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In October 2000, three weeks after I came back to Israel from my peaceful and beautiful sabbatical in NY and Kauai, the second "intifada" started and has been going on ever since. We, Israelis and Palestinians, have been living with terror constantly. Every day I expect the worst and wonder where it will happen today, how many people will get killed, will I know anybody who got killed? Will I come home safe at the end of the day? Fear, restlessness, pain and despair have become part of my life.

After September 11th, the world has changed. Terror is not only in the Middle East and other few places here and there. It is everywhere. NY, which always used to be the symbol of safety for me, the place where I come in order to escape terror and fear, is no longer safe. Terror hit it hard. The USA will never be the same.

Karlheinz Stockhausen, in an interview with Peter Heyworth that is published in his book: Towards a Cosmic Music (1991), was asked if he thinks that this is an apocalyptic age. His answer was no. He explains: "Apocalypse means an end. This is an age of purification and after it will come rebirth. But rebirth can only happen when there is death. A lot of death. Things cannot go on the way they are. So they must die out - and they will"(1991, p. 12).

Well, he obviously envisioned the future. There is a lot of death. Everywhere.

What is the meaning of music therapy at this time? What can we, music therapists, contribute to the world these days?

One way is to engage in volunteering work and offer our services and knowledge to traumatized people. An e-mail that was sent on September 21st from Edith Hillman Boxill and Maria Elena Lopez-Vinader, co-directors of Music Therapists for Peace, Inc., indicated such action. Moments after the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Music Therapists for Peace went into action, mobilizing music therapists in NY to give service to traumatized people. On Saturday, September 16th, music therapists, musicians, and friends of MTP gathered to make immediate plans to go into schools, community centers, child day care centers, churches and synagogues to offer their services. The work took place in several schools.

Here in Israel, throughout the years, there have been several projects in which expressive therapists worked with traumatized children due to terrorism in special centers that were built for that matter. Music therapists have been working with people who suffer from PTSD, wounded people and people who lost their loved ones as a result of wars and terrorist attacks.

This kind of work we can do AFTER such violent acts take place. We work with the horrible results of evil. Can we do anything in order to prevent that from happening? Is there something we can do BEFORE such acts take place? Can we erase evil from the world?

In a time of purification, as Stockhausen calls it, maybe each one of us has to purify him or herself: To look within and find love, warmth and light that each of us have within him and share it with others. In Chanukah, a Jewish holiday that we just celebrated a few days ago, we lit candles in the menorah. The habit is to put the menorah at the window. Why does one place it at the window? One explanation is to bring the light from within - outside to one's home and out to the world. At the same time, to open one's heart and let the light from the outside comes inside. This way, the light within connects to the light outside and becomes bigger and stronger.

Clive Robbins wrote me a personal letter after what happened on September 11th.
I would like to share the part that ends the letter with you.

"I despair that we shall ever have a peaceful world. But each one of us has access to that power within that creates, that holds spiritual values for human life. Each of us has--and we can share--capacities for love and faith, beauty, decency, dignity, even nobility of spiritual purpose. We can be idealistic, we can strive, we can have humor, and appreciation, and generosity of spirit. This is what we are privileged to live for and contribute to human growth. We have found our work and we must do it as well as we can. We must continuously value our values." (Robbins, a personal letter, Sept. 15th 2001).

Stockhausen (1991) says that what he is trying to do is "to find unity: to produce music that brings us to the essential One. And this is going to be badly needed during the time of shocks and disasters that is going to come. Models of coming together, of mutual love, of love as a cohesive force". (p. 12). He also says that if he is in his best state, his music is going to have a unifying effect.

I don't believe that I, as an individual, can change the world. I can only change myself. But together, as a community, we have the power to do more for the world we live in. I believe that now, more than ever, it is our task to try to make it a better place.
As music therapists we share music with others. By listening and creating music together we build a community. In the community we listen to each other's music and learn to respect each other's music, because respecting the music of the other leads to respecting the other. In a community we share what Clive says each of us has - capacities for love and faith, beauty, decency, dignity, even nobility of spiritual purpose.

It can start small with sharing, listening and creating in our immediate environment, with people who are like us, (culturally, age wise, gender, etc.) and can grow bigger and more powerful by continuing with others who are very different from us.

Last year I went to hear an Arab choir "Oud El Nad" from Nathereth that came to give a performance of classic Arab music in Tel Aviv. Its conductor, Katy Jarjura, who is also a music therapist, (the only Arab music therapist in Israel), built the choir. I wasn't the only one who was so moved by the performance. People who sat next to me had tears in their eyes. The music was very powerful. So was the message that came through the experience: "We are Arabs, singing our human wounds and sharing our heritage with you, Jewish people. By sharing our music with you, we transcend culture and religion and create a moment of closeness and unity."

I don't think that we have to like the music of the other in order to respect it. We don't need necessarily to agree with each other. Yet, disagreement doesn't have to become hatred. We can make music together with people with whom we disagree and find it hard to accept them. Making music together can open hearts. Making music together can transcend all differences. It can change the atmosphere and bring a moment of beauty and connection.

We can create models of coming together, of mutual love. In educating ourselves, our students, clients and children to love instead of hate, to respect the ones who are different than us, to be tolerant to other opinions but also to learn to differentiate and recognize when these opinions become fanatic and dangerous, we are doing our work and fulfilling our task.

References:

Robbins, Clive (September 2001). A personal letter.

Stockhausen Karlheinz (1991). Towards a Cosmic Music. Boston, MA: Element.

How to cite this page

Amir, Dorit (2002) What is the Meaning of Music Therapy These Days?. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=fortnightly-columns/2002-what-meaning-music-therapy-these-days