Situating Therapy Through Music

Flamenco is the result of a fusion of genres. These genres already existed in Andalucía before the gitanos [gypsies] arrived. When the gitanos brought their Eastern flavour, this mixed with the music already in Andalucia and thus Flamenco was born. Much like the relationship between the singer and guitarist, there are similarities with the relationship between the client and therapist. In any performing arts, the performer's authentic expression cannot be faked. It is exposed, explicitly put on the line for the world to see. It is one of those few situations in which when the performer is funking it, the performer cannot lie nor hide, it is painfully obvious to the audience. The converse is also true that as one writer describes it that when the performer connects to the depth within, this is also exposed and situates the performer in incredible vulnerability, immense risk and power. This is one of the most beautiful things to see because in short, the performer is putting their life on the line, standing on the edge of the abyss, and in Lorca's words, 'on the rim of the well.' It is only in these rare, spontaneous yet powerfully charged moments of electricity that Duende has arrived. That the performer has no say when or if duende will come. All the performer can do is be willing to die at that very moment. It cannot be planned or manipulated. Duende is a force of nature, yet it is a very masculine force, think of natural 'disasters', earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and lightning. The same force that burns to ashes, destroys and tears apart is also the same force that electrifies, resuscitates and raises up what has been not completely lost but dormant for a very long time.

So like, how a guitarist's role is to respond, accompany, intervene, encourage and support the singer, the therapist's position shares a similar ground. Also much like a guitarist 'tunes in' to the singer's voice, a therapist also 'tunes in.' However, ultimately their roles are markedly different. This is not to bridge the gap between a guitarist and compare to the therapist, but there are particular phenomenons that a situated and traditional gitano guitarist possess that A] therapists may already be doing on some level and B] can develop a greater situated practice.

The therapist's interventions are very important. What is the music behind their words? what is the music behind the clients? What is the aire [atmosphere] between the therapist and client? and what song does this sing? It is very crucial for clients to feel their experiences are heard and understood on a gut and visceral level. Intellectual, abstract 'understanding' does not 'cut the ice here.' Even mirroring serves a purpose up to a point. This goes beyond personal development and healing. A very fundamental need regardless of 'distant lands travelled to' is to be emotionally understood. This goes beyond unmet developmental [narsarcisstic] needs. This is because we are social, relational creatures. As Frankl [1959] described 'Inter-relational meaning-making creatures.' Although talking therapies tend to focus on healing within, there is also healing externally that has to happen. In other words, if healing implies a kind of sickness within, this implies there is also a sickness in society. By the same token, the environment is our 'extended bodies.' Culture has a greater influence on people, A] more than what people realise and B] more than parental/caregiver influence.

Traditionally gypsy flamenco was spontaneous. At juergas [gatherings usually parties] gitano [gypsy] played, sang danced, and drank as the spirit took them all night long, often partying for days at a time. In a strange way, the majority of commercialised flamenco of today does a disservice to the art. To its core, flamenco is music of poverty, for the outcasts, neither here nor there suffering immense loss and persecution. Yes, it is music that is a 'result' of the music already existing in Andalucía before the gitanos arrived, a fusion. And some argue it is the fate of flamenco to continue 'evolving.' However flamenco in its continued 'evolution' is losing something crucial to its core. The orchestrated nature of 'modern' flamenco is doing a disservice to the free and spontaneous nature of expression that is characteristic of traditional flamenco. In short, flamenco to its core is a music of celebration and suffering, at its deepest, suffering. Flamenco music addresses a way through suffering but not a way out. This gravitates towards 'tension' and 'release.' However, ultimately there is no final resolution, but this is very subtle. More than anything Flamenco addresses the profundity of the problem and nails the audience and performer hand and foot to what is at stake and therefore what has been lost to some degree and can continue to be further lost or can be regained. Moran states that this risen pain is the pain of recognising the lies that humanity has been living, this pain includes the pain of many others past and present that has been ignored.

Traditionally guitarists 'hold the frame' mainly by keeping to compas [rhythmic structures]. Never does the guitarist try to overshadow the cantaor/ra [singer] in any way. It is more of a conversation that the guitarist responds to by catching the mood and intention of the song and therefore dialoguing with that intention, thus improvising following the singer's lead. Although the guitarist has a musical repertoire, the musical arrangement was totally improvised. So there is a 'thinking on one's feet' quality to accompanying a singer, no time for decision-making. To do this the therapist has to 'empty' themselves so that the client can take up space both in a physical sense and within the therapist. As the therapeutic 'process' gets underway the therapist will intuit when and how even what to respond to.

Implicit in this process of accompanying is that the guitarist like the therapist 'travels' with and through different terrains, characterised by mood, intention, depth, feeling and temperature with the client that encourages and supports. Accompanying means to 'work with' not work to or for but 'with.' This is a communication, a dialogue that expands grows and deepens over time. Further along, in this vein, keeping time means keeping to the beat and rhythm and not speeding ahead to rush to a finish line. And by coming together, each party contributes to a totality that is greater and serves something greater than its parts. Therefore the ability to improvise and be flexible enough to adapt to the ebb and flow of the moment is required if the client is to feel in dialogue and collaboration with the therapist. Sometimes the beat changes and the therapist 'reading between the lines' has to be able to respond and even anticipate at times the change in tempo or even abrupt start and stops.

What this all calls for is for a different kind of intelligence to take over. An 'intelligence' not of the mind because this is abstract and a very limited 'kind' of intelligence, often a kind of egoic self-sabotaging kind of intelligence. But a situated kind of intelligence that can only really be developed through practice and experience. A lot has to be worked through, even unlearned; bias, prejudices, and judgements have to be stripped bare to allow a primal natural intelligence to come forth to really 'see things' as they really are and as they really are unfolding in the room rather than clouded by the lens of pet theories.

This blog originates and is inspired by Jamie Moran