ABSTRACT
Music is known for its therapeutic qualities that can bring a change in behavior, can penetrate the subconscious, and can develop awareness of the environment. Music is also a means to treat trauma and provides a sense of security through the defined structure it creates. Previous research on the second generation to Holocaust survivors indicates that even though they did not experience the trauma of the Holocaust directly, the effect of their parents’ trauma is not only evident in themselves, but also in their interaction with their parents.
Second generation musicians were interviewed. As part of the interview, they were requested to prepare three musical extracts that represent their mother, their father, and themselves. The integrated musical extracts were analyzed based on the musical analysis methodology of Eliram and the phenomenological approach. The musical characteristics of the song (rhythm, harmony, melody), the structure, the genre and its cultural context as opposed to the reasons for them choosing these extracts.
These musical extracts displayed issues that are known to characterize the second generation, such as intergenerational transmission of trauma, issues of self-identity, a need to commemorate the Holocaust, and transmission of their family story to future generations. I found that the interviewees who are engaged in music took advantage of their musical talents, conducting for themselves a form of “music therapy”.
In this chapter I will discuss the various means that were used by these second-generation musicians to cope with the characteristics that typify the second generation, specifically their connection with their parents, and how they unconsciously used musical therapeutic techniques.
