Music and disability project
I am starting a project which potentially offers therapeutic benefits to children and adults with physical challenges by using underwater speakers to play music. The sounds when you are in the water, with your ears under the waterline, go into your skeletal system and resonate within your solar plexus. From past experience I believe the whale sounds have a resonance with those who have cerebral palsy and other disabilities.
The project is very much still at development stage. I’ve received a modest grant to begin trials I am planning an initial pilot study once a week for five-six weeks working with pupils in schools or patients who have physical disabilities and learning difficulties. Meanwhile, equipment needs include an under-water speaker of the type manufactured in the US for NASA and which are also used by a couple of well known European musicians.
If all goes well, a goal would be to showcase this at the Paralympics in 2012, offering an amazing opportunity for physically challenged children and adults to join in an non-competitive event of world stature. There is potential for wider development of the idea for the general population. I came across the idea in Melbourne a few years ago, where people can watch films whilst floating in the water.
Adele Drake FRSA
www.adeledrake.com
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