POSTER PRESENTATION

Author: Grace Chiundiza – Grace Wellness Networks

AUSTRALIAN MUSIC THERAPY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE 18th - 20th SEPTEMBER 2015

TOWARD AN AFRICAN COMMUNITY MUSIC THERAPY: Introducing Music Therapy to a community where it is not yet known professionally using traditional play songs.

ABSTRACT

• Introducing Music Therapy to an African community of marginalised children where the discipline is not yet established. Traditional play songs served as a foundation for musical identity. Known musical components such as rhythm, call and response, were key in endeavouring to formulate the best music therapy model for this community.

INTRODUCTION

 • Traditional music serves as a foundation for

cultural heritage. Components such as ‘rhythm,’ ‘play song,’ ‘call and response,’ will be useful to formulate a suitable music therapy model for marginalized children.

• Socially and economically disadvantaged children experience difficulties with self-assurance, adjusting emotionally and interacting with others. Crowe & Colwell (Ed.)(2007) suggest that children who are emotionally and socially disadvantaged may display behaviours that depart from the normal accepted by society.

BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND About 20 km northwest of Harare is a Compound of over 1000 people mostly farm workers who became jobless when the fm was reallocated to indigenous farmers. Unfortunately the workers are no longer gainfully employed. This has made life very challenging for most of the families economically. Parents work part time jobs on small surrounding farms or do garden work in nearby suburbs. The social life has been affected deeply.

BACKGROUNDThe community is infested with all kinds of vices. Girls are

marrying at a very young age. There is a high level of incest going on, unreported or simply ignored. Marriages are not stable. Some children are living with a step-parent. Grandparents are taking care of orphaned grandchildren.

The children do not only face the challenge of social and economic disadvantage. They also face the challenge of a crisis of identity. I say the crisis is two-fold. Firstly, the country having been under colonial rule lost its identity, in the way they dress, language, food, music and song. Secondly, children have become isolated from the rest of the communities, and thus contributing to another different type of identity crisis. A church organisation is reaching out to this community with the gospel. A lot of the children are giving their lives to the Lord as well as adults. But a lot has to be done.

I am endeavouring not only to show the need for music therapy in African communities, in particular to help marginalized children, but also the need to incorporate the cultural components of traditional music.

METHOD• Thirteen children aged between nine and twelve; who included four boys and nine girls were selected for

the two weeks Music Therapy Program.• • The children were transported from their community to a different venue because there was no adequate

venue to run the program. Running the program in their community in the open air would have attracted many more children that would have led to difficulty in handling them.

• • A variety of hand made percussion instruments which including shakers (hosho), leg rattles (magavhu),

wooden clappers (makwa) and a few different sizes of handmade drums (ngoma).• • The sessions general format *(See table one: Sample session plan)• Greeting • Exercises – Alexander technique• Play• Rhythm• Singing• Song writing• Closing• Performance was the highlight on the last day

Music Therapy goals included the following:

• providing a safe environment in which the children could explore creative music making. • Improvement of self esteem• Improvement of poor body image• develop sense of empowerment• develop social skills• increase emotional awareness and self expression• develop problem solving• facilitating the children’s relationships in order to bring about effective connectedness individually, as a group and the

whole situation. Ansdell (2014) states that Music making is a vehicle that can shape and fashion communities. Music is both a link and is also within. Small (1998) recognizes that the intention of music depends on the firm connections that are created, as communities are involved in the process of music making.

• • Music making involved• molding and adjusting Shona traditional play songs to systematically develop skills to discern various musical timbres, • integrating the voice and instrument.• call and response technique. The call and response technique afforded children an opportunity to assume the role of

leading, thus enhancing their self-esteem. • Song writing was used to encourage children to express how they felt about their community. • Singing was also included. It plays a significant role in African communities. It can break barriers, inhibitions and can

also be liberating. • Rhythm was a key component serving as energiser, unifier and stabiliser. Traditionally made percussion instruments

were used, providing a variation of tone colour.

Discussion

• Toward an African Community Music Therapy is too broad for a continent with a population of over 800 million people who speak an estimated 1000 distinct languages. Carver (2014), states that certain music styles may dominate in some parts of Africa, however, African music cannot be categorized as one-size-fits-all. The music in one location may be quite different from the next location.

• The current population of Zimbabwe is over 15 million people, and has 16 official languages. Some musical styles may be similar, but it is not a one size fits all. The traditional play songs used for the program were predominantly Shona children’s play songs. The Shona people occupy a large portion of Zimbabwe. There are several dialect groups in Shona. In the North are the Korekore, Central are the Zezuru, East are Manyika, South are Ndau and the Great Zimbabwe ruins are the Kalanga. They are in the majority and represent the dominant language and culture.

