Lose Yourself in the Music, The Moment, Yo! Music Therapy with an Adolescent Group Involved in Gangsterism

Abstract

Since forming the Music Therapy Community Clinic and beginning our work in Cape Town's townships, we have been overwhelmed by the needs of the communities, the open arms with which they welcome and invite us in, and the many challenges we meet on a daily basis. At times, we become disheartened, struggling to make sense of our work, and at others, the music just works: it sings, dances, permeates, draws in, explores and explains. As we are writing this article, in June 2005, we are in the process of reflecting back on a busy school term at our Heideveld Project. A new project focuses on a group of adolescents, facing the danger of becoming immersed in the gang culture of this community. This is the subject of this essay.