Blues music as therapy for slavery's psychological legacy

¶ … Blues through History of Slavery and the Clinical Applications of Blues Form in today's therapy

History of American Slavery -- Brief Overview

In the year 1619, first African slaves were transferred to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia. They were brought here to help in the production of crops like tobacco, which were considered to be lucrative. This even marked the beginning of slavery in America, which turned out to be the biggest curse for the country. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, slavery was a common practiced all over the American colonies. Slaves, who were of African-American origin, played a great role in the development of the economic foundations of the new country. In the year 1793, the cotton gin was invented that resulted in the solidification of the central significance of slavery to the economy of the South. By the mid of the 19th century, the westward expansion of America, along with an expanding abolition movement in the North, provoked a huge debate pertaining to slavery. This debate and confrontation had the potential to tear the nation, as the American Civil War was a result of that. The War started in 1861 and ended in 1865. Even though, the Union victory resulted in the freedom of 4 million American slaves, the legacy of slavery went on to leave an impact on the American history, starting from the torturous years of Reconstruction (which was the period from 1865 through 1877) to the movement of civil rights that surfaced during the 1960s, about a century after emancipation of slaves.

Psychological Effects of Slavery on the African-Americans

Needless to say the institution of colonization and slavery resulted in many adverse effects on the African-Americans. It is quite evident that these people suffered from economic distress, but the aspect of slavery that is not talked about is the psychological toll that it took on the African-Americans. As a result of slavery, many Americans of African descent find themselves suffering from a sub-conscious inferiority complex. This inferiority complex has led to the force disconnection of these people from the self-identity and self-concept. All and any positive reinforcement including their accomplishments and history, were then taken over by a repetitive and reinforced theory of African-American inferiority (Gussow 51). The owners, as well as the rest of the white people in the society ensured negative mental conditioning o these slaves. They were treated harshly, with brutal reprisals, whenever the slaves showed interest in seeking knowledge of their history or of the world in general. The African-American men were humiliated in the presence of their family every time they made an attempt that was even remotely linked to seeking justice. Their self-respect and pride was stripped. It was not uncommon for the women to be taken away from their husbands, at the discretion of the owner. The women were then raped, so as to further diminish the sense of male self-worth as well as that of women's.

The status of slaves as human beings was further diminished through castration and other barbaric practices including the amputation of limbs for small infractions. These practices led to the slaves becoming physically handicapped, along with the hellish psychological suffering and torment they were going through at the hands of their owners. Groups of slaves were made to fight with each other, practice known as battle royals, for no apparent reason. This was done by the owners after they bet as to which group would win, and to entertain themselves. In other cases, the slaves were thrown against each other in human cockfights, and some slaves even died in the process. Such brutal contests further reinforced the psychological acceptance of the slaves as being lesser beings.

History of Development of Blues

Even though we never find out for sure, it will be safe to say that music was developed around thousands and thousands of years ago. The purpose behind the development of music was to synchronize and coordinate the collective human aspirations and movements, which back in the years, were farming or hunting (Cohn) Even in the current times, it is a natural phenomenon to start humming or singing a rhythmic song, especially the ones that go with the activity that is being performed by a group of people, irrespective of what they are doing from building a roof to hiking a mountain. It is assumed that great singers were given a significant social status, just like that of top hunters or shamans. Later on, as the development of percussion instruments took place so as to accompany music, the emergency of individual percussionists also took place. After that, new sorts of instruments, and not just percussive ones, were produced that further enhanced skillful playing of music. At some points in time, while the evolution of civilizations was taking place, "solo music" was developed to appreciate and admire the playing of the best instrumentalists and vocalists. There is a possibility that, at first, the performances of the singers were primarily for upper classes and were merely musical. At some point, the solo poetry and solo music merged naturally so as to provide entertainment to the upper classes, and later on to the masses with some of kind of morals that were known to people. While it was the purpose of the racial instinct to divide the western European forms, particularly the Anglosaxons, from others, it was just a matter of a few hundred years that the divide started to vanish with time. The most disturbing confrontations for the Europeans were no doubt the existence of African music. The African music had long been discarded by the Europeans, as it was considered to be a peculiarity of the animal kingdom, since the sound of the music was pretty much like that of animals. However, the music did somehow manage to stay there for over two centuries, in the presence of the European music. Once it became prevalent in Europe, the music made roads into the American society. During the 19th century, there were many aspects of the African music that started to infiltrate into the folk music of the white people (Floyd) This particular phenomenon occurred in the Americas. However, by that time African music had not percolated in the European society. Once again, rhythm was thought to be the main differentiating factor. The Africans did not invent the rhythms, but definitely the African polyrhythms were quite different from rhythms of the European folk music, which were linear in nature. The influence of black or African music on the white music was not felt initially, however later on it became the primary factor for the fueling of innovation. In fact, the European folk music had hardly transformed at all over hundreds of years, but started to change widely after the African-American music started to have an influence on it. After the Ars Nova, the integration of African folk music with European folk music was the most significant source of innovation for music, particularly in the western world. However, on the other hand the conditions of the European classical music stayed odd. It constantly refused to welcome African music, as it was still regarded as a form of inferior animal oddity. Therefore, the bridge between folk and classical music could not be built as the gap started to increase widely during the 19th century.

