On Sunday, May 12th, Graymatter, along with 22 other musical artists, will be participating in a benefit for a very worthy cause: Voices Together. This innovative group serves people in both the Triangle and Triad regions of NC, providing music therapy to folks with special needs in order to help them improve their communication, social and emotional skills, support their independence and self-advocacy.
What is music therapy? According to the American Music Therapy Association, "Music Therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of the individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, clients' abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their lives. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Research in music therapy supports its effectiveness in many areas such as: overall physical rehabilitation and facilitating movement, increasing people's motivation to become engaged in their treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for expression of feelings."
Voices Together partners with Durham, Chatham, Alamance and Orange County schools and provides music therapy sessions that help to increase student’s verbal and speech skills, supports the individual student’s classroom experience by helping them to increase their ability to appropriately act and interact in a group setting, engage appropriately, and teaches them effective coping skills. The VT sessions also helps in the student’s communications skills as well as conversational and listening skills.
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| A photo from the Voices Together Facebook page. |
Outside of the school setting, VT uses musical therapy to help individuals build positive relationships, improve social skills and participate in activities that will provide them with peer support. Also important in their mission is effectively raising public awareness regarding how music therapy can benefit people of all ages who deal with developmental disabilities. They make presentations to parent and community groups and provide workshops to help educate the general public and to support families.
For more information about Voices Together or partnership opportunities please contact them at 919-942-2714 or info@voicestogether.net or check out their website or their facebook page.
This benefit is free to the public and 100% of the donations received will benefit Voices Together. Come enjoy a beautiful Spring afternoon in a beautiful, family-friendly setting. Bring your lawn chairs, your cooler, your kids, your well-behaved dogs and enjoy the music of 23 of the area’s best artists, all gathered together to perform the songs of John Prine, one of America’s legendary singer-songwriters.
Also being celebrated that day is the recent book release of the biography, John Prine-In Spite of Himself, written by local author Eddie Huffman. The book will be available for sale at the event, with a portion of the sales going to VT.
Doodad Farm is located at 4701 Land Rd in Greensboro, NC. The Doodad Farm Facebook event page can be found here.
