" MUSIC CAN HEAL MORE THAN JUST A BROKEN HEART "
TONI PESIKAN
The life of Musical therapist Toni Pesikan , a 45-year-old musician who has dedicated his life and talents to healing children through music . Haris Slato reports .
FEATURE
Pictured : Toni Pesikan and one of his Butterfly classes
" Music can heal more than just a broken heart ", explains Toni Pesikan , a musical therapist from Sarajevo , Bosnia . He said , " At least music can make it easier in much worse health conditions .”
Toni is a 45-year old Bosnian musician who graduated from the University of Edinburg with a Musical Therapy degree . Pesikan currently works as a musical therapist at an organization named Butterfly in the small Bosnian town of Srebrenica , whose goal is to help children with different types of disabilities such as autism , down syndrome , and cerebral palsy .
“ A one-hour session with Pesikan for these children is the best part of their day . After they finish playing , their behavior is much better . They are relaxed , and they have better energy ," said the mother of an autistic child who is visiting one of Pesikan ' s musical therapy sessions . " He is a real expert . I have never met someone like him , who is capable of helping people so much just by playing music . It is an enormous benefit for our children ." Similar stories were told by other parents who attend the sessions in Srebrenica .
Scientist Nikola Tesla once said energy was everywhere . He spoke of positive mental energy , such as in the music of Bach or Mozart or in the verses of great poets . Later , people truly discovered that music has a special energy , which really can help people feel better . The field of medicine now recognises the potential for music to help heal people . In the World Journal Psychiatry 2015 it said that in the last decades , a growing body of evidence in the use of musical intervention in a clinical setting had been seen , concerning singing , listening to music , musical improvisation , and other musical activities , alongside more structured musical therapy treatments . A scientific explanation of musical therapy success says that music engages a variety of brain areas involved in emotion , motivation , cognition , and motor functions ; musical interventions have been used to increase socialization and cognitive , emotional , and neuromotor functioning .
Pictured : Toni Pesikan and one of his Butterfly classes
How Music Healed Me
As a young boy , Pesikan was a war prisoner who was tortured and separated from his family . " Of course , that was a hard period ; therefore , I wanted to forget all my suffering as soon as possible ."
Before the war , Pesikan learned to play drums , therefore during the battles in the city , grenades , bullets , and shells in his ears were the sound of drums rhythm . At that time , playing drums was his only dream . He said , " Immediately after the war , I started searching for a possibility to play again . Soon , I found the humanitarian organization which allowed me to play drums ."
He explains , “ At the time I didn ' t realize that our professor Peter was actually a psychologist , pedagogue and a musical therapist and that the organization was doing research about the effects of war on young people . Working with them for several years was so helpful for me . I have almost managed to forget suffering from wartime , and I was entirely focused on playing that instrument . That was the moment when I realized that music could help to heal our wounds .”
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