Lifelines: The Brain Injury Wellness and Recovery Group
meeting at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.
The September meeting is scheduled for Monday, the 12th, from 6:30 – 8:00 PM (directions below).
Tonight's meeting will join music and art therapy: "A Little Night Music" and "Collage as Metaphor."
Lynda Gail Jones, longtime member of Lifelines, introduced us to collage in July 2010. Since that topic was such a big hit, we are returning to it - and adding a twist. We will learn about listening, how music can influence emotion, and share the tunes that we find helpful. While enjoying different musical compositions, we will create collages and then share how we felt during the creation. The pictures will bring the music to life!
What is Collage?
The term collage originates from the French word coller, which means “to glue.” The collage is a form of the visual arts and is created by gathering many different pieces or chunks of things. After you’ve gathered a variety of pieces you can then assemble the pieces into one, collective piece of art. This usually achieved by placing the individual pieces and gluing them onto a canvas or piece of paper, for instance, essentially creating a unique piece of artwork.
Read more: http://www.arttherapyblog.com/art-therapy-ideas/get-creative-with-collages/#ixzz0sAU1lg2c
How is this helpful to brain injury survivors?
Collage allows expression of self and perhaps what you are not able to verbalize, you can still express through collage. It also provides eye hand coordination, spacial orientation and physical exercise for an affected limb.
Why combine this with Listening?
When we listen to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" or Mozart's "A Little Night Music," we are aware of the composers' emotions because of the way the music ebbs and flows. We can understand our own emotions better when certain songs are playing and we can use music to activate right brain or left brain thinking.
Listening is active while hearing is passive. Dr. Alfred Tomatis, a French ear, nose and throat doctor, created the Tomatis Method, the original "listening program."
The Tomatis Method uses “modified music to stimulate the rich interconnections between the ear and the nervous system to integrate aspects of human development and behaviour.”2 Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect, explains that “his [Tomatis] use of…Mozart’s music has allowed the damaged and defensive self to be reborn as curious and trusting, eager to explore and engage the outside world.” 3 Dr. Tomatis believed that “The voice can only reproduce what the ear can hear.” His research found that the ear and larynx were connected neurologically.4 This means that speech quality is determined by how well the ear listens.5
Read more about the Tomatis Method.
While we won't be using the Tomatis Method at the meeting, we will explore listening, how music makes us feel and how it helps with expression, whether verbal or artistic.
Please send a reply email to Kimberly Aikman (aikmank@gmail.com) or call 214 289 0286 so we know to expect you. If you have a favourite tune, be sure to bring it with you and we will use it!
Directions to Presbyterian Hospital:
When turning into the campus from Walnut Hill, the best route of entry may be the driveway prior to the light. The Fogelson Building is to the right when facing the main hospital entrance, and is next to the Margot Perot Center. Using the underground parking is the easiest way to reach the meeting location; if entering from the main floor, cross the foyer (past the stairs) and take the elevators to the ground floor. Classroom A is to the left off the elevators.
Parking costs $2.00. There is no attendant in the booth at night so we are not able to use our free parking passes.
Neither Lifelines: The Brain Injury Support Group nor Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas support, endorse or recommend any method, treatment, or a program for persons with a brain injury. The intent of the group is to provide support and make information available. Attendance in the group is not a substitute for an informed discussion between a patient and his/her health care provider. No endorsement is intended nor implied.
Footnotes:
2 Thompson, B., & Andrews, S. (2000). An Historical Commentary on the
Physiological Effects of Music: Tomatis, Mozart and Neuropsychology.
Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science, 35, 174-188
3 Campbell, D. (1997). The Mozart Effect. New York, NY. Avon Books.
4 Thompson, B., & Andrews, S.
5 Thompson, B., & Andrews, S.
