Page 54 - NAMAH-Jan-2023

Namah Vol. 30, Issue 4, 15th January 2023

trunk. Advanced exercises include walking A short video documentary of Know
like the elephant. For children based out Your Rhythm’s training of Indian special
of Pondicherry, we help teachers to build educators and children with special needs
stories around Lakshmi, the popular elephant with Indian vocal percussion system was
associated with the Manakula Vinayagar shown at the 14 World Congress for Music
th
temple. Therapy, University of Music & Performing
Arts, Vienna, in 2014.
This bol (vocal percussion unit) has its
origin in the vocal percussion associated A 28-minute documentary film, ‘Rhythm
with the tabla, the percussion instrument. in Music Therapy - Composition and
This exercise becomes a medium of non- Composure’ (4) was presented as part of
verbal communication centred on rhythm our paper with the same title at the 4th
between the caregiver and the care receiver. International conference of International
With its origin simulating Gaja gati chanda Association for Music & Medicine (IAMM),
or the lilt of the elephant’s walk, this lesson in Beijing, June 2016. The video evidence
engages children in a playful manner while is based on our Know Your Rhythm training
enhancing their speech, proprioception and programme for special educators and
kinaesthetic skills. It improves the dexterity children with special needs at the Special
and movement of the tongue and is therefore School Mental Retardation, CERTH-India
applied in speech therapy. From a Music Hospital, Pondicherry in collaboration with
Therapy perspective, vocal percussion is, JAL, across 2 years. The documentary was
“a set of techniques with specific musical, presented by Dr. Patravoot Vatanasapt
therapeutic, logopaedic, psychomotor and (Thailand), President of IAMM.
pedagogical values. It is especially appropriate
to facilitate and improve the faculties of https://vimeo.com/172241757
attention, concentration, assimilation, storage password: ninad123
and repetition: in this sense it is aimed at the
fundamental aspects of the so-called ‘operational here is a trailer from the same documentary:
intelligence (3).” https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=W6AcWigd-dY
When combined with kinaesthetics, the
therapeutic value tends to increase manifold In the near future, we hope to explore,
by improving motor-skills of hands and legs experiment and assess more with the Indian
and the body’s ability to sense movement vocal percussion system.
and location. Bodily-kinaesthetic is a learning
style often referred to as ‘learning with the References
hands’ or physical learning. Many children
with special needs tend to learn more 1. The Mother. The Collected Works of The Mother,
easily by doing, exploring and discovering. Volume 12. 2nd ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo
Proprioception, otherwise known as Ashram Trust; 1999, p. 240.
kinaesthesia, which is our body’s ability to
sense movement, action and location. 2. Bunt L. Music Therapy – An Art beyond Words.

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