• Shona traditional play songs were used as a means of laying a foundation and respect for musical identity that was lost when the country was under colonial rule. Originally, traditional play songs were a way of teaching communities social and moral behaviour. Mutema, (2013), states that traditionally, children’s play songs provided the first principal of socialisation. This socialisation prepared children to get accustomed to their natural and social situation. Nyota and Mapara (2008), further state that children’s play songs instill values and virtues that become useful later in life.

• Music making involved molding and adjusting traditional play songs to systematically develop skills to discern various musical timbres, integrating the voice and instrument using call and response technique. Wigram (2004) cites that playing or singing where the method and procedure and components are characterized by musical guidelines can be classified as musical technique.

• Traditionally made percussion instruments were used, providing a variation of tone colour. Also adding to playful and energetic rhythm making. Carver (2014) cites that African rhythm is interesting, complex and highly valued and is a driving force in African music.

• . According Ansdell (2014) music does not work like a pill by doing something to us, rather music helps as we draw it towards us and actively work with what it offers. Everyone has music in them even if it’s cultivated in different ways and engaged with at different levels. Music making helps us to engage fully into life with others and with the world, whilst at the same time serving as a way of stabilizing and elaborating the self. Generally music helps us to find what is good in our lives with others.

The disadvantages of children being marginalised.

© Grace Chiundiza 2015

The possible advantage of Music Therapy

© Grace Chiundiza 2015

RESULTS• Throughout the two-week period, notable change was observed

including improvement in self-esteem, behavioural, listening skills, following instructions, turn taking, coherence and personal joy.

• Toward the end of the program, children were encouraged to write a song about the Chigomo community in which they live. The children had freedom of expression, highlighting their struggles, resilience and hope. The song was a moving testament to the power of hope and resilience and the hope-filled process of this music making program, expressing both the reality of the unappealing area in which they live, but their ability to achieve much in life, their dreams for their future and personal goals.

•

© Grace Chiundiza 2015

CONCLUSION• Crowe and Colwell (Ed.) (2007) state that children who are considered emotionally, economically and

socially disadvantaged might face challenges and unsettled futures. However, the experience of music making provides a setup for learning about one’s own uniqueness. Achievement of musical goals such as performing and song writing enhance self-esteem and a sense of achievement. Music’s ability to help unleash the untapped creativity cannot be under estimated. Hanser, (1999) states that Music Therapy can be an outlet for expressing feelings that may be difficult to describe or that may be misunderstood.

• Ansdell (2014) states that the use of music to enrich the quality of one’s personal, social and spiritual life has been the practice for centuries in various cultures and places. Carver (2014) cites that songs form the foundation of a community’s musical life, songs for every possible situation and occasion.

• The use of traditional Shona play songs that were passed by word of mouth is facing extinction. They have been considered as primitive and as music for the lower class. Reviving the genre could be beneficial in the identity of African Music Therapy.

• The benefit of music therapy in the lives of disadvantaged children in Zimbabwe was shown to be significant in their increased engagement in the program, the desire from non-attending children to be involved and the improvements observed in behaviour, self expression, and positive self-esteem improvements in the children.

• It is intended that more such programs will be conducted, on an on going basis, and that the program is rolled out to other such communities in Zimbabwe and Africa.

REFERENCES • Ansdell, G. (2014). How Music Helps in Music Therapy and Everyday Life. Ashgate Publishing

Limited.• Carver, M. (2014). Understanding African Music. Listen, Play, Learn.• International Library of African Music.• Crowe, B.J., Colwell, C. (Ed) (2007). Effective Clinical practice in Music Therapy: Music therapy

for children and adolescents, and adults with mental disorders.• DeNora, T. (2013). Music Asylums: Wellbeing Through Music in Everyday Life. Ashgate

Publishing Limited.• Mutema, F. (2013). Shona traditional Children’s Games and Songs As A form of Indigenous

knowledge: An Endangered Genre. Journal of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 15, Issue 3.

• Nyota, S., Mapara J. (2008). Shona Traditional Children’s Games and Play: Songs as Indigenous Ways of Knowing. The Journal of Pan African Studies, Vol. 2, No. 4, June 2008.

• Russell, M. (2002). Alexander Technique. Caxton Publishing Group. London.• Wigram, T. (2004). Improvisation: Methods and Techniques for Music Therapy Clinicians,

Educators and Students. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London.