Chris Nicholson is a professional music therapist and trained guitarist from England. He is the project manager of Rwanda Youth Music, a project under Musicians without Borders -- an international organisation based in the Netherlands that works with different organisations in post conflict countries.

He is also the co-founder of Makumbi Sound, an eight-member band that plays music to bring people together. He talked to Sunday Magazine’s Sharon Kantengwa about the impact music can have on the psychological health of humans.

How did you come to Rwanda?

I have been in Rwanda for 2 and half years. I first came as a student for my masters training in 2012 for 6 months in music therapy to gain practical experience. After that I went back to England to do my final exams and then I was back here to work with Musicians without Borders.

About Makumbi Sound

Makumbi means coming together, and so it is a band playing and bringing people together. A colleague and I founded the band few months after I was living here, because we were new in the country and didn’t have the connections so we could play music with others.

We found a venue that was happy to have us play and they liked the idea of people just coming once a month and having the chance to play music. Around 150 people would come in the evenings and play if they wanted to. It was meant to be a community evening.  

How is music therapy applicable to health?

Music therapy is professional qualification and so to be called a music therapist, you need to have attained a masters degree. The basis of music therapy is that music is so deeply human that we can use it to help people become healthy. It provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words.

When your ability to access music is lacking, then it can be a sign that you are not healthy. The first communications we make before we are even born are musical through connection of the heart beat and the pace of the mother’s movements communicating to the embryo. Then after birth the baby and caregiver communicate through tone, pitch, rhythm and movement. Psychologists call it Motherese - which exists in every culture. That connection formed between the caregiver and baby is essential to healthy development.

Marginalised people often find it hard to be fully engaged in society, and yet it is everybody’s responsibility to ensure that everybody is fully engaged. As music therapists, we aim at bringing about restoration, maintenance, and improvement in mental and physical health because everyone’s music is equally important. It can be a point of engagement for everyone. We communicate in the moment through music by seeing and feeling it. The role of a music therapist is to hear, value and empathise to be able to respond to people’s needs.

What inspired you to join the profession?

I was inspired by the effect music has on people. Music affects the mind of people and enables them to share their ideas, become confident and creative.

When Musicians without Borders’ first trainers came to Rwanda, they worked with community organisations in Cyangugu and Kigali. They saw the big impact that it had on the children and we wanted to train more people here so they can give the same kind of music workshop to children.

This year the Community Music Leaders who we have trained are going out to different refugee camps across Rwanda working with 1000s of children in the camps. It’s an opportunity for the children to take part in a creative act where they are together, safe, and each child is seen as valuable. The children benefit from the creativity of the group because they are all able to participate safely and their music is equally important.