The African-Americans are particularly known for Blues. Blues is basically a genre of music that emerged towards the end of the 19th century in the communities of the African-American people, during the time of their slavery. Primarily, the music genre originated in the communities of the Deep South of the United States from field hollers, work songs, tuned simple narrative ballads, chants and shouts, and spirituals. The development of Blues from work shouts, which were referred to as arhoolies, continued among many generations of the African-American communities. Initially, they were performed towards the end of the 20th century in rural areas of Mississippi. During that time, they were referred to as the vocal narratives, but as this genre developed it started to become known as Blues. It is assumed that this term might have emerged from the term "blue devils," which means sadness and melancholy. An early adaptation of this term pertaining to the aforementioned sense can be found in Blue Devils (1798) written by George Colman. Even though, this term has been used by African-Americans since a long period of time, it formally became accepted since the year 1912, when Dallas Blues by Hart Wand became the first blues composition that was copyrighted. As for the lyrics of this music genre, they are described as expressing a low or depressed mood.

Slavery was one of the most horrifying realities of the late 17th century, which became widespread in the New England Colonies. Thousands of African-Americans were captured as prisoners and taken from one place to another on crowded boats, and the blacks that could not survive the cruel journey to America were heartlessly tossed into the seas. Out of about 40 million slaves that were transported from African to the United States, only 15 million of them could survive, however they ended up in pure hell. It was expected of the African-Americans to meet the demands of two ideas, both of which met the needs of the rich white Americans. Thus, where slaves had a disguise to serve their masters and please them, they were just not being honest to themselves in the least bit, and they were living according to the wishes of their masters to escape the beating or to avoid being scrutinized any further. Having said that, just because they had no choice but to live up to the two ideals, it did not mean that there were not any rightfully revengeful and rebellious slaves that went against the books and refused to accept being a cookie cutter cut-out. It is assumed that the slaves that did live up to the expected obedient, as well as comic-relief providing slave had a relatively easier ride of the hell they were going through (Oakley).

However, nowadays the Black culture is popularly characterized by the influence it had on the popular music and dance. It is important to note here that all this started, to develop a shape and form to leave an impression on everyone for centuries to come, in the 1890s. jazz, Blues and Ragtime were all genres of music that were creations of the African-Americans. It is interesting to note that after these genres were developed, they did not just remain confined to the black people, but soon got integrated into the entire world of music and entertainment. The aforementioned statement is suggestive of the fact that jazz, blues and everything else that African-American musicians had developed, had great potential to influence the musical preferences of those around them, and that too in the best possible way. Something that started off as a gruesome story of the lives of the poor slaves soon became famous as a magnificent musical and cultural victory. Not just that, the development of Blues provided a way out for the slaves that were treated harshly and cruelly by the rich white people. The fact that the suffering that these people went through did not have to go in vain, is satisfactory to some an extent. The African-Americans have made a permanent part of history by serving their ruthless masters, and by developing Blues, which is considered to be one of the most popular musical genres. The books that have stated the history of the African-Americans are particularly interesting to read because it has been described how the black men and women were so powerless at one point in time, and then became so powerful with the help of the music that they developed without letting their past full of oppression and pain slow them down. It will not be wrong to say that the Blues was the sweet escape for the slaves from all sorts of pain and it was a channel for these people to take control of their new lives full of freedom (Oakley).

Social and Economic Aspects behind the Development of Blues

The social and economic reasons behind the development of blues are not fully known to the analysts and researchers. Blues has transformed from an unaided vocal music of the poor black slaves and laborers into a genre with a wide variety of subgenres and styles, with variations depending upon the different areas of the United States. The first emergence of the blues is not fully defined and is assumed to be dated between 1870 and 1900, which was the period that accords with the emancipation of the African-American slaves and their transformation from slavery to farming and agricultural production on the small-scale, particularly in the southern parts of the United States.

Numerous scholars are of the view that early 1900s should be characterized with respect to the development of blues music. They are also of the view that the development of blues was a move made by the African-Americans from group performances to the ones that were more individualized. These scholars put forth the argument that the development of blues has an association with the recently acquired freedom of the African-American slaves. According to one of the scholars who studied the culture of African-Americans in great depth, Lawrence Levine, there was a direct association between the emphasis placed on the individuals both nationally and ideologically, the popularity of teachings of Booker T. Washington, and the emergence of blues. Levine has also stated that socially, psychologically, and economically, the African-Americans were trained to become acculturated in such a way that would not have been possible during slavery, and it hardly comes as a surprise that their secular music was reflection of this as much as their religious music.

