E-Book of Articles - World Federation of Music Therapy

Sutton, Julie; Beyond the Ordinairy
response to two different kinds of conflict. The underlying feature is this
loss of one’s physical, emotional and psychological sense of security. While
in essence linked with the ancestral defence against survival threat, this
sense of loss also has roots in infant experiences of abandonment and
separation. At moments in human development, while not necessarily a
physical reality, one’s very survival can feel to be under threat.
In Jerry's case this was compounded by the range of coping mechanisms
prevalent in the whole community, to the extent that he had become
silenced. In the earlier sessions he had tested how safe the therapy setting
could be and developed a sense of how reliable this was. This enabled him
to begin to voice some of what he had been unable to speak about. This he
did first of all without words, in his music. There then unfolded the story of
the "Trap". After the Trap he then voiced, wordlessly, some of what I felt
was the "nameless dread" that Bion described. At that stage he was in twice-
weekly 50-minute sessions, with the central "Scream" requiring a full 90
minutes from beginning to end. >From that point Jerry's therapy changed
dramatically and much of the tension felt previously disappeared.
Trauma and music therapy
I anticipated that by following Jerry's story we have come to some
awareness of how music therapy was of use to him. At the simplest level it
gave him a space and a voice in a setting that was not available elsewhere
for him. That he was able to make real, creative use of this should not be
understated. On another level I feel that the music he made, along with the
music I made and the music we made together served as a container for
what had yet to be expressed.
In thinking about music therapy, my own training developed my awareness
of a clinical setting where both client and therapist can be actively
negotiating musical sound and silence. This kind of music making has
potential to connect on different levels that also reflect different states of
being. These states of being can be experienced in relation to an "other" and
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