[In Memory of Sten Roer Andersen (1948-2013)]

“The Music Never Stops!”

By Benedikte B. Scheiby

I got to know the Great Dane, the music therapist Sten Roer, when I was a tenured professor at Aalborg University in the 1980s and was connecting with him in relation to a music therapy internship that had been established with his help at Psykiatrisk Hospital in Aarhus. On the phone he sounded extremely energetic, positive and served a funny joke in between the more serious talk. He would often call me out of the blue to chat and connect — and we would even sing a song together sometimes in relation to how the weather was that particular day or related to the mood we were in. A song that often was sung was the old Danish Carl Nielsen song “Jeg ved en laerkerede”

The song was published in 1924. It symbolizes something very Danish and illustrates the connection to being a child in nature and connecting with nature. The Danish lark sings a very beautiful song in the summer time while it is flying high up in the sky. For me, this connects very closely to who Sten was: he was very connected to his “inner child” at all times. He was also a big nature lover and had a beautiful summer farm on Mols in Denmark that he loved to go to and relax in the nature. We often spoke about that place as my Godmother, whom I was very connected to and also loved the nature, had a summerhouse in the same part of Denmark, where we often listened to the song of the lark in the summer nights.

The text (author Harald Bergstedof) of the song has several themes that are directly related to Sten. In the song a young child is discovering a lark nest out in the field, and the child is observing the life of the lark family very closely with much care and love, and with a strong sense of needing to protect the birds and keep them safe there. Sten was not afraid of going on a journey of discovery and bring his concepts of community music therapy around in the world. And the band that he worked with as a music therapist was like a family of larks in a nest for the group members. Sten had a very alive connection to his own “inner child” as well as to the group members’ “inner children.” He was very caring, supportive and protective of the band members helping them to be able to sing their songs and make their music in all their fragility in their struggles with mental illness. After singing the song, it leaves you with a feeling of being a child and having discovered something very special and beautiful. You feel the importance of protection and making sure that “the larks are safe and well taken care of.”

Sten often presented himself with the curiosity and presence of a lively spontaneous child that constantly was on a journey of discovery. He and I were very connected in what this song symbolizes and expresses emotionally. The connection was also in his very Danish manners of singing folk songs, drinking beer, laughing and the ability to create “hygge” - a word that has no direct English counterpart but that can be understood as a special mood of coziness and closeness amongst friends. I’m sure that this something that his patients felt and it must have been very healing for them to experience. It includes a connection to the inner as well as the outer music. Sten loved the version of this song by the Danish rock musician Kim Larsen:

 

At the hospital where he worked Sten was the manager of the social work department and an autodidact music therapist who was the first person in Denmark to introduce the concept of community music therapy using rock bands. The psychiatric patients were supported in working on the process of recovery and accessing resources through music performance and collaborating together in music. Since the middle of the 1980s some of the staff at the psychiatric hospital started to play music together with some of their patients. It quickly became a success and they established together with Sten in 1993 the famous Chok Rock Band that not only often played at parties and arrangements at the hospital but also on cafés and music venues in Aarhus, toured in Denmark and also later on was touring in USA- the first time in in 1997.

In the USA the band took part in a talk show on TV, and gave concerts on three different psychiatric institutions. The type of music that was played was a mixture of rock ballads, Latin and jazz. Sten was the manager of the band, playing the keyboard part and singing with full steam.

He set the trend for what is becoming more common in several psychiatric institutions and medical hospitals all over the world with performing rock bands, gospel groups, hip hop groups, rap groups, chamber music, and choirs.

He was an inspiration for us at the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function where I have been a music therapist for 17 years and director of the training and supervision. At IMNF we have a recording studio where the patients as part of their therapeutic process and rehabilitation can work on recordings and performances of their songs and compositions. Currently there is a patient house rock band, a gospel group, rap musicians, blues musicians and a classical music composer that perform for each other and at parties every so often.

I was privileged to provide Sten with music therapy supervision on his work with the patients. When he entered my private practice music therapy studio it was like the Danish wind blew right through the room and he would often starting off with an insult like:”Goddaw din gamle rov” which in translation means “Hello you old ass.” And we both would laugh big time! He worked very intensely, deep and hard on self-improvement and self-growth through music centered supervision which showed in his work with the patients.

I remember him as being an excellent musician, extremely passionate and compassionate towards his friends, the patients and students, extremely fast, spontaneous and expressive, always eager to learn new things. H was a very authentic person with a big presence and charisma. He was also a vivid sportsman running the streets in New York when he was here and I have fun memories of listening to Sten talking and watching soccer games with my son Daniel as if it was his own son. Of course he loved good wine, snaps, beer and herring, as it is common for a Dane to like. My feeling is that he stepped into peoples’ souls and hearts and became quickly a member of the American music therapy tribe.

Sten would every so often call me up on my office phone and discuss his new projects and book writing, and we would talk with each other as if it had been yesterday we saw each other. He was always full of ideas and projects and interestingly he became a CMT music therapist in USA and very well known in the American music therapy community as lecturer, music coach, teacher and musician. He will be lovingly missed by me and his colleagues and friends here in USA and I am sure that his spirit is present when the Chok-Rock band is playing his songs and music on Café Svej in Aarhus in Denmark and other places in the world.