ANN ARBOR NEWS 1/27/08
OTHER VOICES, pg. A- 16
Reprinted with permission of Ann Arbor News
The buzz word in politics these days is “change”. All of the candidates for President of the United States feel they have the answers to change our considerable economic, domestic, and foreign maladies. As I stay glued to the news and TV to watch votes counted, speeches and images revised, and issues and personalities debated there is one important topic that I have not heard addressed that has the capacity to bring healing, well-being, and the potential for change to our distressed communities. That topic is the arts – which includes music (all forms), visual arts, theater, dance. All of the arts are part of the fabric of our emotional lives. Our cultural heritage in the United States can make a difference in the quality of life in our communities – if we tune it to it.
Since my background includes music as well as mental health, I am going to focus here on what I know best . Music has the capacity to reach deep into feelings when words cannot. Music can evoke emotions and moods that can inspire, arouse, anger, soothe, energize, calm us. Music provides a non-verbal commentary to everyday and special experiences. Who of us would be as affected at a movie if there were no music underscoring the plot. Who has attended a wedding without music – or a funeral? Who has not had an emotional reaction to hearing a song we like or a song we dislike? Who has left a concert – classical or popular – unmoved ? I am reminded of an occasion barely a year ago when I presented a paper in New Orleans on the Opera Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti. My lasting experience of that event is more than the enthusiastic remarks about my work. The music itself brought out feelings and memories in audience members who had been through the trauma of Katrina. These were people from all socio-economic levels and had lost homes and families. Their lives had changed forever. Yet they were inspired by music and elevated from the seemingly endless misery and daily news about insurance policies that had been cancelled, premiums outrageously raised, or that rebuilding projects were delayed. People hoped for better times, even though families who had lived in the same city for generations would now be separated geographically due to financial necessities of finding work . Music brought people out of their everyday tribulations and brought them together as a community. It helped them remember and temporarily to put aside their trauma. I have had patients tell me about tunes in their head and how music helped them recall memories long forgotten – memories that led to greater appreciation of self and awareness of moods that otherwise were not available. For those who play music, i.e., the musician, music provides a sense of mastery, pleasure, and competence. Performing for an audience also provides the musician and audience the opportunity to form a relationship. Music is our first mode of communication. Think of the coos, aaaahs, and gurgles between baby and mother and father. These are all wordless sounds that hold great meaning in forging relationships long before language develops.
It was suggested that I contact the Cultural Arts Division in the City of Farmington Hills which helped create a Cultural Arts Master Plan in the year 2000 to identify what the citizens would like to see accomplished culturally in their community’s future. Support for the arts as a community strength was also stated soundly in a recent independently-commissioned 2007 Sustainability Study.
Nancy Coumoundouros, Cultural Arts Supervisor for the City, observes that the City now boasts an overflowing Farmington Hills Youth Theatre program. Parents of shy and withdrawn children often express their gratitude for the impact the program has on their children’s social skills and self-assurance. The City also has a Farmington Hills Youth Choir and has offered hundreds of classes, workshops, lessons, programs, and camps in art, photography, dance, theater, music, circus arts. There are professional concerts, a cable show, and community festivals. Professional and student exhibits and free concerts in the park have special appeal for senior citizens and families. Enrollment in the last two years has increased by over 45%.
Ann Arbor has a rich cultural heritage and promising future. Our arts organizations are vibrant and vital in our community which has had its share of economic challenges. It’s incredibly gratifying to live and work in a city that understands the need for and value of the arts. I suggest that a further step in our city’s vitality be enhanced by coordination of our multiple arts programs and classes.
Toward that goal, a program on music, arts and culture in the community will be presented on February 2, 2008, 1:30-3:00 p.m. at the Stearns Building, University of Michigan, North Campus, Ann Arbor (corner Broadway and Baits). It is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Committee/Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute and the University of Michigan School of Music/Department of Outreach. In addition fo me, speakers include John Hiefjte, Mayor of Ann Arbor, Jesse Bernstein, President of Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, Julie Jaffee Nagel, psychoanalyst and musician (Chair of Ann Arbor Committee/Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute), and, Louis Nagel, Professor of Piano and Director of Outreach, University of Michigan School of Music. Admission is free, refreshments will be served, and music will be performed by UM Music School students.
As I think about Michigan in the current economic climate, I am chilled by Governor Granholm’s decision to cut funding to music and the arts when she had to make difficult budget choices. The survival of music and art in Michigan and specifically in Ann Arbor provides benefits to the economy in many unforeseen ways as well as attracts people to our state. Our cultural institutions provide psychic income and add quality to life to residents. This is something that money cannot buy yet enriches us all. Candidates – politicians, listen up when you talk about “change”!!!
Julie Jaffee Nagel holds degrees from The Juilliard School, The University of Michigan, and is a graduate of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute. She is in private practice in Ann Arbor.