Rosetta
De Battista
is an established pianist who performs regularly as a soloist and
accompanist both in Malta and overseas and a professional Music Therapist
with a Master’s Degree in
Music Therapy, from the Roehampton Institute of the University of Surrey.
She has been lecturing on the Speech & Language Therapy Course and the
B. Ed. courses at the University of Malta since 1997.
Between
1996 and 2001 she worked at The Eden Foundation where she set up the first
Music Therapy Department in Malta. This involved a weekly caseload of
Music Therapy intervention with children and young adults, training of
staff and supervising a team of five musicians as well as a training drama
therapist. She teaches music at St. Martin’s College, in Swatar. She has
taught music and piano for many years to both children and adults in
London and in Malta.
Between
1994 and 1995, Rosetta De Battista worked at St. Pier’s, Lingfield, UK.
There she established a three-day per week post working with children
primarily with Epilepsy, but also having learning difficulties, emotional
and behavioural problems and/or Autism. Music Therapy is now part of the
enthusiastic team of psychiatrists, psychologists, speech & language
therapists, teachers and counselors.
Between
1994 and 1996 she worked at The Roche School, Putney, UK, where she led
the school chamber orchestra, taught classroom music to children between
the ages of three and fourteen. She was also the school’s piano teacher.
Between
1995 and 1996, she worked within a multidisciplinary team, including two
other Music Therapists at Elifar, Farnham, in the UK. She was responsible
for providing assessment and treatment programmes for children and adults
with multiple and profound learning disabilities. She liased with staff
and other professionals, reported on clients’ progress as appropriate
and provided six monthly reviews.
Rosetta
De Battista’s work experience also includes six-month placements at
St.Ebba’s Hospital in Epsom UK, (SLD) and Singlegate School (language
unit), in London. As a volunteer of the Order of St. John she worked at
Dar il-Kaptan, Ir-Razzett tal-Ħbiberija, St. Vincent de Paule Home
for the Elderly and The Good Shepherd, Malta.
Rosetta
De Battista obtained her LRSM (Licenciate of the Royal Schools of Music)
in 1990 and her FTCL (Fellowship of the Trinity College of London) and
ARCM (Associate of the Royal College of Music, London) in 1992. Between
1989 and 1993 she studied for a Performers’ Diploma and a degree in
teaching at the Royal College
of Music in London and between 1995 and 1996 she attended a course on
“Music in the National Curriculum” at Southlands College, Roehampton
Institute, London.
In
1998 she attended the European Music Therapy Conference in Belgium and was
appointed official representative for Malta, and in 2001, Rosetta De
Battista attended the European Music Therapy Conference in Naples and
presented a paper on Music Therapy and Autism.
Since
1996 she has attended several short courses and conferences on topics of
interest such as music education at the Trinity College; Autism; Gestalt
Psychotherapy; Behaviourist Therapy; Cerebral Palsy and RNIB Courses both
in the UK and Malta.
While
in London, between 1995 and 1996, Rosetta De Battista attended short
courses and conferences on Secure Infants: Mother & Baby Interaction
in the First Year; Interpretation of Dreams; Music and the Psyche; Music
in the Early Years; Voice and Movement Therapy; Music for the Sensory
Impaired; Music Therapy and Neuro Disability; Art Therapy; Psychodrama.
In
1994 and 1995 she attended regular workshops and meetings for associates
of the British Society for Music Therapists and Association of
Professional Music Therapy.
In
1998 she studied for Part One of the Gestalt Psychotherapy training at the
Gestalt Institute in Malta.
Since
1998 she has formed part of Chicken Shed Theatre Company, London as a
volunteer on their music programmes.
In
2001 the Third World Group asked Rosetta De Battista and Renzo Spiteri to
lead a series of drum circle workshops for adolescents and young adults.
The six-month “Rhythms for Life” project has been funded by the Youth
programme of the EU and is part of the “Ritmi” project of the Third
World Group. Her collaboration with the Group started in 1999 when she
organised a drum circle workshop with Moussé Ndiaye for disabled children
at the Eden Foundation.
January
2002
