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Alive, awake and ready to play

Six-year-old Eliah*, suffering from acute and debilitating cerebral palsy, was admitted to a palliative care centre for children in Cape Town during 2013. Soon thereafter, he was referred to MusicWorks for pain management. [gap height=”20″] Eliah is not able to walk or even move much, as his little body is in continuous spasm. His mouth appears to be fixed in a painful grimace. When admitted, he was also severely neglected and malnourished. During the first two sessions, Eliah was in severe pain. Bedsores and a newly inserted feeding peg caused him huge discomfort. The only sound caregivers ever heard him make was a soft whimpering. A huge smile was Eliah’s first response to our music therapist’s initial approach. She observed his ‘quiet presence’ and glimpses of a perceptive and alive young boy in the broken little body. Music therapist Renee van den Berg explains: “I sang a few songs, with guitar, and in different musical styles. I playfully teased him by suddenly stopping mid-song and asking him what was happening, and was greeted with the broadest and most striking smile every time. Eliah could not move or make a sound, but his responsive expressions said ‘I’m alive, I’m awake and I’m ready to play’.” [hr… Read More »Alive, awake and ready to play

Good-Enough Songs

In June 2011 ten teenage girls from Khayelitsha, in foster care, joined a group of girls from Heideveld and Nyanga for the Music for Life programme. The girls knew one another from previous musical events, but this meeting was different – it would take the shape of a forum for sharing personal concerns. [hr style=”1″ margin=”40px 0px 40px 0px”] There was little energy in the room during the first group session. Before, girls were meeting on musical terms. Now – on their own initiative – they were here to air and discuss personal concerns and issues. Issues such as teenage pregnancy. But the room was quiet. Narrative therapist and MusicWorks facilitator, Thérèse Hulme, put forward the question: “What should we be talking about instead, then?” It was as if the question ignited a fire. From around the circle, girls literally cried out about being constantly put down and criticised in their communities. One girl said everyone expected the worst from them. Someone remarked that if everyone thought you would get pregnant, you might as well get pregnant because it was expected anyway. “Yes, yes, it’s just like that,” others were cheering her on. “We’re not good enough,” they all agreed. This prompted the question: “Is… Read More »Good-Enough Songs

Marimbas speak louder than words

In 2007, Marcelino Fielies and seven other “troublemakers” at a primary school in Heideveld, were referred to the Music for Life Programme. Seven years later, Marcelino is a marimba teacher, community role model and proud MusicWorks facilitator. [hr style=”1″ margin=”40px 0px 40px 0px”] In Marcelino’s words: “I would like to work with people in my community, through music. My community has too much gangsterism. People do bad stuff to fit in with other people. I want to make the world a better place. My plan with music is to teach it to other people of all ages… [ ]. I care for the people in the community… I am going to print in their minds that they can fit in by doing good stuff as well. I’ve been playing the marimbas and drums for five years with MusicWorks. I started to teach children in my community to play marimba since the beginning of 2012. I can actually see what they are going through in life, because before I was part of it. I crawled, then I walked. Now I am running… I never knew I would get as far as I did. … I observed what other people did, and I thought to myself, I… Read More »Marimbas speak louder than words

MTCC’s response to violence against women and children

February 2013 will be remembered as the month in which all South Africans became acutely aware of the enormous extent of the violence perpetrated against women and children. Everyone reading a newspaper, listening to the radio, or watching the news have heard the dire statistics: of how a woman or child is raped in our country every four minutes; how the level of rape in South Africa is higher than in war torn countries. I was listening to the radio a few days after Aneen Booysen’s rape and murder. People were phoning in and making suggestions of solutions and answers to the big question: how do we fix this? I realised that the work MTCC does with vulnerable children and young people, forms part of the constructive response to such devastation. Our music therapists return from site telling a story of 3 children in 1 music therapy group who had been raped; this is a group of 6 year olds. Our community development worker speaks with passion about young men in marimba bands who grow up in a community where they have very few role models; where often men in their family and community are in gangs, abuse drugs and have no respect for women.… Read More »MTCC’s response to violence against women and children

MTCC are now publishers!!

The Music Therapy Community Clinic recently published a ground breaking book on music therapy titled, TAKING MUSIC SERIOUSLY. The book gathers musical narratives of hope and humility – stories of music-work with profoundly disabled people, with school children traumatised by gang violence around their homes, with those affected by dementia, with babies who have developmental delay, with youngsters in trouble with the law, and more. However excluded, disabled, incapacitated or troubled, people’s musical partnerships with music therapists convey a persuasive message: as South Africans we need to take music seriously to enable us to grow a dynamically engaged society that celebrates itself through its music. Only available though the Music Therapy Community Clinic at a price of R130 for the book plus R30 postage, packaging and insurance within SA. Foreign postage is R130 registered mail and packaging. Call 021 671 5196 with enquiries.