My Nonprofit Reviews

I had a wonderful experience with this camp. The SummerSongs community is generous, kind, open, caring, supportive and CONSISTENT in all of these aspects, which is virtually unheard of in the 'real world'. As a music therapist, I find that I am continously present for my clients, and SummerSongs is continously present for me, in order to facilitate growth as an artist, therapist, student, overall, as a human being. In a very real way, SummerSongs provides the external aspects which are needed to promote and to actualize growth. What I provide for my clients, SummerSongs provides for me: unconditional postive regard, support and love, which a human being needs to thrive, as a songwriter and as a creative being. The experience of being a part of SummerSongs allowed me to integrate a part of myself into my work with my clients; I use songwriting as a part of my client groups more frequently and consistently. My view of myself as an artist and creative individual has also been integrated into my practice and into my life (slowly but surely). I cannot emphasize enough, in this review, the importance of realizing creative potential to the overall health and well being of a community. SummerSongs, if provided with the funds and the expanded opportunity to grow through the utilization of these funds, could reach so many more people, children as well as adults, who are robbed of the right to express themselves through unrealized creative and artistic potential. The educational system in the U.S. no longer supports arts in education and this lack of total integration is creating generations of people who do not have access to the arts as a naturally occuring creative expression, which is an essential part of the complete 'self'. Our culture, in essence, is cultivating incomplete human beings, when the creative aspect is split off from the total self. SummerSongs provides a loving, nurturing way for this imbalnce to be corrected and for creative potential to be realized, which benefits the individual, as well as community, in all aspects of life. Songwriting is essential to survival of a culture, it is an historical record of the times, as well as an expression of individual and collective human values. Songwriting allows us to trace our way back home to our source and in some cultures, is part of spiritual expression, e.g. Songlines in the Aboriginal culture. Songwriting is a form of helaing expression, it allows the writer to access feelings and impressions through the music and to pull these sometimes amorphous subconscious processes into consciousness. In this way, songwriting is therapuetic and the individual who engages in songwriting benefits from the clarity which can be a byproduct of this process. As a professional, songwriting is under utilized as a expressive intervention, but the benefits from engaging in this process are enormous. It is a form of 'self help' which the user can benefit from through his/her lifetime. I wish that more people knew about the power of songwriting!

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