F.I.M.

“Symphony in the world” Body, gestures, voice, music

Mario Zattin — 2010-03-03T14:05:14Z

Croatian Physicians Music Society
Croatian Medical Association
«ŽIVOT», UTJEŠINOVIĆEVA 4A
HR 10000 ZAGREB
Contact number: +385 91 73 83 023
E-mail: darkob@kbsm.hr

6th Croatian Symposium with International Participation «Medicien and Music»
University Hospital Dubrava Zagreb, Av. G. Šuška 6

In all our gestures, moment after moment, there is a rhythm, a time, a music.
When did our gestures originate? Movement is the very origin of the life.

The “Maternal Womb” is the First Orchestra

Life is movement / movement is life.
Everything moves, takes place in a first and in a next: first and next mark the passage of the time. Everything happens in the time, in the space, in the spacial – temporal dimension. Everything is rhythm.
The anthropologist Steven Mithen, in his book “The song of the ancestors”, writes that an internal drum makes us walking. This “pum-pum” is the rhythmical order of mother's heartbeat and breath lived inside the first orchestra, it's the foundation of the memory, of the original order.
With the birth we have experience of the entry of the air in our body.

The heart beat proceeds with order of rhythm and accent

Egypt, Karnak's Temple: birth, event.

The newborn's cry originates from the first meeting with the air, with the external world.

Respiration, circulation, internal organs: everything is connected in one system.

The body breaths, feels, relates…

The breathed air , outward pushed, passing by the larynx and resonating in the body, is transformed in sound, voice. The flexibility of the voice is still an unexplained event. The voice is formed by the waves. The air is what the voice is made of. The sound waves create the listening by passing across all they meet (resonance) . Every listening comes through the resonance. The body is involved in reception and production of waves, through the resonance. Do the first cry concern only the physiology, how does the traditional medicine support this?
Do the first cry concern only the physiology, how does the traditional medicine support this?
The first cry is the affirmation of the life, of the entry in the world, how does the humanistic vision support this?

The body is the protagonist of the listening and of the production of the voice. Every sound or noise produced by the voice, depends on the breath. The corporeity is completely involved for the breathing.

The diaphragm, fundamental muscle for the breathing, is not externally visible because it's disposed in the internal median position of the body. The diaphragm is connected with the whole muscular system. Its tension is modified by the emotions.

The emotions, any kind of emotion, create modifications in the whole corporeity, so they influence the breathing as well. The emotions derive by the relations with:
External world;
the others;
ourselves.

In every moments of the life we're immersed in communicative networks. How do we relate? The emotions are the signals of our way to relate, to stay, to interact or undergo, to answer or to stand back. The emotions modify the intonation of the voice, the construction of the phrase, even the articulation of the words. Every moment is the becoming for the next moment.
Re – spire. In this word there is the term “Spirit”. The voice originates by the relation with the air, considered as spirit. Even the life of the earth depends by the air, by the atmosphera. The renewal of this relation is the retaking of the breath, man's wind. As the wind makes the nature singing or trembling, so happens for our voice. Any our breathing tells about our relation with the world, with the other, with ourselves.
The sounds that we feel living inside the first orchestra, are rediscovered in the world in a new way, no longer by the liquid transmission, but by the aerial's one.
The human being is born endowed with the capacity to imitate gestures, voices, sounds.
The neuroscience attribute this capacity to the mirror neurons. This capacity allows us to observe for reproducing, to make the sorrounding reality own. The arts reach the top of these capacities. Music is constructed on the principle of imitation. The verbal language is founded on the principle of imitation. Every our gesture passed through imitative ways.
Human body is made to measure for imitating sounds, voices, verses of the natural world and recreating them to comunicate. The vowels are our sounds. The consonants are the imitation of what the humans listened, recognized, remembered in the natural world. In the man's gestures there are the sounds or noises or verses he produces. Gestures have inside the value of the signs. The voice is inside the human gesture.

