ELEMENTARY MUSIC THEATER
FOR EMOTIONAL DISORDERS AND PSYCHOSEN
1. Elementary music theater as an inetraction pedagogical training field
Elementary music and action theater works with the means of play and interaction, including musical groups and movement improvisation. In it, musical, linguistic, pantomimic, movement, dance, visual, material and light effects work together cooperatively under one theme.
Elementary music theater wants to increase individual and social behavior, cognitive, affective, creative and social skills with the help of multi-media action models that emphasize, awaken and promote the musical aspect and enable the members of a group to use and expand their expressive possibilities.
This can be done through facial expressions, gestures, movement, voice and language, as well as through the use of various means and devices (instruments of all kinds, noise and sound generators, apparatus-based sound generators, technical devices, etc.). Any stimulants are possible that contribute to the act of performance. They can be introduced in connection with elements of traditional and improvised singing with elements of movement (from simple gestures to dance to scenic and pantomimic presentation of a text content), but also as an acoustic interpretation of content, processes, feelings and moods as well as rhythmic speech formation their distortion.
Elementary music and action theater works less product-oriented than process-oriented, so basically controls itself group-specifically, whereby an experimentally oriented creative action is presented, which is not an end in itself, but a means to promote both performance and behavior of socio-pedagogical clientele.
The term "elementary" is absolutely not to be used synonymously with "simple" or "simple", but is understood here primarily as "fundamental", "decisive" and "exemplary". It is based on Klafki's idea of the fundamental and elementary.
"The concept of the fundamental means the principles, categories, basic experiences that constitute a mental area ..... Elementaria are the decisive contents and connections that occur within such basic areas" (Klafki in Päd. Lexikon, Stuttgart 1961, p. 191).
In elementary music and action theatre, the relationship complexes music and language, music and movement, music and instrument, music and voice, music and material, music and light and finally music and form correlate with the fundamentals of listening - singing - dancing - playing as elementaria . The interpenetrating connections quickly become clear, they ultimately represent the real appeal of elementary music and action theatre.
2. Trainings and target areas Of course, the whole question about the goals is extremely dependent on the decision for an interaction-pedagogical procedure. The group dynamic orientation requires a specific behavior and its training. Seen in this way, working with music in the framework described includes behavioral training in several respects, namely perception-oriented behavioral training, social-integrative behavioral training, gross motor, whole-body-oriented behavioral training and multi-sensorially oriented behavioral training, which creates a general sensitization to the
- social environment, understood in the sense of "me and the people around me"
(in addition to the other media, play and performing play are primarily reflected here),
- acoustic environment, understood in the sense of "I and the noises, sounds and
Sounds around me" (in addition to the other media, music, rhythm and language are primarily reflected here) and that- spatial environment, understood in the sense of "I and the space and the objects in the space around me" (in addition to other media, movement, artistic and formative design are primarily reflected here) brings with it.
The ability to perceive should lead to the ability to differentiate. Together with learning through play to identify with the other people in the environment and the stabilization of trust, the social behavior of those confronted with the materials contained in the elementary music theater is aimed at. In addition, training the ability to concentrate on individual stimuli and impulse sequences can lead to an improvement in the cognitive learning of the addressees.
The following specific training levels emerge:
- Socially integrative behavior, understood as a synthesis between adapting and enforcing exclusively one's own interests, caused by offers within a game process that enable the individual to move more and more in a group and community. Action-reaction training, understood as a (not to be taken for granted' own offer in the game process to a group member or the group itself, the expectation of a response, i.e. a reaction of turning to the partner and finally the reaction itself. Increase in the ability to concentrate, understood than paying attention to individual stimuli, i.e. to the actions of others and making quick decisions about taking up such impulses and continuing them, i.e. reacting Psychological level (adequate interpersonal encounters) Simultaneous and overall body coordination, understood as training of partial movement sequences for fine and gross motor skills and coordination of movements that run simultaneously with an external (e.g. acoustic and/or visual) event or are determined by this mmt.
- Stabilization of trust, understood as recognizing one's own abilities and possibilities within the framework of partnership behavior and genuine cooperative work.
- Perceptual education, understood in the sense of Hartmut von Hentig as the conscious recording of aesthetic and social processes with the help of all senses, the processing of which then leads to the ability to differentiate.
Tolerance training, understood as a positive experience of "being the way you are" and "being different" as well as the possibilities that lie dormant therein, both on a personal and on a material level.
Going into basic goals (in the sense of a specification of these training levels) and the resulting 5 types of sub-goals (social, creative, emotional-affective, cognitive and subject-specific goals) would certainly lead too far here. The only thing that seems important to me is that although the ranking of the training levels and the sub-target types is to be understood subjectively as such, the levels and types are functionally related to one another, i.e. they are of equal importance and integrated - even if they are each accentuated as a focal point - to be pursued.
3. Methodical-group dynamic accents
Plenumsarbeit birgt oft die Gefahr in sich, daß Regieanweisung oder Gesprächsmodell zentralisierend auf den Gruppenleiter abzielen. Wir bevorzugen daher die Kleingruppen- und Partnerarbeit zentral als Ausgangspunkt für die Gestaltung mehrmedialer Spiele.
Wenn die Gesamtgruppe sich ein Thema stellt und die Verteilung deutlich ist, wer z.B. die akustische Untermalung mit Instrumenten, wer die Bewegung und wer die Tonbandaufnahme steuern will, dann teilen wir uns für die weietere Erarbeitung und Differenzierung in Kleingruppen auf.
It is definitely worth considering to what extent individualizing media can make it easier for a new group or individual group member to get started with group dynamic processes within the therapeutic-educational work. Classified in a somewhat simplified manner, it can be stated that the design with artistic means has an extremely individualizing effect
which aligns the individual participant with himself (group dynamic level "I with myself"). The level of movement indicates more clearly the socializing effect: here the other person can (do not have to) experience my movement (or I him) and join it. The instrumental level of play has a clearly socializing effect. Here no one can escape the acoustic stimuli emitted by an instrument - regardless of whether these stimuli bother him or not. The vocal, then the verbal level of play are media action levels that increasingly emphasize the socializing moment. Finally, the touch plane with this effect is the most obvious. The medial levels should be selected according to these effects, which lead the individual ego to experience first with itself, then with the other, then with several others and in "resistance learning" against one other, against several others. This not only applies to the entire higher-level media group, but to each individual element contained in it. In the music element, for example, one should try to start from a phase that is as individualizing as possible in the sense of listening to the instrument - playing alone - looking for a partner holding an instrumental dialogue - leading and following with instruments - making contact with another axis - playing in an ensemble - playing something together Produce something bigger - shape an action.
A balanced relationship between individualizing and socializing media should determine what is offered to the group, not least in the interest of the group members themselves. (If a player only makes experiences in one area, that of movement or similar, he denies himself the experiences of the other area. Here, drawing attention helps as a gentle countermeasure.) The question of weighting the media also includes the note that at Simultaneously offering several materials (painting utensils, musical instruments, etc.) whose different levels of stimulus affect the individual and should make him decide what he wants to play. It is not the group leader who suggests what the player should use to design, but rather the more or less strong appeal values of the material that decide. For the group leader, this appeal spectrum analysis means being able to observe which group participant prefers to choose which material. Countermeasures are only necessary when the individual is fixated on a material.
The question of content weighting necessarily also includes the weighting of rule game and free space game phases at the level of the game. If a game process presents itself as the formation of a mutual agreement, it must in a certain way be subject to certain rules, without the improvisational element needing to be neglected in individual phases of the game. Certain behaviors can be practiced here. If a game is only started by an impulse, an association, a stimulus word 0.a. Triggered and developed freely improvising, it naturally leaves a lot of room for self-expression, self-realization and self-discovery or for the (unconscious) presentation of one's own disorders and deficits. Such rule and free space phases should (be able to) be experienced and experienced by the players equally, not least from the point of view of a therapeutic task for the group leader, who can incorporate his observations into the preparation of the discussion about the game process and have them processed together with the client.
This equal weighting of control and free space phases is often also a problem of role experience. Not only roles that can be freely designed must be replaced by regulated ones and vice versa, but also roles that are viewed positively by negative ones and vice versa. Strict role reversal enables the experience of several game levels. The latter, however, is also achieved through contrasts within the game processes. Always the same stimulus level is tiring and leads to a reluctance to play. In the design process, it is essential to mix motorically moving phases with concentration-calm phases, instrumental phases with vocal ones, verbal phases with non-verbal phases, and so on. relieve each other. Contrasts prevent the stimulus overload that leads to weakening of the stimulus and thus enable a more intensive stimulus experience.
Plenary work often harbors the danger that stage directions or discussion models are aimed at the group leader in a centralized manner. We therefore prefer small group and partner work as a central starting point for designing multi-media games.
If the whole group has a topic and the distribution is clear, e.g. who wants to control the acoustic background with instruments, who wants to control the movement and who wants to control the tape recording, then we split up into small groups for further development and differentiation.
Overall, a working style that accepts patients as partners has also (or maybe even especially?) proved to be quite viable. Its emancipatory effect shows a surprising long-term effect, but short-term successes are hardly possible with it. It is initially divided into ten individual steps:
- The group gets to know each other (better) for the game process.
- The group discusses the topic and the work process.
- The group makes suggestions and collects material (brainstorming phase).
- The group tries out the collected material.
- The group decides on certain materials.
- The group distributes the roles and separates into various small groups.
- The small groups practice by experimenting (training phase).
- The small groups bring their designed material to the plenum (demonstration phase).
- The group discusses the process (feed-back phase).
Not only is it important to set the rule for the games "when we play, we don't talk, and when we speak, we don't play", it's also important to balance both parts. We regard the conversation about the completed game and about the game as part of the game itself. Here, in the round table discussion, the experiences in the various roles should be exchanged, put into perspective and expanded through mutual information "how was it with me". Apart from the advantage of being able to practice language expression, willingness and joy in speaking, there is only the possibility of being able to give feedback back and forth in a conversation: How was I, tell me. I'll tell you how you affected me.
4. Ther clientele and working with them
The group that is to be reported on here consists of 8 young people aged between 11 and 18 years. They stand out due to their high level of aggressiveness, destructive behavior, depressive states and the risk of suicide. 3 girls are also mentally handicapped. Due to "high-grade behavioral disorders" they were admitted to the child and adolescent psychiatric ward, where they are treated as inpatients for long periods of time. Music therapy sessions also play an important role in a broad spectrum therapy program.
The latter initially worked on the level of interaction training, which is about softening rigid behavior patterns and developing and training new interaction skills (unfreezing), with musical group improvisation, which ultimately included simple games with music. After this quasi preliminary stage, musical interactions were carried out on the level of group dynamic training, in which self-experience in the mirror of others, supported by unfreezing and feedback, prevailed. In these, instruments with their possibilities of expression and design are used consistently as a means of non-verbal communication. This happens, for example, in dialogue games, musical conversations, musical expressions of emotional states, but also in thematically designed improvisations (such as wind and leaves, boat in a storm, etc.) and in associative improvisations (such as birthdays, family quarrels, friendship, etc.). etc.).
The group then took the step to acoustic role play by itself. Here, situations are presented solely with musical means and assigned roles; the musical material is derived from the feelings that are at play in these interaction and communication situations. Pantomime and scenic representation flow in almost automatically. The acoustic role-play takes place on the level of role-playing techniques, which are to be regarded as problem-solving methods. Here, specific behaviors are trained for actual situations as well as for those that are to be expected (or feared).
The "Peter case" to be described below (cf. Reissenberger 1980) makes it clear that there is in fact not a long way to go from acoustic role play to musically enhanced psychodrama. This psychoanalytic weighting flowed into a scenic game with music, movement, pantomime and language, which fulfilled all the criteria of elementary music theater and because of which the patient did not have the appearance of psychiatric medical treatment and was therefore lived out more relaxed in the game.
CLICK> PRAXIS: The case of Peter
5. The musical-scenic editing
About the music
The musical design should help to better capture the mood behind the spoken content. In addition, the music serves the formal structure of the material and helps to bridge the scene changes. The most important thing for the dynamics of our group was that the musical parts of the piece were the places where everyone - including the mentally handicapped girls - could play along in the same way. After lengthy dialogues or similar passages where only individuals appeared, everyone played and sang together again.
The following musical forms were used:
1. Instrumental and vocal improvisation:
- a "Dracula-munik", which is used as an introduction and whenever Dracula appears, symbolizing. A ghost-like music created around the word Dra-cu-la.
We use: cymbals, timpani, metallophone, an expanded piano frame and our voices as instruments. The 12 o'clock chimes on the great cymbal are added during the disguise and before Dracula appears,
- a "fear music" played whenever people escape from Dracula. Expressed by playing all diatons up and down as quickly as possible. and chromatic tones of mallets
with the addition of an untuned zither,
a "wind music" to support the sheet lightning when Dracula appears in the graveyard. A sound game with slide flutes, flute heads, grated skins, vocal sounds, rattles and tambourines,
- supporting noises and acoustic effects in the sense of a radio play (sirens from the police cars, doorbells, moving chairs, creaking beds, fire, footsteps and running noises, etc.).
The length of these sound plays was determined by what was happening on the stage. The intention was not to determine the length musically, but the children should adapt to the actors' play and accompany it.
2. recitative:
All of the intermediate texts that help streamline the content are narrated by Peter singing, accompanied by a guitar chord and introduced and ended by everyone singing a refrain.
3. song:
In certain scenes (bus ride, schoolyard, youth hostel, falling asleep, city at night, etc.), the group sang well-known songs to illustrate a situation and at the end of the piece they invented their own closing song.
About the movement
The following forms were used
1. Gestures, facial expressions, pantomime
2. Person shadow play
Gestures and facial expressions should be clear from the children's involvement
Submitted and if possible not rehearsed. The more genuine and comfortable someone feels in their role, the more coherent their facial expressions will be. The heists that "Dracula" made were a big problem as they always sparked an almost serious fight between the kids until the idea of turning on a shadow play was born. (Behind several life-size sheets stretched across the room and backlit, the players move silently.) So the boys struggled to overpower each other with large and slow movements, a huge success of their otherwise So uncontrolled, uncontrolled aggression .
About the language
The following forms were used:
1. free and fixed dialogues
2. choral speech and exclamations
Peter himself has a speech impediment, but this does not impede his ability to express himself verbally. Like two other children in the group, he can conduct a dialogue with someone without specifying the exact wording, so that in many places only the outer framework, a fixed sequence of scenes, was fixed. It was more difficult for the mentally handicapped girls and they took roles that usually only had one sentence to say: e.g. as director of the home - the greeting, as bus driver - "everybody get out" etc. As a means of including everyone in what is happening and to do joint activities describe, choral speaking of content-related, easy to scan verses was used. In addition, exclamations, screams of terror from fear of "Dracula" served as a means of expression.
For disguise and decoration:
Disguise, decoration and other utensils were limited to the bare essentials: a self-painted cloth with flaming eyes represented Dracula in the apparition scene
Painted playground markings. In order to save on conversions, one of the mentally handicapped girls carried the sign with the corresponding inscription across the stage with an important expression - and the venue was already made clear. Chairs served us as school benches, bus seats, places to sleep, garden benches, home furnishings, and here too we had to make do with minimal tools. The actual disguise was placed at the end of the work in order to work as long as possible on the children's individual, personal possibilities of expression.
Final Remark
The focus was not on the medium of music, movement or language, but on the patient who expresses himself in them. In therapeutic work, musical theater is not seen as a specialist area or from an artistic and aesthetic point of view, but as a means of personal expression, as an opportunity to get to know oneself and to establish relationships with other people.
For Peter, it was a big step forward that he told stories from his own life and involved the group in his life by playing about them together. Other children find it difficult to describe something so direct from their lives, they need stories and fairy tales in order to say something about themselves in an 'imagined' role and to talk about it with other people. Since experience has shown that it is very difficult to talk directly about them with emotionally disturbed children, music and drama in particular offer good opportunities to approach their experiences.
After a total of 4 months of intensive work with his Dracula story, Peter was able to free himself from the conviction that he was Dracula. He had learned that everyone in the group had not dismissed his thoughts and feelings as pathological, but had taken his ideas seriously. He had found that he could play and work with us without being Dracula. In the months that followed, even after his release, he joined our group and was able to actively participate in the stories of other children.
CLICK> PRAXIS: The case of Peter
Article by Klaus Finkel © 1980 original text for Paul TimmermansZum Andenken Klaus Finkel 1980 © Original paper never published before
A few months later Klaus Finkel died.
FINKEL K.: Elementares Musiktheater mit geistig behinderten Kindern, Staufen/Freiburg 1980.
FINKEL K.: Interaktionspädagogik und Musiktherapie, in: Tagungsbericht Orff-Symposion 1980, Salzburg, 1980.
DECKER-VOIGT H.H.: Erziehung und Therapie durch Musik, Bde 1-3, Lilienthal/Bremen 1975-1977.
FINKEL K. / DECKER-VOIGT H.H.: Gestaltungsprozesse in der pädagogischen und therapeutischen Praxis, Düsseldorf 1980.
REISSENBERGER K.: Musik, Bewegung und Sprache in der Therapie emotional gest¨rter Kinder und Jugendlicher, in: Tagungsbericht Orff- Symposion 1980, Salzburg 1980.
REISSENBERGER K.: Musiktherapie und Bewegungstherapie, in: Prax. Psychoth. 23/1978.
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