Musical Re-tellings: Songs, Singing, and Resonance in Narrative Practice— Chris Wever

This paper documents the author’s use of songwriting in therapeutic contexts, especially when working with people in prison and the significant people in their lives. These songs fulfil different purposes: to honour survival and resistance and protest injustice; to assist in the re-membering of lives across time and beyond death; and to celebrate and proclaim subordinate storylines. In addition to reflecting on the process of crafting these songs, the profound outcomes they can have for both therapist and the person at the centre of the work, and how to recruit audiences, the author also reflects on some of the ethical and political dimensions of the work.