The explosion of the volcano recalls the creation of the voice coming out from the mouth.
The form of the letter “V” is inside the gesture of the arms indicating the creation of the voice (still present in the prayers, in the singers' movements...).
Gestures, as the voice, reproduce the reality.
The signs of the writing are already in the reality.

We're in front of an analysis and an imitative way concerning the Timbre of the sound. The alphabetic letters regard the timbre of the sound. With the vowels we represent the sounds of our voice.
With the consonants we represent the noises reproduced by the voice.

The no–verbal generates the verbal language. The verbal is inside the no-verbal language.
When we speak we don't limitate to intone the timbres of the vowels and the articulation of the consonants; each vowel is intoned with modifications of rhythmical (succession in the time) and melodic (pitch of the sound) kind and accents (sound intensity).

On the sheet, there are signs going from the bottom to the top or from the top to bottom. These signs represent the beginning of musical notation (cent. VIII A.D.). The signs marked on the sheet represent the director's of Schola Cantorum hand movements. The hand movements in their turn follow the movements of “ascent and descent of the voice in the body” (Guido d'Arezzo cent. XI A.D.).
Can the voice move inside the corporeal resonant cavities if it's not supported by the tension of the diaphragm, in its turn connected with the primary and secondary muscles of the respiration and coordination of the body?
The quality of the voice tells about the corporeity, the respiration, the relation with the world, with the others, with ourselves.
The no-verbal tells about the verbal language, its production, its progresses, its affirmation. The word originates from the singing.

In this notation three neumatic scripts appear. The oldest ones in black and in red represent the movements of the voice and of the body in the free space. The notation in the four lines (tetragram) represents clearly the distance between the sounds (intervals).

The musical notes, as the alphabetic letters, far from being prearranged signs, as we use to believe since many secles, are signs that follow the emotions by which the gestures and the voice originate. The writing represents on the space of a sheet (both for words and music) the exact succession of the sounds. In case of music it's the melody; in case of writing it represents consonants/vowels.

The representation of the succession implicates the rhythm.
Let's clap our hands in this regular rhythmic succession:

Let's clap our hands in this regular rhythmic succession:

Let's compare:

As Pitagora said: “Music is made by the relation of pitch and duration between the sounds”.

Every time we pronounce a word we make a synthesis including: timbres, pitches, durations, intensities. These are the musical aspects forming, constructing verbal language. In technical term, they are the metrics of the words. Each language distinguishes itself from the others for the characterizing vocal sounds , for the particular consonants, for its metrics. Changing the accent of a word we make it unrecognizable.

The body tells

Verbal language is inside ourselves since before our birth.
Whenever congenital (syndromes, virus, heredity, etc…), traumatic (cerebral hemmorhage, anoxia ….), environmental (any kind of deprivation) factors intervene to create complications, the natural order of the things is compromised. Music is, par excellence, the art that can stir up emotions and it's at the origin of our very living. There aren't contraindication to the dialogue with sounds, rhythms, movement.
Musical clinical improvisation at piano, through the corporeal resonance (to be in direct contact with the sound), gives the opportunity to rediscover the original memories known in the “first orchestra”. The resonance inside the maternal womb and in the everyday life, is the convibration with the world. We can not shirk to this convibration.
Improvisating means to create the music hidden in a gesture, in a vocal intonation. Improvisating means to create music to mirror, help, accompany, lead a person to not feel alone, to go towards natural processes of change and transformation. The mirror neurons act in the musictherapist and in the person of whom he takes care. The dialogue is born.
Every person, through all himself, is a Living Score.
Verbal and no verbal are the weaving of the interpersonal relation in musictherapy.
Body, gestures, voice are the notes of the living score that the musictherapist can read. This is not interpretation. It's reading. Reading is devoid of judgement. Reading respects other person's gestures, his energetic tone, his emotions. Reading leads the person to feel listened. Listening is devoid of judgement.
At these conditions something new can happen, it's the becoming that creates the comunication, that leads towards something where “me” and “you” become “us”.

