{"id":6839,"date":"2021-11-30T22:20:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T22:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelamplighters.org\/llblog01\/?p=6839"},"modified":"2021-12-10T16:42:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T16:42:09","slug":"the-healing-power-of-music-michael-skinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelamplighters.org\/llblog01\/the-healing-power-of-music-michael-skinner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Healing Power of Music – Michael Skinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cMusic can heal the wounds which medicine cannot touch<\/em>.\u201d – Debasish Mridha<\/p>\n

\nMusic has a profound way of touching us in so many ways. For myself, the power of music has
\ngiven me great joy, hope and healing. Music has been a lifesaver for me and that is not something I
\nthrow around lightly. I would like to share with you how it has affected my life in so many positive
\nways – I am forever grateful to have the gift of music in my life. Music continues to help me in healing
\nfrom the effects of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, mild traumatic brain injury and
\nserious back injuries due to abuse I have suffered.<\/p>\n

\nI was born in Boston, Massachusetts and lived there and in Cambridge, MA till the age of six. My
\nfamily then moved to the small town of Billerica just twenty miles outside of Boston. I was the oldest
\nof five children, four boys and one girl. Our life was hard-my parents were cruel and abusive in just
\nabout every way one can imagine. They and several of their friends should have been arrested and
\nthrown in jail for what they did to children\u2013they were pedophiles. Sadly, they were never caught, so my
\nsiblings and I all paid a terrible price for that abuse-it would affect all of us for the rest of our lives.
\nThankfully, there was music, and it gave this young boy the greatest of joys to just sit and listen to
\nsomeone singing on the radio or on TV. My friend\u2019s dad played the guitar and he would sing all of his
\nfavorite country and western songs and I would be mesmerized just watching and listening to him play.
\nI thought how nice that would be if I could do this. Though it was a secret desire to play the guitar and
\nsing, it was something I kept to myself due to my low self-esteem and reinforced by the ridicule I heard
\nfrom both of my parents when they heard me singing along to a record or the radio. They would shush
\nme and tell me how terrible I sounded. My father told me, \u201cYou sound like a castrated hyena.\u201d So
\nmusic wasn\u2019t an option for me to consider learning how to do.<\/p>\n

\nBut then came this most magical moment that was to change my life forever. By the time I was six
\nyears old I knew I wanted to join the military so I could learn how to protect myself, my siblings and
\nother children from people like my parents. That was all to change when just before my tenth birthday,
\n\u201cThe Beatles\u201d appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. I was awestruck with their performance and I
\nimmediately burst out in excitement, \u201cI want learn to play the guitar and sing just like them!\u201d That
\nonly brought more scorn and ridicule from my parents, so once again my hopes and aspirations were
\ncrushed.<\/p>\n

\nMusic still helped me to persevere-the simple act of listening to songs on the radio kept my mind
\noff of other things that hurt. To this day I can still hear Petula Clark\u2019s voice singing \u201cDowntown\u201d and
\nhow it helped me keep my sanity. And yet, that simple act of listening would also bring to me this great
\nepiphany. While listening to songs I would be tapping along to them and could anticipate what a
\ndrummer would do next. Ah ha, this was it, I could be a drummer! And so I set about to teach myself
\nhow to play the drums, but this time I would not share this with my parents.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity.\u201d<\/em> – Billy Joel<\/p>\n

\nA short article cannot share all of the power and the joy that music has given to me. But learning to
\ndrum gave me the opportunity to join the local rock band and perform at parties, dances, and win Battle
\nof The Bands contests. By the time I was sixteen years old I was playing professionally in nightclubs,
\nbars, functions, and outside concerts. It was my greatest joy to say I was a professional musician. I was
\nable to tour Great Britain for two years [1976 & 1977] with a very successful hard rock band,
\n\u201cAmerican Train.\u201d I lived in Liverpool, England, the home of my heroes, \u201cThe Beatles.\u201d I was able to
\nperform in many of the same venues that The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin,
\netc, performed in . Words cannot describe what that did for me. I also felt safe for the first time in my
\nlife-I had the Atlantic Ocean between me and my perpetrators. This allowed me the freedom to write
\nsongs and to start singing.<\/p>\n

\nBack in Boston I continued to perform throughout New England and New York and soon went into
\nthe business side of music as a manager and talent agent. The business was successful and it helped me
\nsupport my own family of a wife and five daughters. I still continued to perform on the weekends with
\na classic rock band, so life was good. I had it all but the past would soon come back to haunt me and I
\nwas laid low and lost everything due to PTSD and major depression because all of the suppressed
\nmemories and feelings from my childhood came back to devastate me.<\/p>\n

\nI thought I had already known abuse as a child and teenager, now I learned first hand just how
\ndevastating the label of \u201cmentally ill\u201d would be. The stigma, discrimination and the shunning by family
\nmembers and some friends in of itself was hard and crippling-but now, music only sounded like noise
\nto me. This I could not understand, this only made the depression worse when I was unable to play the
\ndrums or listen to music. But music and healing has its way and soon those gifts were returning. I now
\ndecided I would learn to play the guitar, sing, and write songs. Once again I had to hear scorn and
\nridicule from so many about this dream of mine. My wife [soon to be ex-wife] made fun of this as did
\nseveral mental health treatment providers I was seeing. They let me know that, \u201cMichael you’ll always
\nbe mentally ill and unable to work again. Maybe you can volunteer in a library that has a music section
\nsomeday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nI am happy to say that I shrugged off their criticism and I did learn to play the guitar and sing. I
\nhave released three albums and I get to travel around the country sharing my songs of hope, love, loss,
\nand joy to so many. By way of example, I share the painful parts of my life, but to let others know, to
\nnever give up on your dreams and goals\u2013whatever they may be. Life is indeed hard for so many of us,
\nbut always follow your heart and your dreams. It is a journey and there are many bumps and obstacles
\nalong the way, but the simple act of trying is worth the taking.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cMusic has the power to heal, transform and inspire and we have the power through deep<\/em>
\nlistening to increase our intuition and self awareness.\u201d<\/em> – Andre Feriante<\/p>\n

Michael Skinner
\nwww.mskinnermusic.com mikeskinner@comcast.net<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/mcstrain<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n