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Sunday Worship: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

06/10/2013

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday Worship, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

From Three Ways School in Bath, with singer and music therapist Adrian Snell.

From Three Ways School in Bath, a specialist school that gives young people physical and sensory support and workplace of singer, composer and music therapist Adrian Snell.

'Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.' From Three Ways School Bath - a Specialist School for Physical and Sensory for young people from 3 to 18, and work place of singer and composer Adrian Snell. Adrian's albums have sold half a million copies to an eclectic audience worldwide, but he also works as a music therapist with young people with special educational needs. Preacher: The Revd Martin Lloyd Williams. 

In the 1980s, Adrian's Easter and Christmas rock operas The Passion and The Virgin were premiered on BBC Radio 1. Today he works as a music therapist and Arts Therapy Consultant at Three Ways, a special needs school in Bath, from where Sunday Worship will be broadcast.

Adrian's music room at Three Ways is a world away from the concert stage and recording studio, but he says he has no regrets about his transition from international performer to music therapist. 'This has been the most important step in my career as a musician', he says, 'many of us describe music as 'the language of the heart'. 'In the world of special needs, where many of our children are either unable to communicate through the spoken word, or choose not to do so, the idea of music as a language takes on a deeper meaning.'

The son of a bishop and the godson of an Archbishop of Canterbury, Adrian is challenged in another way, 'I find myself asking why are people with special needs so under represented in our churches and Christian communities? We have failed to offer a theology of inclusion, both practically and spiritually. One of the great privileges I have as a music therapist is that I am focusing on what our children and young people CAN do, beyond their limitations.'

This special edition of Sunday Worship will 'drop in' on sessions where music therapy techniques, are used. Interspersed between these moments, the programme will feature songs from Adrian's new album 'Fierce Love', which was inspired by the children he works with and features the extraordinary range of instruments he uses as a therapist. 

The service includes a reflection by The Revd Martin Lloyd William's, who until recently had a son at Three Ways School, as well as prayers and readings. Martin openly shares his personal experience, and reflected theology, of bringing up a son with Downs Syndrome. 

This edition of Sunday Worship will be broadcast at 8.10 am on Sunday on Radio 4 and available afterwards on iPlayer.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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