Musical Ripples and Reflections
Music therapy is a valuable tool for working with vulnerable children who have experienced trauma and neglect, working intimately to draw out their playfulness and resilience, and create an experience of a safe and trusting relationship. In South Africa, with its overburdened social welfare systems...
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GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen)
2018
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e03d624c28984e59af437e9056de0953 2023-05-15T18:06:09+02:00 Musical Ripples and Reflections Karyn Stuart 2018-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v18i4.2604 https://doaj.org/article/e03d624c28984e59af437e9056de0953 EN eng GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen) https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/2604 https://doaj.org/toc/1504-1611 doi:10.15845/voices.v18i4.2604 1504-1611 https://doaj.org/article/e03d624c28984e59af437e9056de0953 Voices, Vol 18, Iss 4 (2018) Place of Safety Community Music Therapy vulnerable children marginalised communities Music M1-5000 Psychology BF1-990 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v18i4.2604 2022-12-30T21:42:20Z Music therapy is a valuable tool for working with vulnerable children who have experienced trauma and neglect, working intimately to draw out their playfulness and resilience, and create an experience of a safe and trusting relationship. In South Africa, with its overburdened social welfare systems and under-resourced communities who remain affected by poverty and unemployment, there is limited access to medical and psychological services. The South African foster care system aims to provide safety and security for vulnerable and at-risk children and youth, but it is often overwhelmed with the extent of the needs. This anecdotal story features professional and personal reflections and vignettes on the music therapy journey with a very withdrawn and isolated young boy at a place of safety in Cape Town. I, as music therapist, and his favourite red drum, accompanied Charlie through four months of weekly individual sessions, unlocking his Music Child (Nordoff-Robbins 1977). Sessions shifted from isolated to interactive; from silent to communicative; from tentative to confident. Our music therapy journey continued, moving beyond the safe music therapy room to the unknown space of a new foster family through a home visit - an unusual occurrence in the context of community work in South Africa due to the limited psychological services available and the vast number of children in the social services systems. Collaborating with the social workers and the foster mother, I was able to visit Charlie at his new foster family’s house. The known and safe music therapy space expanded to include his foster mother and new foster siblings with whom he could share his newfound independence and confidence. The article describes music therapy’s role in ‘introducing’ Charlie to his new foster family and how it created musical connections, shared enjoyment and a sense of togetherness between them. I, as his music therapist, followed where he, the music and the context led, as reflected in the notion of community music therapy described ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Red drum Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy 18 4 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
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Place of Safety Community Music Therapy vulnerable children marginalised communities Music M1-5000 Psychology BF1-990 |
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Place of Safety Community Music Therapy vulnerable children marginalised communities Music M1-5000 Psychology BF1-990 Karyn Stuart Musical Ripples and Reflections |
topic_facet |
Place of Safety Community Music Therapy vulnerable children marginalised communities Music M1-5000 Psychology BF1-990 |
description |
Music therapy is a valuable tool for working with vulnerable children who have experienced trauma and neglect, working intimately to draw out their playfulness and resilience, and create an experience of a safe and trusting relationship. In South Africa, with its overburdened social welfare systems and under-resourced communities who remain affected by poverty and unemployment, there is limited access to medical and psychological services. The South African foster care system aims to provide safety and security for vulnerable and at-risk children and youth, but it is often overwhelmed with the extent of the needs. This anecdotal story features professional and personal reflections and vignettes on the music therapy journey with a very withdrawn and isolated young boy at a place of safety in Cape Town. I, as music therapist, and his favourite red drum, accompanied Charlie through four months of weekly individual sessions, unlocking his Music Child (Nordoff-Robbins 1977). Sessions shifted from isolated to interactive; from silent to communicative; from tentative to confident. Our music therapy journey continued, moving beyond the safe music therapy room to the unknown space of a new foster family through a home visit - an unusual occurrence in the context of community work in South Africa due to the limited psychological services available and the vast number of children in the social services systems. Collaborating with the social workers and the foster mother, I was able to visit Charlie at his new foster family’s house. The known and safe music therapy space expanded to include his foster mother and new foster siblings with whom he could share his newfound independence and confidence. The article describes music therapy’s role in ‘introducing’ Charlie to his new foster family and how it created musical connections, shared enjoyment and a sense of togetherness between them. I, as his music therapist, followed where he, the music and the context led, as reflected in the notion of community music therapy described ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Karyn Stuart |
author_facet |
Karyn Stuart |
author_sort |
Karyn Stuart |
title |
Musical Ripples and Reflections |
title_short |
Musical Ripples and Reflections |
title_full |
Musical Ripples and Reflections |
title_fullStr |
Musical Ripples and Reflections |
title_full_unstemmed |
Musical Ripples and Reflections |
title_sort |
musical ripples and reflections |
publisher |
GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v18i4.2604 https://doaj.org/article/e03d624c28984e59af437e9056de0953 |
genre |
Red drum |
genre_facet |
Red drum |
op_source |
Voices, Vol 18, Iss 4 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/2604 https://doaj.org/toc/1504-1611 doi:10.15845/voices.v18i4.2604 1504-1611 https://doaj.org/article/e03d624c28984e59af437e9056de0953 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v18i4.2604 |
container_title |
Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy |
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18 |
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4 |
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1766177727092621312 |