Giulia Cremaschi Trovesi

Translator Caterina Ravenna

Meetings with siblings

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:28:09Z

Meetings with the siblings of the children following a music therapy can be organised outside the setting. It is about listening groups where it is possible to:
give each child the opportunity to talk;
give the opportunity to ask questions;
give the opportunity to exchange opinions with the people present;
give the opportunity to carry out music activities;
use the Sound Dialogue and improvisation at the piano so as to offer moments of relief;
etc.

Presence of siblings

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:25:49Z

The sporadic presence of siblings, a brother or a sister can offer the following possibilities:
make the sibling aware of the activities of the other, and of the music therapy setting;
involve the sibling in the activities adjusting them so that both can gain some benefit;
show that the handicapped sibling has “normal” aspects which allow him to play and to act like a child;
allow the sibling to ask questions, doubts or something else;
reveal the true meaning of “music therapy” so that any kind of mystery can disappear;
help the setting up of a happy environment where two siblings, who usually do not play together at home, can do it here;
clearly communicate to the “brother/sister” that we do not have any kind of preference.
etc.

Clinical improvisation at the piano

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:24:18Z

Every musical instrument has its merits and its faults. For this reason, the instruments are divided into categories (percussions, wind and string) and classes (woodwinds, strings, brass, membrane, etc). The different elements of music are called: Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony. The rhythm by itself is not music yet, the rhythm is the frame in which a melody is inserted; every melody has in itself the harmony or the possibility of a harmonic realisation; the harmony is the foundation on which music is based.
The advantage of keyboard instruments (piano, organ) is to allow, at the same time, rhythm, melody and harmony. However, we talk about acoustic instruments and not about instruments producing sound effects in an artificial way. Acoustic instruments produce vibrating waves through the amplification of the resonance box. The resonance boxes of the acoustic instruments are the copy of the Vibrating Body (the human being). Only the acoustic instruments are able to vibrate through the body resonance because they are the producers of sound waves and of resonators.
The baby-grand is both a string and a percussion musical instrument. The rage of sounds if wide (from Hz 27, 50 for the first key on the left to Hz 4184 for the last key on the right). A string in the grave register of a good piano can produce up to 120 harmonic sounds.
The sound box can involve in the resonance also the body of an adult.
In the training course, the music therapist understands the communicative role which he is playing. He finds in the keyboard in any moment those sounds, those pitches (tune), rhythms and melodies with which he “talks”, leads, supports, provokes, accompanies, approves, reacts etc, according to what “us” means in the therapeutic relationship. Empathy takes its shape and sound through the clinical improvisation at the piano.
Through the clinical improvisation at the piano the music therapist creates the Sound Dialogue in a varied and wide way. With the improvisation, he gives sense to a movement, to a gesture, to a particular way of walking, running, and vocalising. He answers to a cascabel, to an idiophone instrument, to the swinging of a ribbon, and even to silence, to the hope for a glance, creating an expressive dialogue which precedes and goes beyond words.
The improvisation at the piano responds to melodies, to the sonorities of a harp, of a string instrument (violin, viola, cello, double bass), of string instruments (trumpet, horn, flute, clarinet, etc), of percussion instruments (membranes, ethnical instruments, etc) of small idiophone instruments, creating musical experiences rich in charm and which change minute after minute.

Video 1 Harmony and musicality in body expression
The origins of the game.

Eurhythmics

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:21:51Z

This term indicates the order between sounds, rhythms and movements. Every gesture of the client-patient who has in his hands an object ( foulards, a piece of cloth, a veil, ribbons or something else) or carries out his movement spontaneously, is highlighted by the clinical improvisation at the piano. What happens is the essence of music therapy. In the moment when the professional accompanies the client-patient by playing the piano, the patient will go on with his movement because he will feel welcomed. A professional with a poor training may lose some parts of this process and stop the building process in progress.

Video 1 Harmony and Music in body expression
Sounds - Rhythms - Movement: the origins of the joy of living.

