Proceedings, Oxford, UK (2002) - World Federation of Music Therapy

A secondary problem of course is the huge numbers of children left
parentless, sometimes with only frail grandparents to care for them,
sometimes at the mercy of an overstretched social service and charitable
sector, providing them with placements such as this children’s home. The
loving care they received from the nuns was plain to see, all the more
remarkable given the few resources they were able to utilise in this work.
At the end of the tour, I was able to spend some time with the children.
The connection I was able to make, though simple rhythmic play and
vocalisation (few of them spoke any English) was for me a spiritual
experience hard to articulate in words- hopefully the following goes
some way to describing what happened:
In the bare main room of the care home, a circle of 8 children ranging
in ages from 3 to 13, most HIV positive, were all joining in with a
musical game. The game appeared to involve a complex clapping
rhythm, dancing, and taking turns to be the ‘the leader’ in the middle
of the circle, where each child would improvise their own dance. Keen
to be involved in this exuberant performance, I began copying their
clapping rhythm, with the addition of a loud syncopated clap, which
they soon noticed. Without any instruction, they all turned to face me,
and began echoing the different rhythms I clapped with uncanny
accuracy, copying subtle changes in dynamics and my body posturethere
was no catching them out!
At once I had the feeling of being ‘let in’ to their world, through our
shared music, and also gained a sense of how transcendent such simple
music could be in this context. The musical games played by these
orphans, which I felt privileged to be part of, seemed to bind them
together as a family, providing fun and laughter, self and group
expression. In many ways the experience reminded me of music
therapy group work, and yet the sheer spontaneity of the event, and the
sense in which it sprang from such a vibrant musical culture, also
reminded me how far we are in the West from this type of connection
with music.
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