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

A school for children divorced from their family: First
introduction of Music Therapy
Szumanski-Bodineau, Anne
- Student in Music Therapy* at Schola Cantorum**,
269 rue St Jacques, Paris 5 ème , France. Music Therapist trainee in Paris.
Abstract
For the world of children (6 to 12 years old) very deeply wounded by
family events in which they were involved, there is a school in Paris. It is
adjoining the special home where they live all week long, divorced from
their family.
These children are, at this moment of their life, incapable of normal
social behaviour and unable to be taught in a conventional education
school.
In this context, Music Therapy was introduced one year ago.
This paper explains how Music Therapy, as therapeutic potential
hypothesis is initiating and favourazing sociability and learning in
children who come from breaking a home.
The school where the experiment takes place
The school is located in a working-class district of Paris. It is a little
enclave inside a 5 acres site, protected from the street by a wall three
metres high ending with a ridge of barbed wire. It has the like the
atmosphere of a military enclosure or a prison. One wonders immediately
what is being shielded : the outside from the inside or the inside from the
outside ?
Adjoining the school, a big grey building of three levels in poor
condition, engenders sad and dreary feelings. In this building, a social
home is housing about sixty children, day and night. This home is
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