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Amir, Dorit: The Role Of Music Therapy In Establishing Cultural Identity ...
the creation of an atmosphere of togetherness and intimacy within the group;
secondly, the establishment of the emotional tone of the group’s here and
now. Group singing created a framework within which clients felt protected
and secure in working through important personal issues. It also served as an
overture for group discussion and verbal processing of emerging issues and as
preparation for further musical processing of the group member who brought
the song. This ritual often became the most powerful experience in the group,
either for the member who brought the song or for other members.
The women generally selected Israeli folksongs. The repertoire
consisted of Russian songs, Yiddish songs, songs from the Bible and Hasidic
songs, all sung in Hebrew. In this group, songs became symbols of different
periods in life, through which clients remembered and re-experienced specific
events and significant people. The selected songs often helped clients express
feelings that they could not say in words or otherwise repressed. From this
group I chose to focus on Sonia.
A 45-year-old native Israeli, Sonia is a child of Holocaust survivors. She
grew up in a kibbutz, met her husband in high school, married when she was
20 and raised two children. Sonia’s husband was killed in battle on the second
day of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. At the time of her husband’s death, Sonia
was 28 years old, left with a five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son.
Sonia raised the children by herself and never remarried. In the initial
interview, she told me that she has been quite depressed over the years and
could not make any meaningful changes in her life. Now that the children have
grown up, she feels even more lonely and isolated. She wants to meet new
people, but lacks the energy to socialize.
In the group, Sonia usually remained quiet. She sang some of the songs
in a very quiet voice and only occasionally participated in group discussions.
When her turn came to sing her song, she told the group she couldn’t decide
between two songs. The first song was “Shuva Elai” (Return to Me), written by
A. Etinger and J. Hadar.
The melody is written in A minor and has a ballad-like style. The text includes
the words: “The lights went out again and the voice of my horse lost in the
sand is still ringing. Return to me from the desert and together we shall gallop
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