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ALP/Approach

A Platform for Multisensory Communication, Creativity, and Connection

The ALP/Playground Approach is a multidimensional methodology for communication and development. Created by composer, conductor and educator Keren Rosenbaum, it is rooted in Reflexive Music—a synesthetic and relational form of expression where sound, movement, and presence create new ways to listen, connect, and co-create.

From Active to Attune Listening

When Listening Becomes Resonance

Originally based on Active Listening, the approach has evolved into Attune Listening—a deeper practice where presence becomes mutual and communication becomes responsive.
In this shift, listening is no longer about focus alone—it’s about resonance: aligning with another person’s rhythm, energy, emotion, and silence.

This resonance forms the foundation for Reflexive Communication—a dynamic, co-created conversation across senses.

Why /Playground?

More Than a Metaphor — A Platform for Change

The slash (/) in ALP/Playground signals that this is not a one-size-fits-all method—it is a flexible platform adaptable to different human contexts:

Family Playground – for parents and children learning to communicate beyond conflict
Executive Playground – for teams cultivating creative, embodied leadership
Community Playground – for choirs, schools, and shared cultural expression
Art Playground – for improvisation, collaboration, and creative flow
Therapeutic Playground – for co-regulation, emotional safety, and expression without words

Each Playground is custom-designed to meet the relational and developmental needs of its participants.

Practicing Playfulness

Inner Play as a Way of Being

At the heart of the ALP/Playground Approach is Playfulness—not as a method of distraction, but as a deep mode of interaction.
This is Inner Play: curiosity, responsiveness, improvisation, and joy. Through structured exercises and improvisational tools, participants enter a state of dynamic co-creation where every movement, sound, or gesture can become meaningful.

Playfulness helps build flexibility, resilience, and emotional regulation—all essential to healthy human connection.

The ALP Tools – Reflexive Music Scores

Structured Exercises for Co-Creation

The ALP/Playground Tools, also known as Reflexive Visual Music Scores, are original practices that use rhythm, sound, movement, silence, and visual cues to activate communication. No musical background is needed—these are scores for connection, not performance.

Participants rehearse roles of listening, initiating, leading, and responding—practicing empathy, attunement, and creative collaboration in real time.

🗣️ Reflexive Communication

Beyond Words, Across Senses

Reflexive Communication is a form of sensory-rich interaction. It invites people to connect through multisensory awareness—tone, tempo, gaze, pressure, and gesture.
It’s especially effective with:

Neurodivergent individuals
Pre-verbal children
Multilingual communities
Emotionally complex or high-stress environments

This approach enables what we call a polyphonic conversation—where multiple emotional and sensory layers are expressed and heard simultaneously.

Who Is It For?

Applications in Diverse Contexts

The ALP/Playground Approach is practiced in:

Educational programs
Therapeutic work with autistic and neurodivergent individuals
Community and arts-based initiatives
Organizational team development and leadership training
Parent-child relationships and family systems

Each Playground is adapted to its setting—offering real-world practice in communication, regulation, and co-creation.

Key Benefits and Guiding Values

Reflexive Awareness – real-time self and other awareness
Multisensory Communication – expanding language beyond words
Fluid Role Practice – leading, following, initiating, responding
Creative Confidence – improvising within safe structure
Attuned Relationships – playful, compassionate connection
Salutogenic Focus – building resilience and well-being through expression

A Universal Framework for Growth

The ALP/Playground Approach is more than a method—it’s a platform for transformation.
By integrating sound, movement, emotion, and play, it opens new pathways for listening, healing, learning, and leading.

Wherever it’s practiced—in families, schools, therapy rooms, refugee camps, choirs, or boardrooms—the Playground invites us to reimagine communication as something we find, play, share, and create—together.

K_COMPOSE IT - A SAFE ENVIRONMENT_REFLEX

The Four ALP/Playground Exercises (Etudes)

The ALP/Playground employs four specific exercises, or etudes, that correspond to each perspective, providing participants with structured yet playful opportunities to explore and embody these principles:

Perspective of I: "CRUMPLE IT"
- Focuses on the self and personal agency.
- Encourages participants to explore their instincts, creativity, and individual presence.
- Through the act of crumpling and reshaping, participants learn to trust their impulses, fostering confidence in their unique contributions.
Key takeaway: Developing self-awareness and authentic expression as a foundational aspect of engaging with others.
Perspective of YOU: "I PAINT = YOU SING"
- Centers on tuning into and responding to another person.
- Requires participants to listen, observe, and adapt to another’s actions, such as singing while they paint.
- Fosters empathy, attunement, and the ability to co-create through reciprocal interaction.
Key takeaway: Building the skills to deeply connect with and respond to the needs, emotions, and expressions of another.
Perspective of WE: "PUSH THE BUTTON"
- Highlights collaboration and shared action within a group.
- The symbolic act of "pushing the button" demonstrates unity and collective decision-making.
- Encourages participants to align their efforts and navigate the balance between individuality and collective intention.
Key takeaway: Developing a sense of belonging and co-creation within a collective framework.
Perspective of WORLD: "WALK/DON’T WALK"
- Expands focus to the environment and broader systems.
- Encourages participants to balance action (walking) with restraint (not walking), symbolizing awareness of external contexts and the interplay between participation and observation.
- Develops sensitivity to the impact of individual and collective actions on the larger world.
Key takeaway: Cultivating intentionality and harmony in engaging with the broader environment and systems.

Connecting the OperaGame Model to the ALP/Playground Approach

The OperaGame Model provides the structural flow for the ALP/Playground, guiding participants through the four phases:

FIND: Identifying and becoming aware of oneself, others, and the context (the foundation of the "I" perspective).
PLAY: Engaging creatively and dynamically with these elements, exploring relationships and interactions (the "YOU" and "WE" perspectives).
SHARE: Connecting and collaborating, bringing personal insights and collective experiences into dialogue (the "WE" perspective in practice).
CREATE: Transforming these interactions into meaningful contributions that resonate beyond the immediate context (expanding into the "WORLD" perspective).

This cyclical process fosters an integrated understanding of the four perspectives, teaching participants to:

Shift fluidly between individual and collective awareness.
Build authentic connections through play and reciprocity.
Harmonize personal expression with shared intention.
Engage with the broader world as active participants in a larger dynamic system.

The Foundation of the ALP Approach

The ALP/Playground Approach is built upon these interconnected principles and exercises. By practicing the etudes, participants:

Develop fluency in embodying and performing each perspective.
Cultivate the ability to balance "being" (awareness of one's place within the flow) and "doing" (creating and interacting within that flow).
Achieve a state of dynamic flow where all perspectives are simultaneously active and interdependent.

This wholistic approach creates a profound sense of attunement, both internally and externally, making the ALP/Playground not only a practice for deeper communication but a model for creative, empathetic, and intentional living. By integrating the perspectives of I, YOU, WE, and WORLD through the OperaGame framework, participants learn to navigate the complexities of human interaction and the environments they inhabit with clarity, confidence, and creativity.

The ALP/Playground Model of the OperaGame: Foundations and Connections

The ALP/Playground Model is built upon the principles of the OperaGame, which operates through four key phases: FIND-PLAY-SHARE-CREATE. These phases form the foundation for the ALP (Attune Listening Playground) approach, designed to cultivate a dynamic and wholistic way of engaging with oneself, others, and the world.

At its core, the ALP/Playground emphasizes fluidity between perspectives: I, YOU, WE, and WORLD. By practicing and embodying these perspectives, individuals learn to harmonize self-awareness, interpersonal connection, group dynamics, and environmental engagement. This dynamic interplay becomes a practice ground for achieving deeper communication, creativity, and understanding.

Reflexive Music

Visual Score

An original and innovative notation technique used to create Reflexive Music. The Reflex Invisible Score, developed by composer, interdisciplinary artist and performer Keren Rosenbaum since 1992. The original arranging and scoring of events creates a surprising integration of sound, visual play and physicality. The method also incorporates lighting, video, and interactive mediums in new technology. The unfolding of the score allows for a simultaneity in multiple events that becomes a completely unique experience and opens up the boundaries of musical expression.

Using outside triggers such as earphone triggers visual triggers, movement triggers and others. The invisible score notation requires of performers an improvisatory freedom in a very strict structural environment. The performers follow internal inspirations to respond and engage in conversations and at the same time are interrupted by earphone triggers that force them into an invisible structure.

The triggered events are notated and allows a much advance manipulation of the composition and at the same time affects and influences the improvised outcome. This ongoing project has been successfully performed and practiced by Reflex Ensemble members as well as many performers and students around the world. As a practice, it fascinates with its complexity and immediacy, and as a performance it is constantly surprising as it reveals the human-ness within structure.

The REFLEX INVISIBLE SCORE Technique was published in the book Notations 21 book by Theresa Sauer in 2009. The original notation and music scores became the foundation ALP Approach and the ALP Tools are all based on Reflexive Music Scores originally performed by the Reflex Ensemble. ALP (Active Listening Playground) Approach can be learned and practiced in the Reflexive Music Academy founded under Composing Community Global Organization.

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