In
Aceh, improvised music is helping hundreds of school students
recover from the emotional scars left by the tsunami. The International
Federation’s Vina Agustina reports on a unique Danish
Red Cross project this is finding creativity and healing in
unexpected places.
“Look! I can play it. It’s amazing!” laughs
Safrina, as she finally manages to produce a melodic note from
a plastic straw.
For a moment Safrina is immersed in the challenge of making
noise with the improvised musical instruments – a straw,
a can, a plastic bottle – that lie strewn around her.
Safrina is one of 27 elementary teachers in Teunom, Aceh Jaya
who participated in a two day music training course organized
by Danish Red Cross as part of its wide reaching psychosocial
support programme in tsunami affected Aceh. The course shows
teachers how to run music programmes in their schools, stressing
the central role that music can play in helping people recover
from the emotional scars of the tsunami and its aftermath.
The course also takes a very practical approach and shows teachers
how everyday materials can be used as substitutes for expensive
musical instruments.
Dwi Asnyar Reni is a psychologist working with Danish Red Cross.
“We aim to show how people can create music without instruments
and to teach the elementary teachers essential knowledge about
music so that they can teach their students.”
“I am so happy to be taking part in this,” says
Safrina. “I’ve learned a lot. At our school we had
stopped running music activities because we didn’t have
the instruments and basic knowledge about music itself.”
‘Junk’ music
Edward Van Ness, a music conductor from the Javanese city of
Yogyakarta, deftly uses a pair of scissors to turn a plastic
straw into a flute.
“Music doesn’t have to be made by expensive instruments,”
he explains. “Bottles can be drums and straws can be flutes.
We call it ‘junk’ music because we use second-hand
equipment.
Before the training gets underway, the Danish Red Cross team
holds a ‘junk’ music performance for a group of
30 high school students.
The students are entranced and they listen attentively to the
team as they explain the important therapeutic role that music
can play in their lives and their recovery from the tsunami.
They are particularly interested in learning how to play traditional
music and in how to create musical instruments out of everyday
ordinary materials.
Before long, the students are trying their hands at ‘junk’
music. They are laughing and having a ball.
Lini, 16-year-old junior high school student says: “I
never played music before. I preferred drama over music because
there are no music instruments in our school. But this junk
music is different. It is exciting and I think I want to try
it again and again together with my friends.”
The Danish Red Cross psychosocial support programme has been
running since the days immediately following the December 2004
tsunami. Working closely with the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang
Merah Indonesia – PMI), the Danish Red Cross has been
working with communities along the west coast with a particular
focus on the districts of Aceh Jaya and Aceh Barat.
Initial efforts focused on distributing musical instruments
and sporting equipment to elementary schools and junior high
schools. After the first year the programme evolved towards
providing more structured emotional support for young tsunami
survivors, through, for example, the training of teachers in
psychological first aid and stress management.
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Safrina
is one of 27 elementary teachers in Teunom, Aceh Jaya
who participated in a two day music training course organized
by Danish Red Cross as part of its wide reaching psychosocial
support programme in tsunami affected Aceh. (p15883)
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Edward
Van Ness, a music conductor from the Javanese city of
Yogyakarta, instructs the teachers in playing music by
using plastic bottles. (p15890)
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| Lini,
16-year-old junior high school student says: “I
never played music before. I preferred drama over music
because there are no music instruments in our school.
But this junk music is different. It is exciting and I
think I want to try it again and again together with my
friends.” (p15882) |
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| The
students are entranced and they listen attentively to
the team as they explain the important therapeutic role
that music can play in their lives and their recovery
from the tsunami. They are particularly interested in
learning how to play traditional music and in how to create
musical instruments out of everyday ordinary materials.
(p15880) |
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