This story is a little late, but definitely worth sharing.

In December, we had the pleasure of supporting 8 wonderful members of the Lifestyle & Leisure Support Group from Cumberland City Council. Their goal was to perform at the Council’s Community Christmas Carol, held at Auburn Botanical Gardens. To work towards this, we planned four rehearsals in the lead-up to the performance.

In just four sessions, we needed to quickly get to know each other’s personalities and strengths, agree on three songs, come up with a group name and rehearse for the performance. They chose a name for themselves — “Together We Shine” — which perfectly captured the spirit of the journey.

We’re very pleased to say — we did it!

One member who was initially very nervous and shy successfully sang a solo into the microphone at the concert.

Another member, whose passion is anything Michael Jackson, initially declined to join in. With a bit of creative thinking, we slipped a Michael Jackson “Beat It” segue into the middle of Feliz Navidad, giving him the chance to show off his MJ dance moves. That was the turning point — he joined us on stage, loved it so much that he grabbed the microphone, and confidently ad-libbed in front of the crowd.

As music therapists, we’ve gotten very good at ‘reading the room’, building rapport quickly and developing trust that enables people to step forward and shine. That’s exactly what our Directors, Rob Devlin and Iani Sujono, brought to this experience. While this wasn’t a formal music therapy program, our therapeutic skill set was exactly what was needed in this context.

It was a genuine pleasure supporting the Cumberland City Council Support Group. Thank you for trusting us to be part of your performance journey.

Get to know Registered Music Therapists Iani Sujono and Rob Devlin.
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Images provided by Cumberland City Council