Musical Medicine for Life
Gift Songs are personal compositions written and recorded to accompany you through the major events and daily rituals of your life. Your custom Gift Song serves as musical medicine, sonic self-portrait, supportive reminder, emotional archive, connection portal, and life-long soundtrack. Each multi-layered and orchestrated piece is completely unique and is imbued with your personality, intentions, dreams, and aesthetics. Gift Songs are ideal for individuals, couples, organizations, work teams, families, and friends.
Case Study: “Centering Song”
“Centering Song” was commissioned by a non-profit organization in Chicago whose mission is to prevent domestic abuse in its community. When its staff of ten social workers, counseling interns, and administrators were feeling burnt out from the emotional intensity of the work, and were experiencing tension within the organization, the Director sought me out to work with the team on a Gift Song. They were looking for an experience that would a) center the staff around their own individual needs so that they could recharge, b) center the staff as a group so that they could feel supported and heard by each other, c) center the staff around the values of the organization so that they could reconnect with their purpose. I met with the ten members of the staff and facilitated a group discussion focusing on these three issues.
The meeting generated powerful ideas, themes, and phrases from all participants, and it was an engrossing puzzle to create lyrics that included the individual voices of ten people, while synthesizing them together into a concise, cohesive whole. I met with the team again to present the finished song, and documented some of their verbal responses after listening:
“I could listen to that everyday before I start work.”
“This is such a beautiful way to remember who I was with. This is forever embedded into my brain.”
“What a gift! I am just sitting here in awe, and I can’t believe that we get to be a part of that. This is really, truly moving.”
“It sounded so playful. All of us have an inner child, and I felt like I could just be on a playground and explore. I could also hear the diversity from the song of all of us from different backgrounds and different ways of being.”
“The work we do is heavy. It felt like for the whole three and a half minutes, we were floating in the clouds, and that’s actually what I need.”
One counselor followed up via email:
“The song was transformative. Listening to it together for the first time, we were brought to tears hearing our ideas and words (across multiple languages!) woven into the perfect song for us.”
Centering Song Lyrics
enter open begin, exit close end
someone is there for you, someone is there for them
feet on the ground, head in the sound
you have found it, and you have been found
being in motion and being still
being seen and being heard will
bring you back to Earth, to breath, to ritual
bring you back to the communal table
this is your assurance
these are the steps of your dance
pasito! pasito! always a duet
pasito! pasito! in alongsideness
each light is of this world and each shadow
each mind contains a world , cada mente es un mundo
shade gives us dimension, sun gives us expansion
life is in balance , in sweet tension
from the darkest depths
to the glittering surface of the ocean
you are allowed to feel
you are allowed to fall
you are allowed to heal
you are allowed to drop the ball
luchar! luchar! you bear witness
luchar! luchar! with shared purpose
enter open begin, exit close end
someone is there for you, someone is there for them
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