(اقرأ هذا المنشور باللغة العربية)

Wednesday 5th July and I am excited to be meeting Dr Liz Coombes in terminal 3 Heathrow airport ready to fly off to deliver an intensive weekend of training for the Distance Learning Programme out in Jordan. This is our 2nd visit to Jordan and some things will be familiar such as our accommodation and our partnership with Fabienne Van Eck of Musicians Without Borders, but it will be a new centre with 8 new trainees. We are also looking forward to having Hisham Alhadrab and Rula Barghouthi joining us, both Jordanian Music therapists living and working in Amman.

Thursday 6th July is a day for recovery and preparation after a long day of travelling. Fabienne joins us from Palestine and Liz and I spend time planning and organising for the next couple of days ahead.

Friday 7th July and it is day 1 of the training and an opportunity to meet everyone who has been working on the Jordan Distance Training Programme. We have 8 students all of whom work in theAl-Masar Center, (Child Development Services) in Amman Jordan. The Centre was established in 2006 by a group of experienced professionals recognising a lack of comprehensive and quality services for children and young people with learning disabilities.

We began today with some warmup games and getting to know each other followed by a brainstorm around the word ‘Music’. We had some interesting thoughts and discussions then moved onto thinking about how we ‘tune’ into people in the way people instinctively do when interacting with a baby for example. Before lunch we had some time to explore the instruments and introduce the beautiful new set that Music As therapy International had sent over especially for the Centre.

This afternoon saw us exploring the concepts of Observing, waiting and listening. All important aspects of musical skill sharing. We ended the day setting a task for each student: They had to prepare an activity that they would use with a group of 4 children under the age of 10 years old. Lots of great discussion today and it was wonderful to see the trainee’s confidence and thinking really develop throughout the day. Bring on day 2!

Day 2 of Training and Liz began with a wonderful musical activity encouraging people to think about their feelings both when they are able to make their own choices but also how they feel when they are asked to do something they may not want to. This created lots of excellent discussion and thoughts. I continued then with some role play in pairs, encouraging 1 of the trainees to think of a particular child they worked with and the other person trying to engage and interact with them through musical play.  Lots of practical work today and it was quickly time for the trainees to present their own activities that they had planned. This was an excellent way of allowing them to practice some of the concepts we had discussed and for everyone to help support and offer different ways of perhaps carrying out the activity. We saw some great thinking and were impressed with how well the trainees were developing their skills.

And then before we knew it the training was over…It is not called an intensive training weekend for no reason! There is a lot to try and cover in a short time and it is important to allow for as much practical playing time as possible.

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who made this weekend possible with particular thanks to Samah Alaiwat, who invited us to come to the centre and role played so well in the activities, Fabienne Van Eck for all her wonderful ongoing contribution to the Distance Learning programme in Jordan: Hisham and Rula who gave up their time freely to come and support us and who are doing such a fantastic job as Music Therapists in Amman, and last but certainly not least Hind, who interpreted so brilliantly for us throughout the training.

Finally, a Huge WELL DONE to all the trainees who engaged so brilliantly with us. We look forward to hearing about how your musical skill sharing is going and good luck with completing the course.

Are you in Jordan and interested in using music in the care you provide?

Our aim for creating the Distance Learning Programme is to equip caregivers around the world with a practical guide to use music therapeutically with children who have physical or learning disabilities or social interaction difficulties.

The year-long course comprises of eight monthly theoretical tutorials to help you understand the theory of music therapy through written assignments. This is followed by an Intensive Study Training in which the practical component starts and where participants have the chance to meet in-person and discuss the theory they have learnt.

After the Intensive Study Training, students complete their practical assignments where they put into practice everything they have learnt over the past several months.

Have you ever thought about introducing music into the care you provide? Sign up below to register your interest for the 2024 Distance Learning Programme and get access to more information on what the course will entail: