A Music Therapist Remembers Michael Jackson
I know this creator will go. In order not to die I attempt to bind my soul to my work. (Michelangelo)
For the last few days I have been listening to a lot of Michael Jackson’s music – Thriller, Beat It, ABC, Billie Jean, and others. I have also watched the stunning videos of these songs. On Thursday, June 25th at 2:26 pm, Michael Jackson died in Los Angeles, California of cardiac arrest at the age of 50. For a sample of his music and photographs of his career, as well as a brief commentary, see: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/25/jackson.career.life/
The Jackson story is one of rags to riches that spans 50 years from his humble beginnings in Gary, Indiana to the November 1982 release of "Thriller" in collaboration with Quincy Jones, to the release of his humanitarian collaborative recording "We are the World" in 1984, co-led by Lionel Richie to protest starvation and genocide in Africa, to the tragic events of 2003 and allegations of child molestation. Though acquitted of all charges, one could say that Michael JacksonÂ’s life ended there and then.
I watched the circus of the trial here in Santa Barbara, near Neverland, the home of this would-be puer aeternis, Peter Pan, the cross-over artist. Jackson broke so many barriers. He was the first Black artist to perform on MTV. He was a rather androgynous person. He crossed over musical genres. In fact, he was one of the first recording artists to do sampling, a complicated contemporary genre. In "Thriller", we hear the voice of Vincent Price from Dracula, the film, in the background. In fact, one of my favorite modern groups, Escape Mechanism, continues this sampling tradition in very powerful ways that one might even say reflect Aristotle’s three concepts of epistome, techne, and phronesis – or the science of knowledge, technology, and ever-day wisdom. Imagine that! For more about Escape Mechanism view/hear this National Public Radio interview and commentary: http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/02/the-art-of-mashups.
The King of PopÂ’s influence on contemporary music cannot be understated. He influenced not only the genres of sampling, MashUp, Hip Hop, Rap, Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, Jazz, but every performing pop artist since the release of his so-called cross over album Thriller. As the artist Usher said in an interview about Jackson, "This man made a change in the world." Lisa Marie Presley said only: "I was afraid he would die early like my father." Elvis Presley had a similar profile with music, performance, prescription drugs, and legend.
My reflections on the life of Michael Jackson have to do with his originality and his creativity. What is the price? Jackson offered the Michelangelo quote in the beginning of this story in his last interview, which was with Ebony Magazine in September 2007. As artists, do we create because we want to be immortal? And, again, what is the price of such cross-over and bridge builder types like Michael Jackson? In an interview in this issue of Voices, Nancy McMaster, Canadian music therapy pioneer, states that she believes music therapy is still a "radical" idea. We must also be cross-over social activists. We build a bridge between music and therapy, between aesthetics and science, between mainstream services and alternative services. For goodness sakes, we even cross over the two sides of the brain.
In a wonderful documentary series titled The Music Instinct: Science and Song, we see the irrefutable evidence that music is effective -- changing the brain, causing new growth and new connections across the two sides of the brain, as well as in the front and back. This series showcasing Bobby McFerran, Yo Yo Ma, and other musicians, as well as scientists from the Max Plank Institute and many neuroscientists from around the world, showcases music therapists as well. The emphasis in this program is on music making, or what we music therapists would call active music therapy. You can learn more about this series. Just Google The Music Instinct: Science and Song. This is an exciting project.
While watching this program, I was certainly not surprised, as a music therapist, when scientific experts described how they boil down the essence of how music changes the brain to the element of surprise, which is one of the core qualities in the Field of Play, my own work originally published twenty two years ago (Kenny, 2006). Sometimes we just have to wait for science to catch up with art and artists, a fact well documented in Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer (2007). He documents how artists have long been the revolutionaries in thought and social action, the cross overs in society.
But let’s come back to the Man in the Mirror, Michael Jackson. I’m very sad about this. One of his sound technicians quoted Jackson: "Why can’t we create new sounds, a new instrument?" He said that Michael always lived on his own cutting edge – exploring new possibilities, never content with the last creation. I feel that way about my music therapy practice. You would never find me playing the same improvisation twice. Originality and creativity are the drive behind my own work, and I’m sure it is the same for many of you. In fact, I once described my work as "a field of loving and creating through sound." And it’s true. We hear about the loving part in new discourses like positive psychology. And you can read an exquisite example about music therapy and love in an article written by Korean music therapist Jinah Kim in this issue of Voices.
And how about Michael Jackson? How did he feel about love? We may have judgments about his life style from the limited amount of information, often sensationalized, that we received from the media about Michael JacksonÂ’s alleged indiscretions. But undoubtedly, he was, at least in his healthier days, a kind, gentle, and loving soul. Those who were closest to him at all levels of society profoundly document this from family to life-long friends to life-long collaborators to a president (Ronald Reagan).
I may never get the answer to my question about what is the price, the price of creativity. Michael Jackson and many other creative artists are mysterious, enigmatic rule breakers who have tragic ends. What is the price of change? All I know is that often, the price is high. This is why music therapists need to position ourselves at all levels of society so that we can plant seeds for present and future growth. We must also work collaboratively with "soulful" others who understand the power and agency of our work. We must celebrate the gratification and fulfillment inherent in so much of our work with patients and clients. We may not become "immortal", but we will have our little moments of beauty and grace.
References
Kenny, C. (2006) Music and life in the field of play: An anthology. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Press.
Lehrer, J. (2007). Proust was a neuroscientist. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
