I live in Connecticut. I had friends who lived in Sandy Hook. The late Jesse Levine, former conductor of the Norwalk Symphony, lived in Sandy Hook. The area of Newtown is, as was seen on the news, a very sophisticated, quiet, and wealthy location in the State of Connecticut. From where I live in Norwalk, it is about a 30-minute beautiful drive through farms and country, and a lovely day out. To have this special place be the site of the massacre of 26 innocent women and children, is so inconceivable that even a movie script would not be believable. But it did happen. And now the question of why, and what can be done to prevent such horrors, has become a free-for-all conjecture: gun laws revisited, mental health facilities reinvestigated, ASD and Asperger's redefined, and much more.

For those of us in the arts, and music education, the question is more basic. What opportunity do schools provide to young people, that enable them to express themselves, their emotional confusions, inner fears, traumas with bullying, family function, interests, in a safe manner, if not through the arts and through music? Language is ineffective. Reasoning with a youngster who harbors rage and anxiety is ineffective because the youngster is not listening, and not hearing! There are no words to define or describe inner emotional turmoil. It cannot be "reasoned" away with words. The deepest sensory reactions to inner fear and rage can only be somewhat adequately expressed in nonverbal ways, and music activities present some of those ways. Music employs the whole body and the whole brain. Playing an instrument engages movement and energies of limbs. Vocal toning vibrates inwardly addressing muscular tensions and anxieties (why do we scream, for instance?).

I would like to make the case that the training of school music educators may need to expand, to include ways in which music education can provide some forms of personal self-expression for young people. For instance, more music improvisation classes and workshops in which students (and teachers) can self-express could do wonders in helping distressed students (and teachers!) bring forth problems and express their sensations without using words. Needed are not just music classes that follow teacher directives—play "c" and "g" on the xylophone; count the beats and rhythm patterns; practice your instrument (s) so the school can have good music concerts, etc—but opportunities to apply music-making itself as a self-expressive medium. The teaching of music in schools needs to be open to incorporating areas of communication that are often addressed through music therapy types of activities.

I am not suggesting that music therapy be in the schools for every child, although that would surely be an ideal situation. I am advocating for new teacher training options that include ways in which music in the schools can facilitate young people's self-expressions and fears, through the very instruments and music classes being provided! It is not enough for one to learn to play an instrument and everything there is to know about a composer or music history. Music itself is a self-expression! Release of inner feelings! Music education is not technology education! Music is an aesthetic expression of human feelings and circumstances involving all the senses at once. Is today's music teacher trained to conduct music improvisation classes in which students have the opportunity to do 'their' thing, "hear" themselves, and collaborate with classmates on a group improvisation—a group musical interaction that is self- designed and not a Phillip Sousa march?

Several years ago I was invited to do a 2-day intensive improvisation workshop with attendees of the Orff group in Denver, Colorado. I was facing some 40 excellent local music educators skilled in the Orff and Kodály method of music education for young elementary-school aged children. I am very knowledgeable about Orff, Kodály, and Dalcroze methods, and use many tasks in my clinical music-based treatment interventions. But as the workshop took shape, I was surprised and frustrated to observe how fearful the majority of participants were, to undertake improvised self-expression and spontaneous music-making activities! As the days wore on, the message became clear. There is little point to having music in the schools unless it can also be a vehicle through which children can be spontaneous and self-expressive along the way. It is nice to learn music notation, rhythm patterns, using fingers or lips in proper positions to render melodic tones—but what about the youngster who is doing the playing? How does the youngster's "persona" fit into the picture? What is that youngster saying about him/herself through the music, or learning about him/herself personally? Yes, some educators undertake some fun improvisational activities, but these are few and far between.

Any performer's "persona" is part of any performance. Music is not only about Mozart, it's about me and Mozart because I (or, the child) am the instrument through which we hear and learn about Mozart! It's about combined personalities. In my book, "Toward The Zen Of Performance: Music Improvisation Therapy For Developing Self-Confidence In The Performer," I take option with conservatory training for this very reason—that the performer's emotions and needs are by and large not included in the training of skills. It's all about technique, the composer, and the teacher's directives! It's never about the person in the task. In general music education, I have met few teachers who understand why it is important to have music in schools, and how the student can personally benefit most—not just cognitively—from the music class. Musical development must be more than just the satisfaction of learning to play an instrument. Although tackling an instrument can be conducive to developing positive self-esteem, it is only the beginning of how music helps human development and sense of self.

What I am trying to convey is that music classes that begin very early in a child's life, can be one of the first ways of addressing "mental health" issues. If only music educators could be trained to understand more about how the human body and brain work; how to guide students into using music as a form of their own self-expression; how to conduct music improvisation classes in which students understand that the sounds that each is instinctively contributing impact upon what another is contributing—that each person's individual "sound" impacts upon another's. A job for the school counselor you say? No! That's all about talking, and Adam Lanza (the shooter in Newtown) could not "talk" about his needs or express his inner fears and confusions in a positive, creative manner. He needed to act out. Music improvisation would have given this young man a creative and positive way to "act out!"

Every growing child is a "special needs" child, regardless of whether there is a diagnosis or not. In my fantasies, I imagine Adam Lanza learning to express himself non-verbally, and acting out musically. Beat a drum if you're hostile. Bang on a gong if you need to be heard. Pound a dissonant sound cluster on a piano to reverberate ill feelings and anxieties around a room. Say it in sound—not in violence against another! Let your classmates hear the vibrations of what you are feeling. So I repeat—when do students have an opportunity to bellow out safely? Writing? Logging? Facebook? Twitter? Yes, but again—words. Words do not do it! Pain must be sensed by others. It cannot be explained in words, just as sounds cannot be explained in words but rather, must be heard and felt.

I think I have made my point. I believe that music educator training requires expansion to include ways in which music can be utilized as a SELF-expression, even if 3rd position on the violin is not mastered! Music is an important contributor to mental health! This young shooter was of special needs, but it was not his Asperger's diagnosis that drove him to massacre innocent people. It was likely his unaddressed inner rage and anxieties that he was unable to recognize nor verbalize, that caused him to erupt, and the guns gave him the 'instruments' through which he could be heard! And if he had not had access to guns, it could have been explosives, or a bomb-loaded vehicle driven through the walls of the school.

As a music-based clinician living and providing treatment services in Connecticut predominantly to youngsters on the Autism spectrum, I can tell you that learning to express through music works wonders in allaying inner fear responses, and some of the activities music clinicians undertake with "special needs" persons, can easily be undertaken by music educators well trained in various areas. I have had many parents of children with whom I worked tell me they wished their other "typical" children could have the music experiences that their diagnosed child was having. I hope that future music educators will reach beyond the teaching of music notation and instruments, into teaching young people about themselves through music activities. It may mean more psychology, physiology, and even music therapy courses, to support knowledge of teaching music to developing children. As long as we are advocating for better gun restriction and mental health facilities, let us also advocate for continuation of music in the schools, and music educators who are trained to understand how to apply music to impact human adaptation, to help young people communicate their innermost needs and learn about themselves in the process of learning an instrument.

As Leonard Bernstein was quoted on Facebook as having said: "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before."

References:

Berger, D.S. (1999). Toward the zen of performance: Music improvisation therapy for development of self-confidence in the performer. St. Louis, MO: MMB Music. (Now available at Music Is Elementary, Cleveland. Ohio).

Berger, D.S. (2002). Music therapy, sensory integration and the autistic child. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers (Also available in Korean Language Edition, Sigma Press).