Paul Nordoff

Paul Nordoff (June 4, 1909 – January 18, 1977) was an American composer and music therapist. His music is generally tonal and neo-Romantic in style.

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Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he studied the piano with at the Philadelphia Conservatory, receiving a B.M. degree in 1927 and an M.M. degree in 1932. He later studied with Rubin Goldmark at the Juilliard School and in 1960 he received a Bachelor of Music Therapy from the Combs College of Music in Philadelphia. He served as head of composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory (1938–1943), a teacher at Michigan State College (1945–1949), and professor of music at Bard College (1948–1959).

He received two Guggenheim Fellowships (in 1933 and 1935). He composed the score to Martha Graham's 1939 ballet Every Soul Is a Circus.

Nordoff's music was published by Associated, Carl Fischer, Theodore Presser, and G. Schirmer.

Also active in the field of music therapy, he co-developed the Nordoff-Robbins system of music therapy in the 1950s and 1960s.

Nordoff died in Herdecke, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany in 1977 at the age of 68.

Books

(All in collaboration with C. Robbins):

• Music Therapy for Handicapped Children: Investigations and Experience. New York, 1965.
• Music Therapy in Special Education. New York, 1971.
• Therapy in Music for Handicapped Children. New York, 1971.
• Creative Music Therapy: Individualized Treatment for the Handicapped Child. New York, 1977.