The use of music therapy

Music Therapy was initiated in the late 18th century but it is only recently that researchers and doctors are beginning to look into it. Going back to the historical times, studies show that music was used as a form of healing in the ancient times as well. Many of the historical aspects discussing the use of music therapy in healing are retrieved from civilizations such India, China, Greece, Rome and Egypt. This basically shows that music therapy is basically the modification of art used in ancient times. These days, this form of therapy is basically used to attain goals such as improving mental health and feeling of well being (Lee)

When this notion was becoming popular, many doctors and nurses attempted to make use of music and ultimately blues to heal the veterans of war. It was seen that music went on to make changes in the cognitive, psychological, emotional and psychological state of the veterans. From then on, universities have been working to see how music ultimately makes a difference in the lives of these people. Music therapy is defined as the utilization of music and further interventions to assure that certain individualized goals have been attained. Music therapy intervention is utilized to express feelings, emotions and to improve communication and alleviate pain as well. It has been proved an important tool that functions well to reduce depression and other poor mental health conditions (Bensimon and Amir et.al)

Music has been seen to calm the mind and the nerves of a person. It does make changes in the behavior and the cognition of the person. Whenever a person goes through a harsh experience such as a trauma or racism, they have harsh memories of that incident. They have the tendency to continue thinking about the trauma that they went through. Music therefore has the ability to numb out thoughts and prevent the person from thinking. In these scenarios of poor mental health, persons are motivated to listen to music so that they do not have negative thoughts. This music also aims to alter their perceptions and their thinking. Seeing how it requires little intervention and is an easy form of therapy, it is becoming increasingly popular today.

Process

To explain the process of this therapy, a study of incarcerated men was taken who were made to listen to blues music. This was a highly effective therapy technique when used with a group of inmates. In the beginning, all of the inmates reported that they had "the blues" because they were all incarcerated. In other words, they were trying to imply that their mental illness is present because of the condition that they are in. There were many things about the prison that they did not like. They were against the absence of freedom, good food, women, and other things.

After these people were told to write down and tell their causes of sadness, they were told how to construct lyrics in the blue form. Using techniques that they were taught to them, they learned how to make songs in the blues pattern. The inmates ultimately made up songs and sang them in-group choruses in these sessions. This enabled the therapist to work them as a group and as an individual. He could easily see and figure out what was wrong with the inmates (Moreno) Therefore, the therapist listened to the songs that were created by inmates. Issues or topics that were significant were then noted down by the therapist to be used later in these sessions.

Other methods to utilize blues as a form of therapy are for the therapist to accompany his or her client in this process. For instant, the therapist can aid in providing the rhythmic or the harmonic accompaniment. The blues scale is very easy to improvise on a simple instrument such as an Orff metallophone. Therefore, the therapist can make use of the scale notes with very little chances of error. Using this example, the singer can go on to provide a therapeutic and a cathartic experience for the listener.

Output

The result was that blues enabled therapists to easily identify the problems that people with mental illness were facing. It proved an easy and enjoyable way to talk to and get through to the people who are suffering from PTSD or other disorders. Blues has a unique ability to bring out all the positive and negative feelings of people in a very expressive way (Moreno 8) Therefore, it is a good method to be used as a therapy for people who are unable to express themselves. On many different levels, clients found blues to be a very expressive outlet. This approach was usable and it was quite friendly to apply on the patients as well.

A study revealed that blues has been seen to reduce depression that commonly occurs in women after delivering their child. The use of music such as blues in the form of treatment for these mothers was currently under review. It was seen that music did go on to make a significant difference in their condition (Terry and Terry) Further research on the use of blues was still required.

The output of this is seen on a subconscious level as well. Many a times, the listener would not be listening to this form of music to gain some mental health benefit from it. Regardless, it does provide a good experience for the listener. Even though psychotherapy is not the listener's intent consciously, he is being affected by it on a subconscious level.

The blues form delivers and makes it easier for the clients to express his or her feelings. Even though the singer is not readily available to the therapist, he does not really need to be there. The words and the music's were just there to set the stage and enable the person to begin uncovering their feelings. The music therapist is the person who will go on to clarify or discuss the issues that the client is going through. This is not an invasive or a troublesome procedure. The client does not feel distressed and seems to enjoy his sessions with his therapist.

Seeing how blues music can bring out experiences and emotions even in a plain blues performance, this form of music can be utilized clinically as well. With the suggested applications, it is quite clear that blues is becoming a very important area of future study. Its role in music therapy is quite promising for people for psychotherapy.