Unlocking Musical Potential: How the IRP Technique Helps Children with Disabilities play Music
Our Trustee Peter Hald, saw a special opportunity when he attended an Otakar Kraus Music School concert in his own time, to help a small organisation with an outstanding purpose.
The difference that can be made in the lives of children with language processing and other learning difficulties using music, images, and other sounds, rather than words, to communicate ideas is awe-inspiring; opening a new pathway to sharing and making connections with those in their lives that may struggle to communicate with them.
Those among us, young children and disabled people of any age, who cannot or have a difficult time understanding or communicating with us using words have just as much to say, if only they have the means to meet us at a different place than we may have first expected.
‘At OK Music School, set up by The Otakar Kraus Music Trust (OKMT) in 2012, we believe every child should have the chance to express themselves through music — regardless of ability. Below, our OK Music School Director, Edison Carolino, describes how he devised the IRP (Improvisation, Rhythm, Performance) Technique, which has helped hundreds of children and young people with disabilities to flourish through music:
“I arrived in London from Brazil in 1992 and after completing a master’s degree in music therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, I joined OKMT in 1998. I saw how music therapy could help children with additional needs develop a love for music and a desire to play instruments, inspiring me to investigate teaching them music.
After researching methods used by special needs teachers and therapists, I realised the importance of visual support, which led to me to develop the IRP Technique:
1. Improvisation
Students begin by using images of animals, nature, and faces as inspiration to “play what they see”, sparking creativity and a musical connection between teacher and student.
2. Rhythm
The second stage uses the same images to help them develop a sense of rhythm, understanding how sounds and beats fit together to create music’s foundation.
3. Performance
In the final stage, students start to perform what they have learned and eventually gain the confidence to showcase their incredible musical talents in our Summer and Christmas concerts.
All our OK Music School therapists and teachers have been trained in the IRP Technique, enabling hundreds of children and young people with disabilities to learn to play music with confidence and pride. We currently have 80 students, have held 25 public concerts, and 28 students have passed 57 music exams, demonstrating their talent.
I am proud to celebrate the accomplishments of our students and their personal growth. But the most fulfilling achievement is instilling hope in the parents of these children for their future.”
Thank you to Edison and all our amazing therapists and teachers for their commitment to changing lives through music.’
It was wonderful to meet Edison in person and hear about his life as a musician and music therapist.
The OKMT’s work is about many things, not only developing pathways to learning and communication, but engaging with art is fulfilling, exciting, communal, and grants newfound confidence in one’s ability to accomplish, for anyone. OKMT’s students need a unique and patient approach to learning, and their teachers and staff provide it gladly. FINHUMF’s goal is to connect people with the means to provide these lessons and support that give those in need tools and help them to believe in what they can make for themselves.
The OK Music School’s Christmas concert will be on the 6th Dec. We hope to have the pleasure of attending, and implore you to consider it if you have the time.
In addition, Mr. Edison Carolino will be performing at the EFG London Jazz Festival this Saturday, 15th November as a support act for British-Nigerian singer songwriter EyiTemi.
Find out more about OK Music School and the IRP Technique here:
