Music of a War Child

Emmanuel Jal was child soldier in Sudan, and he shares his story in this talk.  He states that music was his therapy, and this clip includes a poem reading and a performance.  As I was watching this, I thought about other refugees and former child soldiers, and how they may be great candidates for music therapy.  I speculate that many suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder.  Because of their age, I also speculate that music is very important to them, and might be an ideal path to address some of the emotional issues that are likely to be present.  I do not know exactly how one would come to work with this population, but it would be very interesting to see what could be accomplished through music therapy.  I liked this video because it got me thinking outside the box of what our “typical” populations served might be.  What type of interventions would I use with war refugees?  What kind of music is already important to them?  How might dance and movement be utilized?

-Matt