An Entirely Different Experience

The last week of being in Germany was a very different experience when compared to the first three.  On that first day, the train pulled in from the bustle of Düsseldorf to the small train station in Viersen and I immediately felt like I'd gone from 100mph to a leisurely, suburban 25.  Then after about an hour wait, we traveled by bus to an even smaller area, Süchteln.

The first night felt like I was in isolation.  I had a small apartment to myself in a building on the LVR Klinik campus that appeared to be mostly deserted, except for the one other music therapy student, Preston, who had travelled with me and was staying in an apartment a few floors above.  A short walk into "town" proved that Süchteln rolls up it's sidewalks starting around 7:00pm, and that getting wifi anywhere was not going to be possible.  I made it very far into my A Game of Thrones book that night and went to bed early, feeling disappointed at what seemed to be the start to an unexciting week.

However, the next day dawned bright and sunny, which was a wonderful contrast from all the rain we'd been getting the past week.  Since it was a day off for the therapy staff of the clinic, we went with the music therapists, Eva and Astrid, and a couple other employees at the clinic, on an outing to the gardens of a small Schloss (castle).  The gardens were beautiful, and it was nice being able to get to know Eva and Astrid and hear about what they do at the clinic, and I was excited to be able to observe music therapy sessions starting the next day.

Over the course of the next few days, I observed music therapy sessions in a closed psychiatry unit, a geriatric psychiatry unit, and in a forensics unit.  I took part in a small orchestra and chorus that Eva organizes for patients who are not in closed units.  We sang English songs such as Can't Help Falling in Love and Dream a Little Dream of Me, and also sang German schlager (or popular German songs).

Observing sessions on the closed units was intense, because we were interacting with many patients with severe diagnoses.  However, there were so many wonderful moments that happened during these music therapy sessions.  One particular moment was when a patient on a closed psychiatry unit requested to hear a Johnny Cash song.  Preston immediately jumped up and offered to play Ring of Fire on the guitar.  We sang the song, with the patients listening or singing along, and at the end we all laughed and clapped.  This was the first time that I'd really interacted with music therapy patients in Germany, and it reinforced how powerful music can be as a connection between people, especially across cultures.  It seemed like Ring of Fire was a very good song for interacting with patients, because later that day, both Preston and I taught the chords of Ring of Fire to a group of forensic patients who were learning how to play guitar.

These music therapy sessions were also especially interesting because my learning experiences in Heidelberg led me to believe that these music therapy sessions would be very different than how they actually were.  While in Heidelberg, most of our discussion about German music therapy was about using improvisation, with an emphasis on the patients creating their own music and then discussing that experience with the music therapist.

At the Viersen LVR Klinik, we saw no improvisation at all.  Eva and Astrid conducted music therapy sessions where there was mostly song-singing, with some structured instrument playing.  At first, I found this to be very odd and startling, because I had been prepared for an entirely different experience.  However, I realized after talking to them about their reasoning behind the techniques, that I had been a little too focused on the idea of improvisation being so important, that I had overlooked the focus on the patient.

Eva and Astrid mostly use song-singing for several different reasons.  Singing familiar songs is an effective way to build trust with psychiatric patients who can have difficulty having trust in anyone.  Also, patients being able to sing along, choose songs, or even just sit and listen through an entire music therapy session can be big steps in their treatment.  Because of the severity of diagnoses at this facility, having structured sessions where the patients know what to expect (and what songs they will be singing) is the best way to build the therapeutic relationship and help them reach their goals.

This was important for me to realize, because it's always a good ting to be reminded that even though as a student you might be taught to do music therapy a certain way, or that one way of doing music therapy is "better", the focus always needs to be on what is best for the patient.  This connects to my experiences in Heidelberg and the idea of reflexivity that I talked about in my last blog.  Being flexible and adjusting to the patient's needs is one of the most important tools that the music therapist has, and I felt like I observed music therapists who were extremely mindful of this and conducted music therapy sessions with effective techniques for the various situations.

From all the experience of this week, I feel like I learned a lot about German music therapy and music therapy in general.  I also learned a little about myself.  Although I felt nervous about being around patients with such severe diagnoses, I was able to get past this and have a wonderful experience in each session I observed.  I was able to connect with patients through singing English songs and learning German schlager, though playing guitar with patients,  and even at one point through being an audience to a patient freestyle rapping in German!

I'm very grateful to Eva and Astrid, who are amazing music therapists as well as amazing people.  They helped make the week I spent there enjoyable and I'm so happy I got a chance to meet them and learn from them.