"We all live alone inside our heads so every once and a while you want to feel like you are part of something bigger and stronger, especially in here. (Inmate chorister)" (Cohen, 2007, p. 1)
"Music changed me from a social degenerate into a man who truly feels connected to humankind...Music empowered me, revealed my connection to the universal spirit" (Hirsch, 2012, p. 103)
"I absolutely hate the behavior that resulted in my incarceration but I have stopped hating myself. It is programs like (this) that can help me in this process of believing in myself" (Hirsch 2012, p. 103)
"It calms me down. It's the one time I can express myself and people and understand me and feel my music.."
"It brings out the best in me. Even though I don't know how to sing, it brings joy."
"It helps me calm down and be less violent, If we as inmates are dealing with issues, by us singing allows us to release the stress."
"Music is a great way to express the spectrum of feelings from deep sadness to great joy and everything in between. I'm not sure I could stay sane without it." (Abrahams, Rowland, & Kohler, 2012, p. 70)
"I feel like through singing, it will allow me to just air out a lot of things that otherwise I wouldn't be able to do on the compound....By me being new, I'm still trying to feel my way. I don't know who to talk to, who I can trust. So, I keep a lot of my feelings bottled up . But once I sing, it just takes all of that away. Everything that I'm feeling, it just comes out in my voice through songs. I feel stress-free and I feel relieved...So, with this support system, the choir, I really feel like I'll be able to get some feelings out and find a comfort zone there that I need to help me get thorugh these next seven years" (Harbert, 2013, p. 217)
"Alot of people can relate because it's things that we would otherwise have said but we don't say. Cenrtain songs, it's kind of like a greeting card. You'll always find a greeting card that says exactly how you feel but you weren't able to say it. So, the music is giving you those words that you can find within yourself or you can express yourself" (Harbert, 2013, 9. 217)
"Music changed me from a social degenerate into a man who truly feels connected to humankind...Music empowered me, revealed my connection to the universal spirit" (Hirsch, 2012, p. 103)
"I absolutely hate the behavior that resulted in my incarceration but I have stopped hating myself. It is programs like (this) that can help me in this process of believing in myself" (Hirsch 2012, p. 103)
"It calms me down. It's the one time I can express myself and people and understand me and feel my music.."
"It brings out the best in me. Even though I don't know how to sing, it brings joy."
"It helps me calm down and be less violent, If we as inmates are dealing with issues, by us singing allows us to release the stress."
"Music is a great way to express the spectrum of feelings from deep sadness to great joy and everything in between. I'm not sure I could stay sane without it." (Abrahams, Rowland, & Kohler, 2012, p. 70)
"I feel like through singing, it will allow me to just air out a lot of things that otherwise I wouldn't be able to do on the compound....By me being new, I'm still trying to feel my way. I don't know who to talk to, who I can trust. So, I keep a lot of my feelings bottled up . But once I sing, it just takes all of that away. Everything that I'm feeling, it just comes out in my voice through songs. I feel stress-free and I feel relieved...So, with this support system, the choir, I really feel like I'll be able to get some feelings out and find a comfort zone there that I need to help me get thorugh these next seven years" (Harbert, 2013, p. 217)
"Alot of people can relate because it's things that we would otherwise have said but we don't say. Cenrtain songs, it's kind of like a greeting card. You'll always find a greeting card that says exactly how you feel but you weren't able to say it. So, the music is giving you those words that you can find within yourself or you can express yourself" (Harbert, 2013, 9. 217)