Art is both personal and social. Art is a bridge between the artist and folks. Yet, it also permits a bridge between folks. A scene in a movie can be a shared starting point, for example in the movie "On the Waterfront", Marlon Brando in a cab with Rod Steiger, talks about identity (I could have been somebody...), about love (I did it for you), about humiliation (lets face it I am a Bum), about betrayal (you was my brother, you should have looked out for me). So much emergent meaning carried in a 5 minute clip. Elements of scenes like this can serve as templates for therapist and patient to find a common starting point to understand the stories, both conscious and unconscious, which shape his/her lives.
So too, songs allow us to share with each other through the music and lyrics, a common ground, a common story. They can carry us into feelings and moods and even contemplations. The listener, for example, may find him/her self wondering about the arc of their life when David Byrnes in his song, "Once in a Lifetime", sings "you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?
