Group Analytic Contexts, Issue 77, September 2017

Newsletter – Autumn 2017 61
really something new to me. The group played on a selection of,
sometimes unique, instruments - one looked like a Harp of David but
just for strumming, two cello-like – though oblong – stringed
instruments to be played with bows, African marimbasa, a couple of
dozen drums, some large xylophones on stands, all of which A had
brought with her (on its own an amazing effort for just this single
session). We improvised together for a session such as I have never
experienced in my life. Though I doubt that many there were
musicians we still made a joyful noise. The intricate interplay between
self-assertion, listening, responding to others, hearing the group as a
whole was something I now envy musicians for having.
There was something about Annagret’s style, so quiet, gentle
and unassuming yet so enabling, everyone had a great time and so
emotional.
What an opportunity, what a unique experience, what a
memory. Fabulous.
Bridge over troubled waters. The next meeting in the same room
(btw, how did they manage to clear the very packed room so quickly)
was Ofra’s social drama session. She started us off with being an
orchestra in a different way than the previous session. The group
presented in two halves the other being the audience, the instruments
were people’s bodies or voices. Ofra was a force to be reckoned with
who got us doing the most wonderfully absurd things and thoroughly
undermining any uptightness we may have gone in with. No one was
going to say to her “I don’t think I can do this, I think I’ll sit this out”,
so we all made fools of ourselves and loved it. Seeing Estella and
others, including myself, squawking, shouting nonsense etc –
priceless.
We moved on to mirror exercises (like the mirror scene in the
Marx Brothers Duck Soup with Groucho and Harpo [available on you
tube]) and then to more metaphorical reflections of stories we told one
another enacted as three-part gestures, which moved on to a group
interaction.
Again – unforgettable!
Thursday
“Life without music would be a mistake”. The next day I
participated in a two-session workshop playing and responding to
pieces of music chosen by the conductors and other group members.
In the first session the workshop conductors, Tammy and Oded, chose
Bridge Over Troubled Waters which had me and others weeping,