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

Then the group will experience clearly a shared affective intensity.
Jenny will place her body on her own chair, so as to assume a similar
posture to that of Pamina. Sarah's face will assume an expression of
piercing pain, as she keeps turning her glance from Pamina's direction
towards me and the other members of the group. It is her murmurs that
form the basis of my vocal phrases.
Video excerpt taken from the session of November 7, 1994.
It is possible that here the group talked, through Pamina, about the fate of
being pushed and dragged day by day, about the agony of being enclaved
by despair, about repeated losses and abandonment.
The session of March 27, 1995: Sarah's beater episodes
The beaters had acquired a particular significance in the sessions right
from the first months of the group's life. Until March 1995, almost a year
from the beginning of the group, episodes such as the one we are about to
watch, characterised Sarah's presence in the room.
Time and time again she would grasp the beaters from Ms Antouna's
hands, so as to throw them onto specific targets: either towards the
instruments, thus creating loud sounds, or towards specific persons, like
her carer or Jenny, or even intending them to miss the musical
instruments and end up on the floor.
Intense cries like laughter, but not real laughter, mouth terrifyingly wide-
open, tensed eyes, beaters that were falling - it was as if we were
becoming fragmented by the force of that tension.
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