Music Created by Community
Foundation of "the Organization to Promote Community Music Therapy (Commu-on)"
After I wrote my previous report for Voices, I started thinking about what sort of things I could do to bring disabled and non-disabled people together through music. As a therapist specializing in private therapeutic sessions, I had never worked with a large number of people such as a community. So I first started talking to people who might be interested in this type of community work. I had already collaborated with local amateur musicians to improve some of my clients’ musical skills and social skills. Some of them had told me they had enjoyed working with my clients and had the opportunity to perform/play together as musical equals. With those experiences, they quickly became interested in my idea of using music to bring people together. We then formed an organization called "The Organization to Promote Community Music Therapy (Commu-on)".
"Don’t Put Charity Before the Music."
While discussing what the missions of Commu-on should be, one of the members proposed that we should always put music before good deeds. He had seen some individuals and groups whose work focused on people with disability and music but that didn’t pay enough attention to the quality of the music they produced. This made him think that that kind of stance might cause prejudice against people with disabilities contrary to their intentions. He also thought that if our theme was "music with the disabled," some of our prospective members might mistake our projects as charity, or take part themselves as help-givers as if they were doing "a favor" for our members with disabilities.
Although music is easily available with CDs sold at large chain stores as well as karaoke being so popular, Japanese people have fewer opportunities to encounter live music. While living in the United States for six years as a student studying music therapy, I noticed music was more closely intertwined with everyday life. People have more opportunities to listen to music being performed: marching bands at parades and football games, church choirs, rock bands in bars, a cappella doo-wop groups at flea markets, pianists at department stores, saxophonists on the street, and people playing the guitar on their porches. Such music might not always be performed by highly talented musicians, but it does brighten the atmosphere in every occasion. Seeing such scenes makes people feel music is something that is always around, and motivates children to learn to play it themselves.
In Japan, by contrast, the types and forms of music taught in elementary, junior and senior high schools are minimal, with only 2 to 3 hours of music classes provided weekly. The variety of musical situations mentioned above is not present. Opportunities to enjoy musicians’ performances are extremely limited. It seems that Japanese people enjoy music only through CDs and in concert halls, where most performances are of a very high quality and by professional artists. Such music works to emphasize a distance between the performers and the audience. Though Karaoke is very popular and many people enjoy singing with it, its poor sound quality, excessive echo and association with occasions where alcohol is served make it apparently different from music of professional quality.
Probably due to these contexts, most Japanese people become defensive about the situations in which one becomes involved in playing music. In other words, they tend to take a phrase such as "Let’s have fun playing music together!" as a challenge. This attitude may be attributed to a sheer lack of experience in playing musical instruments, or they might have the notion that they are expected to play perfectly just as professional musicians do.
Whatever the case may be, I have the impression that the general public rarely has an opportunity to experience interactive musical relationships. For those reasons, we have decided on "Encouraging the public to enjoy music more" as our primary objective to bring music back to all of us, as playing and enjoying it is a universal ability.
Among the many ideas of how to make our mission real, we decided to launch "the Big Band Project" in which both disabled and able people would participate in any form of music with whatever musical instruments they like, or even just singing. We organized a band called "the Big Band" consisting of 20 to 30 musicians because all the executive members of Commu-on had their musical backgrounds in band-style music ensembles.
Ripples of reaction -- Episode in the Microsystem of Bronfenbrenner (Stige)
From this section on, each of the formational and developmental processes of the Big Band is detailed with reference to Bronfenbrenner’s system. (Stige, 2002)
When recruiting members for the band, we only recruited people without disabilities because we could not predict the severity of disability that potential members might have. From my clinical/educational experiences, I have learned that the parents of children with disabilities may sometimes pursue educational services even though their children are not socially and/or psychologically prepared for such activities. So we decided to have some of the clients of my music therapy sessions and the disabled students of my music lessons participate in the Big Band for this first attempt.
B is one of my guitar students and has Down’s syndrome. As he had been chosen as a member of the band, I selected "Tohku Tohku" written by Japanese pop musician Noriyuki Makihara for the first of the band’s pieces to facilitate his participation because he had already started practicing it. It was a song familiar to him as he had sung it at his high school graduation ceremony.
Over the years of his guitar lessons, B has developed the ability to play the bass line on the sixth string as well as simple repetitious melodic motifs on the first string. The melody of the chorus part of the song is shown below.
I have simplified the melody into the three-note motifs shown below. He only plays this part on the first string. So the visual aid I gave him has the fret numbers only.
In the course of his private lessons, he became able to perform this simplified melody in tempo as fast as the original. But his performance was rather unstable. I was also concerned about how it would fit in the Big Band, where the singers were to sing this melody as well. So I took the approach of having him play a short introduction in free tempo accompanied by the organ only (see the movie linked).
Fig. 2 Movie 1. [http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=b9qMI17CIoo]
The guitar sound is modified with distortion and delay effectors so that the sound is sustained and better suited to the style of the music. The organ player, one of the executive members of our organization, describes this part:
His guitar solo part comes in at the very beginning of the song; so the tension is there. Also, because the part is a simple melody played only with my organ in the background, with all the attention of the audience on us, it is challenging to perform. I imagine he feels the same. With the deep breaths he takes, his serious look and gaze before the performance, and the way he somewhat proudly gives me a cue to start, he looks like a real musician. And he inspires my musicianship as well. I feel great when his guitar and my organ sound as one. That is the moment which makes me feel happiest.
The guitar solo part is in free tempo, and he would often move on to the next note too quickly. But that tendency gradually lessened as his musical skills improved. On the day of the music festival, the effects of the free tempo and the delayed guitar sound brought out the best in his performance. It was not stable or skilled, but that gave a unique flavor to the melody he played. It was just like words spoken in a staccato fashion, as if each note played with his guitar was a word of a song. That reminded me of the instruction his music therapist would give him during his lessons "Play just like you sing!" His performance was wonderful, just like singing, which, in turn, made me enjoy playing the organ. I’m sure that the staccato introduction of the tune grabbed the heart of the audience right away.
As seen from the preceding paragraphs, I provided him with various considerations during the course of his private lessons, which are at the level of the microsystem, so that he would be accepted as one of the musicians of the Big Band, not as a "disabled person."
Reciprocal musical influence--Episode in the Mesosystem of Bronfenbrenner (Stige)
Within two months of starting recruitment, about 20 people showed an interest in participating in the Big Band. They have different musical backgrounds. Some play the electric bass, the drums or percussion. Others play the flute, the musical bells or the harmonica. Some sing in a classical style. Others sing R&B.
To conduct a band with such a large number of people, I have divided the band into four ensembles, percussion/improvisation, mini band, vocals and guitars. This section reports a good example of reciprocal musical relationships observed in one of the percussion/improvisation ensemble rehearsals, which is classified as "the Mesosystem." (Stige)
E, one of my adult students in his twenties with Down’s syndrome, also takes my music lessons for leisure. As he is highly talented at improvising, I do not instruct him to play only from sheet music. Instead, I encourage him to play more creatively through improvisational sessions, by teaching him how to change his style accordingly to match the other players’ performances and to wait without playing until the other players finish their improvisation. He belonged to the percussion/improvisation ensemble.
I chose "There Must be an Angel" by Eurythmics for the band’s second number. One of the reasons it was selected was that the chord progression of the interlude allows easy improvisation in the Ionian mode (major scale). E’s improvisational skills brought about reciprocal musical relationships in the percussion/improvisation ensemble.
As I organized the rehearsal that day, I made each player perform his/her improvisational part in turn. However, all the members, including myself, felt unsure with their performances. As the drummer of the band was absent, I played the drums, which made the percussionist feel uneasy. He recalls, "I wasn’t sure how I was going to lead the ensemble. Since the drums were played in a different way, my first priority was to go along with... the drums. I tried to play more tightly than usual."
While listening to each player perform in succession, I noticed that each solo improvisation was not created after the player listened to the preceding part, thus the improvisational parts did not match. I was not sure what I could do to make each player aware of the other members’ performance to give the entire improvisational section a flow. The harmonica player, who has played the instrument for more than six years, must have felt the same way.
She recollects the occasion as follows:
I had decided on how to play the melody. But I wasn’t certain if it was the right way. I felt a change in the flow and the atmosphere, and that made me anxious. I sensed ... something was a little different from what I had expected. I didn’t know what I should do. I was so worried; I didn’t know how I should play my solo part.
So, after the part where the bass guitar and percussions were played together, I played the drums a little lighter and maintained that performance. That worked to make the players inspire one another, improving the quality of their performances. The sound block (a xylophone-like instrument) player E played the most important role in this process.
The "catalyst" of this part was a percussionist who is involved with promoting drum circles and who works with the elderly about five times a month. He recalls the episode as follows:
The sound block player (E) was paying attention to my drumming; I ended my solo part with a drum roll as if to provoke him. This seemed to inspire E, and he played the sound block just like a drum roll. (After his solo,) he was twirling his mallets, looking very proud like he was saying "How about that?!" That made me happy. At the same time, I thought I was going to inspire him more.
The flute player, who plays a solo part that follows E’s passage, has had clinical training as a music therapist under my instruction, and is also one of the students in my improvisation class. She started playing the flute for the first time in many years to participate in a musical event last year. She has been asked to join in the Big Band to provide the sound block player with minimal assistance. She recalls the moment as follows:
"I usually play a piece that I have practiced beforehand or play the flute thinking how I was going to harmonize with the others. The sound block player next to me was in the groove. He looked happy and blended in. This makes me feel like I want to blend in, too."
The harmonica player, who was unsure how she was going to play, recollects the occasion as follows:
...I sensed a different feeling; something was a little different from what I had expected. (But) at first, E was enjoying himself so much when he played..., he was in the groove... and I... thought... I should be too... and play just like him. I was wondering if I should imitate his playing, wondering what he was going to play next if I did, wondering if it was going to be fun if I did. I decided to play just like him, but I was wondering if I should make some changes. I thought I should decide after I listen to how the flute player plays, who was going to play her solo before me. I was paying attention to her part, listening carefully to see how she was going to play. I was reassured because I had something else, not just my worries, to rely on, something I can use as a model.
As described above, E’s performance influenced by the percussionist’s impressive drumming created a series of performances and the attitude toward improvisation of the following players. This positive chain reaction produced a sense of unity throughout the entire performance. This was the moment that demonstrated "the part where all the players interact with each other as equal partners in music," which the executive members of Commu-on had experienced.
Fig. 3 Movie 2. [http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=93IoZA2JFdQ]
Getting out in the open -- Experience in the Exosystem
After that, the Big Band had rehearsals of individual and combined ensembles while seeking ways to publicly present itself as its members grew in number up to 30. Its first public performance was at a large musical festival held every year in Sendai. The band played in front of a large audience for the first time on June 1, 2008.
Fig. 4 Movie 3. [http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=35SXPJ05vZA]
Fig. 5 Movie 4. [http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=nnhNIXjIfGU]
Each member gained a unique experience thorough participating in this event, which will be reported as a series of stories latterly.
References
Yuji Igari (2004). "Music therapy is changing" and so am I: Reconstructing the identity of a music therapist. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved June 16, 108, from http://www.voices.no/mainissues/mi40004000158.html
Stige, Brynjulf (2002). Culture-centered music therapy. Gilsum: Barcelona Publishers.
