Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • Summer 2023 3 Music Notes By Dr. Dorita S. Berger, PhD, MT-BC, LCAT M ost children, and especially children diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum (ASD), feel a natural connection with music, but don't always find it easy to participate in musical activities. This book answers many questions Dr. Berger is asked, both in her music teaching, and in her Music Therapy clinical work. Packed with tips, advice, and activities that any parent and music teacher will find useful, this book influences parents to seriously consider instilling music in the lives of their children - especially encouraging instrumental training. The book shows how music and rhythm can help with brain development and quality of life, and how to encourage a genuine enjoyment of music. Music teachers, parents, caregivers, and clinicians of all treatment modalities can draw excellent information in guiding the quest for having music training in the growth of children. Dr. Berger, an SAI alumna of Alpha Mu Chapter at Carnegie Mellon University, draws on her many years of experience in music-based clinical work, teaching, and coaching to answer common questions regarding musical interactions for any and all children, and especially for children with special needs in behaviors and cognitive growth. From what instrument to choose, how to find the right teacher, how to get the child to practice music, and even taking children to public music events, this book has all the essential information to dip into as and when needed. With practical information to help solve problems that may arise, such as sensory overload, this book guides you and your child towards positive interactions with music, regardless of whether or not they have prior musical abilities. Dr. Berger is a renowned music educator, author, music therapist, and concert pianist sought internationally to lecture and share her expertise. Her five published books can be found on Amazon, and her research and many published papers can be downloaded from academia.edu. Born in Argentina, and raised in Brooklyn, NY, she attended the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art. Dr. Berger has lectured in Europe, South America, Israel, and across the USA. She is currently retired, relocated from Connecticut to Durham, NC. She continues to provide conference lectures in Music Therapy for Autism and for Performance Anxiety. She holds a BFA in Piano Performance from Carnegie Mellon University, an MFS in Music Therapy from NYU, and a PhD in Neurophysiologic Music Therapy from Roehampton University, London. kids, music 'n' autism Life and Music from a Classical Composer by Tina Davidson Boyle & Dalton, 2023 In her memoir Let Your Heart Be Broken, SAI Composers Bureau Member Tina Davidson traces her extraordinary life in equally lyrical language, juxtaposing memories, journal entries, notes on compositions in progress, and insights into the life of an artist – and a mother – at work. Tina Davidson was three-and-a-half when she was adopted from her foster home in Sweden by a visiting American professor. Soon she is the oldest of five children, living with her mother and stepfather in Turkey, Germany, and Israel. She studies music and becomes a prolific pianist and composer. But something about her birth remains unnamed and hidden. When she returns to Sweden, she contacts the Swedish adoption agency. "Come," says the voice on the phone, "I have information for you." Along the way, she meets Ernest Hemingway and Carl Sandburg, survives an attack by nomads in Turkey, and learns her birth father is a world-famous scientist. Davidson writes, "To create this memoir, I relied heavily on my memory, family stories of my childhood, and pulled from my journals, editing for clarity. These I piece together side by side like patchwork – my growing up next to my artistic process, my evolving understanding of my life and origins next to the music I create. Both are an act of placing and grounding. Writing, however, is more vulnerable, truer to life's story telling. Composing is in a world of its own – both emotion and energy; I camouflage myself, wrap myself in a language that has no direct translation. Writing reveals me naked." A recent review: "Whether she is writing about the hauntings of childhood or the day-to-day practical work of a leading American composer, Tina Davidson writes with precision and poetry, bringing us into her remarkable life." — Tim Page, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Learn more about Davidson's work at http://www.tinadavidson.com Let Your Heart Be Broken Let Your Heart Be Broken

• Cover