Music therapy inside and outside prison – A freedom practice?

Abstract

The authors of this article have worked as music therapists in and outside prisons and have both completed qualitative studies that explore their work. Here, they present a narrative synthesis of their two studies while exploring the concept of music as a freedom practice in and outside prisons. Most of the prisoners and ex-prisoners participating in the two studies reported that music helped them to feel momentarily free from the harsh realities of both prison life and the world outside. The sense of freedom through music that was reported and analysed in the narrative synthesis is related to the dual nature of reality, through the categories of finding freedom by “escaping reality” and “entering reality.” The categories describe how, through music, prisoners find a free space in an authoritative, suppressing and institutionalized environment, and also how music activities help the prisoner in building ties to the world outside prison while connecting to personal emotions and becoming humanized in a dehumanizing setting. In both cases, the participants from the two studies performed their freedom practice using music as a technology of the self. The paradox and potential of music as a freedom practice is illuminated and discussed using theories from community music therapy, musicology, sociology and criminology. In conclusion, the article proposes that music is one key to handling the complexities of the practice of freedom in everyday life.