interpretations. Theory and research are discussed on communicative musicality, everyday musicking, and wellbeing. We suggest that the families’ intensive use of nonverbal communicative approaches, and music transformed their experiences: their moods, participation, and the meanings related to their lives together.

KEYWORDS

cerebral palsy, multiple disabilities, communicative musicality, music, transformation, wellbeing

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

Efrat Roginsky is a classical guitarist, and music therapist specialising in non-speaking persons with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Along with her music therapy practice, Roginsky supervises a regional arts therapies sector for the Israeli Board of Education and teaches at the University of Haifa Music Therapy MA program. Her PhD dissertation supervised by Elefant explores the musicality and communicability of children with cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities. [roginskyefrat@gmail.com] Cochavit Elefant is Director of the School of Creative Arts Therapies at the University of Haifa, Israel. Elefant is founder and was head of the Music Therapy MA program at the University of Haifa after serving as an Associate Professor of Music Therapy at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen, Norway. She has many years of experience as a music therapist with children with autism and Rett syndrome and has published on topics of autism, Rett syndrome and community music therapy. She holds a PhD from Aalborg University where her dissertation was on communication through music with girls with Rett Syndrome. [celefant@univ.haifa.ac.il]