Kohut Memorial Lecture and Musical Performance:
Blues and Emotional Trauma; A Musical Tribute to Kohut's Observations on the Psychological Functions of Music

Dr. Robert Stolorow and his son, Ben, offered a unique presentation incorporating psychological theory with musical analysis and performance. Paying tribute to Kohut's idea that music is a powerful way to express, share, and work-through emotional issues, Dr. Stolorow and his son explored the power of "the blues."

The blues are rooted in African American music, but have universal, cross-cultural, and cross-generational appeal. There is something in the music that all people relate to: the blues put us in touch with the universally traumatizing aspects of the human condition. This presentation described how the unity of its lyrical features and its musical qualities give us a visceral-linguistic conversation in which trauma can be communally-held and borne.

Dr. Stolorow began the presentation by focusing on the lyrics of blues music. He explored how the lyrics can provide a "relational home" or a context of human understanding, in which traumatic experience or emotional pain can be expressed and worked-through. The lyrics in the blues reflect themes of irony, the absurdity of existence, and hopelessness. Structurally, lyrics are comprised of the person's (or community's) traumatic, painful, or dreaded plight alongside the acceptance and resignation to the situation. Through this linguistic expression of pain and acceptance, comes a resilience and hope that pain can be communally held and lived through.

In the second half of the presentation, Ben Stolorow analyzed the musical structure of the blues. Being a professional pianist, he shed light on the musical, visceral elements of blues music. He explained that in communicating the visceral aspects of emotional trauma, the most important technique is in the use of tension and release. The building of tension and subsequent release can be melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic. One way that tension is created musically is called "pitch-bending". Pitch-bending is a powerful way to communicate a visceral emotional experience because it creates ambiguity between major and minor keys (major keys invoke "happy" feelings and minor keys invoke "sad" feelings). The musician or singer uses tones that are "in between" and then bends them up or down until the target harmonious note is reached.

Ben treated the audience to musical representations of his examples on the piano, and then performed an entire blues song, which was appreciated by all. The presentation given by father and son, analyst and musician, was an informative and enjoyable experience. It was an insightful collaboration that helped the audience understand the therapeutic value of listening to and "singin the blues."