Terry Sarten: Music an important implement in life's emotional toolbox

MUSIC AS MEDICINE: Power-chord that guitar ... and then just walk away as if nothing has happened.

BEING a musician means that music is in my life in so many ways.

I sing in the shower, the kitchen and in my music room - I take music for granted and sing at work, although at times this is clearly a bit disconcerting for those I encounter in the corridor.

I sing whether happy, sad and even do a grumpy song as a melodic alternative to making whining/axe-grinding noises.

We all have our favourite songs or pieces of music that we connect to in some way.

It may be a memory of a person, place or event; it may provide a portal to an emotional experience, resonating in that space, that echo chamber of thoughts and feelings within us.

The musician Peter Gabriel refers to music as being an essential part of the human emotional toolbox - a wonderful way to phrase it.

In recent work with children and young people doing social work triage; assessing risk, initiating interventions and ongoing support, it was brought home to me yet again how much we under-rate the power of music.

The strength based approach to assessment looks for the existing resources that are already there that could be built into the support plan. This may be as simple as the person understanding that, in seeking assistance, they have called on a special part of themselves, a strength that they may not have realised they had.

It may be that through careful interviewing they discover they do have someone - a family member or friend - who cares and does understand where they are at as they struggle with big problems. Various elements such as these can be gathered together to form a raft of potential they can cling to as they weather the storm.

One of these elements can be music.

When asked what music they like, most children and young people can easily name favourites, and a question about how a particular music style or performance makes them feel can lead to them identifying how their mood mirrors or is altered by the music they listen to, especially at the times when their problems seem overwhelming.

If there are pieces of music that lift their mood or expresses how they feel - either via the words, voice or sound - then that can be stored as part of their emotional toolbox, an asset when times are tough.

The surprising thing is that so often this asset remains unrecognised until it is brought to attention. Music is so integrated into our lives that we lose sight of its ability to affect mood.

Some of the young people I worked with told of putting on headphones, turning up the volume and dancing round their bedrooms but were worried that this might seem a bit loopy.

Did it help them cope? Often they would say yes, it did make a difference, especially when reaching for every little thing that helps. It is in their emotional toolbox, perhaps unrecognisable until it is hauled out. It can never rust or become broken.

Music, to paraphrase a famous advertisement, "can reach the parts that other things cannot reach".

Personally, I find there is no better way to accept the challenges the world offers up on some days than to plug in the electric guitar, crank the amp up to eleven and have a blast. It only requires a power-chord or three (most songs only have three chords) to reach that deeply satisfying place where the world fades to feedback ... and then to walk away as if nothing has happened.

-Terry Sarten is a musician, writer and social worker - feedback of the other kind always welcome: tgs@inspire.net.nz or www.telsarten.com/