Our wish is improve the quality of life through therapeutic music therapy at a variety of neighborhoods, facilities, hospitals, and schools throughout the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County. Specifically we would like to focus on the quality of life of youths with autism and senior citizens with limited motor skills, motor impairment and disorders and other special needs.
The Taft High School Marching Band will hold a series of music and rhythm therapy sessions to benefit the neighborhood community near William Howard Taft High School, a diverse, Title I-funding eligible public school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The programs will be lead by music and rhythm leaders who are experienced with marching band or ensemble drumming. Participants are youths and senior citizens and will number from 30-35 each session. It is widely accepted by teachers, youth workers, music therapists, and health practitioners that music therapy provides an effective way to encourage life skills and develop confidence and self-esteem. Additional benefits for youth include spending quality time in an environment which alleviates the fear and apprehension the nursing home setting might create. Our music therapy provides a common playground where the players are ageless and communication is without words. When the music is finished, the activity also provides a catalyst for conversations between young and old to begin.
