While visiting a sick friend last week, I had an opportunity to attend a music therapy class. It was a first for me.
I’m afraid I had held a very snobbish idea about music therapy, conceived from my days as a piano performance major. I’m now very ashamed to admit that I was one of those nose-in-the-air-scholarship-kids at a prestigious conservatory. Music therapy majors back then were to be sniffed at. Music therapy majors were there to party, we were sure. I didn’t even know what they did exactly but they CERTAINLY weren’t serious musicians such my very talented colleagues and I who were going to hit the big time any day now.
Don’t ask me how I became an opera singer because I really don’t know and I certainly don’t know how I became an editor. Life has a way of making fun of our plans, it seems.
But whispers of college still hang around obviously because, thinking back to last week, I’m embarrassed to say that when I walked in, I didn’t want the music therapy teacher to know that I was a singer. I assumed she would feel intimidated. I’m not sure what I was expecting. Perhaps I thought she’d be some timid soul who would “therap” us by bringing out children’s instruments for us to bang on!
What I found instead was a deeply empathetic and powerful force of a woman, Sally Smith, using a powerful tool: music therapy. I’m incredibly impressed with this teacher, who not only understands the soul of music but understands how to use it to heal the souls of people.
It turned out to be a wonderful and very moving experience that put me back in touch with my reasons for being a singer—something that can be lost so easily in the business of being a singer. Frankly, I wasn’t aware that I was that far “off” my center musically. I’ll explain.
The room was filled with CDs, not children’s instruments. The instructor first wrote on the board and asked us to identify where we were in our lives. Did we feel “STUCK” and in pain? Did we feel that we had an “ACTION PLAN” on how to get unstuck and so were feeling hopeful? Were we “HEALING” and so feeling joyful? Our task was to go through all the CDs and choose a song that reflected our feelings about which of the three states we were in.
It turned out to be a very intimate experience that bonded that little class—even though the tastes ranged from Enya to REM to Beethoven. As the class explained their reasons for choosing different songs, each was played. I thought I wouldn’t be able to relate to different styles of music and that it would be jarring but it was the opposite. Because each participant had explained where they were in this cycle (Stuck, Action Plan, Healing) and a little bit about their life, I found the music causing deep emotions in me that helped me relate to how each person was feeling.
I was really surprised by this reaction. Surprised because I realized that I’d become jaded to music. Music was playing all the time. Supermarket, in the car, background on TV, studying for my next role—music is my job and I analyze it all the time. But I discovered I had become numb to it and it shocked me to the point of tears. One group member selected an Anne Murray song to express emotions relating to an impending divorce. I was moved by the joy of a teenager with nose rings as her song played. There was such variety of experience and emotion. I awakened again to the amazing power of music. I got a physical shock right there as I realized the possibilities of what could happen to an audience if a recitalist really does her job, if an opera troupe really communicates and is able to transcend whatever mess happens in rehearsal. I was left in awe—yet again—of the power of what we do.
I’m grateful to Sally Smith. If this class is any indication of what music therapy is like, I highly recommend it for any of you who are even slightly battle weary!
My experience with music therapy has cause me to push up a project I’ve been mulling over for months. Next month we’ll be taking a deeper look at the artist in us all. That’s right. It’s time to dig out your copies of Julia Cameron’s inspiring book, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. It is a revolving seven week course you can do by yourself, in groups, or online. To help you, there will be an online group starting in our forums. Why? It is a way to make your career and life move along better and more joyously. I can’t think of a better reason than that! It will also help unite the classical singer community in a new way. I’ve wanted to do this for years. The tools are in place and the time has come. We will have books available here at the office at a discount.
Speaking about singing for joy, Luciano Pavarotti is a great one for remembering joy when he sings, isn’t he? I’m grateful to him for taking time out to speak to us this month. A singer with the world at his feet to a singer often seen economically at the foot of the world—Africa—to singing in prisons. This issue has it all this month. I hope you enjoy it! There is something for singers anywhere, doing anything! We had a great time putting it together.—CJ Williamson
