Music And Empathy Essay

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There are several different ways in which music can generate empathy. One way that music is used to create empathy is through the reconciliation between black and white people in South Africa. Cynthia Cohen claims that “music is well-suited to the work of building peace, because it can facilitate communication, understanding, and empathy across differences of all kinds” (Gray, 2008, 76), and for reconciliation in South Africa, this rings true. People presented their cultural music to the other side and they listened to gain a better understanding of that person’s perspective. During the time of reconciliation, it was important to show all views about apartheid, because “a poor understanding of what happened before us always leads to a. Poor …show more content…

In this GIM session, an evenly divided group of Russians and Chechens were brought together to attempt to deal with their emotional history. Mostly, this session dealt with identity. They were encouraged to express their feelings on “identity issues”. Then, they were split into two groups, not separated by ethnicity but have an even divide in both groups, and were “engaged in a series of competitive exercises and name creation taking place in an atmosphere of joy and excitement” (Jordanger, 2008, 132). The people became attached to their new identities quickly, even more so than their Chechen or Russian identities during the session. After this session on identity, the music part of the GIM procedure began. There was a minute silence as a sign of remembrance and respect for those who had suffered in recent terror attacks, and then the group listened to six different pieces of music, with the instructions to stay quiet the whole time. The listeners did not regularly listen to any of the pieces selected, and any of the ones that included lyrics were in languages the Russians and Chechens could not

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