Sound dialogue

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:19:53Z

A lot is written or said on sound dialogue. Being a context of interpersonal relationship, Sound dialogue is presented in ways which change minutes after minutes. All the music instruments available can or cannot be suitable for Sound Dialogue. On one hand there is the “client (patient)”, on the other there is the professional. If patients can move as they prefer, according to their emotions or fancy, the music therapeutist has the task to lead the situation answering to what the patient does. The words “assisted” (client-patient) and “assistant” (the professional) (Mauro Scardovelli) indicate the conditions in which the two protagonists of the dialogue are in that moment. The assisted has some percussion instruments available (xylophone and glockenspiel), some membrane instruments (different kind of drums) and uses them as he likes. The assistant helps and promotes the dialogue in a direction he thinks appropriate.

School insertion and integration

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:18:51Z

Music therapist is also a pedagogist of music. His studies and training let him carry out the right activities both for the handicapped children and for the class. The concept of listening referred to music, here is intended as listening to the person. The music activities are managed so as to let the children understand that the handicapped children need more assistance. The child welcomed in the class experiences the opportunity to interact with the others on an equal footing, learning how to respect the others, through himself. We can actually talk of success in the inclusion and in the integration when these activities are instructive both for the whole class and for the handicapped child.
Every action must be related with reality. For reality, we mean:
the problems of the child included;
the needs of each classmate. Children require personalised interventions which can be seen in music activities and which change according to human features (emotional) which are implicit in “making music” together;
there are moments in which the teacher have the opportunity to experience and to understand the reasons of particular attitudes (poor attention, shouting, problems in speaking, moving constantly, aggressive behaviours, etc.) so as to intervene through a direct communication rather than with the usual rebukes;
a specific and careful action necessary for the child included in the classroom becomes a precious moment of attention for the classmates;
the specific attention given to a mate for particular and improvised attention shows the child included in the classroom that everyone needs attention and everyone needs a different kind of approach;
to show the teachers, through actions, that some troubling or aggressive behaviours are, actually, distress calls that the child, without his knowing it, is sending through non verbal communication;
in moments of deep attention created by music activities, it is possible to lead the “normal” children through an analysis of their behaviours helping them to overcome difficulties, which sometimes leads to improvement at school;
non verbal communication is the means to improve the relationship between an adult and a child, which is essential to learn from the mistakes that, at this point, can be seen as distress calls rather than bad behaviours;
etc.

Individual Intervention

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:17:31Z

The child (or patient in general) is looked after individually. The choice of the individual intervention depends on the necessary needs of every child. The child is at the centre of attention and the activities are tailored to his needs, his characteristics and his deliberateness. - Theorical aspects

Method

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:16:19Z

With the words Matching Pacing Leading the P.N.L. wants to focus the creation of the therapeutic relationship. Matching means to be reflected, pacing means going on with the patient, backing him up, and leading is guiding the patient towards a constructive way. So, it is possible to make an analysis a posteriori. Actually, in the real life it is not always possible to discriminate moments of matching and moments of pacing or leading. The dialogue in music therapy changes minute after minute. When matching or pacing, the professional knows that he is carrying out a relationship. It is a specific matching or pacing changing every second during the therapy. Matching includes leading and pacing; leading includes pacing and matching; pacing includes matching and leading in the exchanging of energies between the patient and the therapist who leads the situation and seize the non verbal signals so as to take a direction. Leading is done through the clinical improvisation which includes all the differences of sound dialogue. Every gesture is being created. The meaning of therapy, in music therapy, is in the future, in the moments between present and future characterizing the temporality of sound, music and life. The future is in Leading because an inner change is to go towards, that is the event which is “in fieri” in a vital and therapeutic becoming.

Small group

Mario Zattin — 2007-12-20T14:15:21Z

The creation of a small group is made with meticulous attention also to the slightest particulars. The following aspects must be considered:
specific needs of each person composing the group;
"how" and "why" the group is appropriate to the needs of every single person of the group;
"how" and "why" every single person contributes to the efficiency of the group;
"how" every person of the group can gain personal benefit and help the group's benefits.