Thursday, March 22, 2012

When words fail...


I’ve read about people who are so severely troubled or have experienced grave psychological trauma that renders then unable to speak.  Adults, teens, tweens and young children can be affected.

Sometimes we think of a disability such as this as a “mental block”; and possibly this is a basic “truism”. Writers of prose or poetry, composers of music, painters and visual artists, renowned performers and even those who sing only in the shower sometimes find themselves totally stuck!  And I am one – never a singer extraordinaire by any means to be sure – but one day my throat closed and I can barely hum a tune now let alone sing, though I love all kinds of music.

Professional therapists now know that the benefits of music in many forms and variety can be truly beneficial to many patients. Speech pathologists with their many skills can aid and assist in the development of vocalizing words – yet sometimes still, even  an everyday person can find themselves unable to “get it out” or find the words they’re seeking to express what they want to say.

Recently, when I attended a concert band performance which included a wide array of musical selections and styles, my eyes filled with tears several times so that I had to blink quickly to not open the floodgates!  No humming allowed, and certainly a bleat would have been unseemly – but I almost felt like that ever-restricting knot in my throat may not always be so tight.



When you feel like you’re strangling for lack of “something” – take a break and wrap some music around you – it’s a relief when words fail.







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