Page 46 - NAMAH-Jul-2020

Namah Vol. 28, Issue 2, 15th July 2020

of the dorso-lateral prefrontal and lateral pandemic, two words ‘Ghar’ (Home) and
orbital cortices. Referring to behavioural ‘Parivaar’ (Family) were favourite during
output, Limb described the process as an the session. Each participant had created
activation of brain regions thought to be one meaningful sentence like ‘Ghar Hai to
involved in self-expression, including the Khushiyaan Hain’ (True happiness lies within
generation of autobiographical information the home), ‘Main Ghar Mein Sukhi hoon
and deactivation of areas involved in self- Corona Aapkebina’(I am happy in my house
monitoring or inhibition (4). “Corona”, without you) and ‘Chota Parivaar
Sukhi Parivaar’(A small family is a happy
Song-writing tools in MPC technique have family). At the end of the 2nd session, they
specific potentials for providing important were able to write down 12 sentences to make
emotional experiences. Emotional involvement the poem. Out of the 12 sentences, three had
is inevitably part of any musical interaction, but negative emotions. For example, ‘Main Ghar
in the process of songwriting this is explicated Mein Akeli Hoon’ (I am alone in my home).
within the song product. An 87-year-old lady with a cardiac problem,
staying alone in a retirement community, had
written that sentence. So the rest of the group
members had discarded any negative feeling
and made it to read, ‘Main Akeli Nahi Hoon’
(I am not alone). And finally we have made
an outline of the main theme.

At the end of the fourth session they were
able to write down the whole lyrics of the
song with a positive flow of emotions.

Case Study Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole world
is my family)
Song-writing in a virtual setting for a group of 15
seniors, aged 65 - 90 years during the Covid-19 Oh my beautiful Home,
pandemic in California, USA. Children are playing around.
And yes, we are very happy in our house
It has been a 2-month long process including “CORONA” without You.
10 sessions to complete the song-writing, Oh my beautiful Home,
music making and improvisation with a group All our happiness lies within You.
of 15 seniors between 65-90 years of age in In the whole world no one is happy without
a virtual setting of Music therapy. All are a family.
Indian Americans living in a retirement I have a small and happy family.
community in California, USA. Most of Oh my beautiful home.
them are comfortable in Hindi and they have Nowadays our home is ‘Priya living’
chosen ‘Hindi’ to express their emotions. And Yes we are not alone, we are living
After brainstorming ideas related to Covid-19 together and the whole world is my family.

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