Do you

-already have an instrument and would like to get to learn my vibroacoustic playing technique and system?

-need a refresher, new impulses and inspiration to be able to pick up the thread again

-seriously considering buying a Tao instrument (Tao lyre, Tao Sound Bed or Tao Sound Chair), though, you would like to check in advance whether it is the proper instrument you need, whether this application method is suitable for you?

 

Whom is this seminar for?

The introductory seminar is both for interested laymen as well as for professionals in the field of therapy, music therapy, nursing and pedagogy (music therapists, doctors, special education teachers, alternative practitioners, nurses, etc.) It is a practical opportunity to experience and learn about the effects of the so-called Tao-scale and have a take-home base elements of its vibroacoustic application according to Benedek, using the four octave Tao-Lyre as a practice tool.

 

Theory and practice

The seminar offers some theoretical and historical insights into the origins of the Tao-scale, the related research and clinical/therapeutic applications but practice and direct applicability will be our focus.

 

Prerequisites

Musical sensitivity and musicality are great advantages providing a good basis, nevertheless, the method requires neither music theory skills, nor virtuosity with stringed instruments, although such previous experience and skills are of course beneficial. With thorough practicing, the basic elements are relatively easyly and intuitively to learn. Those ground pillars will be made understandable during the seminar, brought to experience on one´s own body and soul and practiced in small groups.

 

The playing technique and method,

in which participants gain insight and acquire the basic elements, can be described as a special combination of massage with tones and vibrations, energy work and plasticizing music-making, as if one would practice eurhythmy with sounds. Of course, this is not for everyone, your affinity for this kind of application must be tested, explored first. Classical music therapy training does not automatically provides you with the skills needed in this direction, nor does a purely energy or body work background. This unique sound massage technique is located somewhere between these two areas.

 

What to expect, what we do

After a brief historical and theoretical introduction regarding origin, research and applications (related spiritual science passages of Rudolf Steiner, brief summary of clinical research and use), the technique and method will be presented in trial sessions for and on the participants. After which the participants will work (practice) in small groups with instructions given in a way that they can apply what they have learned immediately after the seminar in their professional or private praxis. As said, the seminar is practical in it´s nature.

 

More details

This being an introductory workshop, our focus will be mainly on the sole of the foot, but we also will make short digressions to the full body treatment (lower leg and thighs, torso area) in order for you to be able to have an impression and overview of the overall system.

 

You will be practicing in 3 or 4 groups, participating as an active player, as a „client“ receiving the treatment, and as an observer, observing both the player and the „client“. Each role offers different perspectives and experiences and brings the method closer to you from various angles, helping with its easier comrehension and acquisition.

 

Modular structure

The seminars are structured in a modular way, this being module 1, the introductory modul which will be followed by further ones (dates to be announced soon).

 

Language

English as second language will be apllied if necessary (instructions given in spoken English, questions answered also in English, simultanous AI-translation with headseats of the theory-part.)

 

 

Clinical application and research on this method

After the discovery of the phenomenal effects of the vibroacoustic application of this special scale, the Tao-Scale, early 2005 by seminar leader Robert Benedek, the Tao-Sound Beds (later other devices) developed and built by him found their way into the clinical music therapy praxis very soon.This special application has already been object of research and numerous clinical studies since then.(Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Finland, etc.) , also has been frequent object of doctoral thesesis.

 

Efficacy is demonstrated by several clinical trials confirmed and the measurable physiological effect shows some peculiarities, such as rapid harmonization between breathing and heartbeat (quasi deep-sleep (RAM) state in waking consciousness) and the physiological synchronization between therapist and client during the sessions.

 

Applications of Tao-Instruments

The vibroacoustic Tao application is already an established and integral method of anthroposophical music therapy, (e.g. Klinik Arlesheim (formerly Ita Wegman and Lukas Klinik), Switzerland, Filderklinik, Filderstadt, Gemeinschaftsklinik Havelhöhe, Berlin in Germany), in some institutions belongs even to the main musical therapeutic arsenal, or as „heavy cavalry“ if nothing else seem to help with otherwise stagnant patients.

The Tao-Lyre is widely used in private music therapy pratices, also in preschool education and healing pedagogy, in kinesiology, or as an auxillary tool combined with diverse massage techniques (rhythmic massage according to Wegman/Hauschka being the most prominent one).

The bridge-building feature of the Tao(-scale) between worlds, between the Big World (macrocosm) and the small world (microcosm) can also be seen in its utilisation in pre-birth-care and birth clinics, also in elderly care and hospice (end-of-life care).

 

 

Dedication

Since his discovery, seminar leader Robert Benedek, has been intensively dedicated to the vibroacoustic application of the Tao sound series and has been giving courses and seminars since 2010. He lives in Vienna and works as a musical instrument maker, instructor and human energetic.