Music to counter violence: a preventative approach for working with adolescents in schools

Abstract In countries with an increasing migrant population, more and more children are forced to deal with different cultures and limited language skills. Increasing violence and difficulty with social integration are often the results. The following music therapy approach, based on research and clinical experience, is designed to alleviate such problems. The basic clinical aim is to support children and young adolescents in order for them to express their emotional state and aggressive tension. Regulation of affect and aggression, resolution of conflict situations, avoidance and resistance of threatening situations, and constructive handling of aggression can be practiced musically, within a thematic framework. Working creatively on specific subjects promotes reciprocal respect, acceptance of individual differences and social integration. Particularly in classes with migrant children from diverse cultures, experiencing common rhythmic improvisation can lead to a breaking down of barriers. Despite language and social differences, an emotionally stabilizing feeling of togetherness can develop, experienced in a playful manner and therapeutically supported. This approach, created and developed from clinical music therapy practice against the background of the current school situation in Germany, is piloted in two Munich boarding schools. Keywords: societal phenomena of aggressionmusic in classroomsviolence preventionself- and affect regulation Notes 1PISA = Program for International Student Assessment ( http://www.pisa.oecd.org) designed to assess scientific, reading, and mathematical knowledge and skills in 15-year-old girls and boys in schools, with test results ranked internationally. It was initiated in 2000 and repeated every three years (2003 and 2006). The unexpected poor test results from German students caused excessive ongoing cultural, political and media debates, with a great increase of tension and stress for all involved: parents, teachers, and students.