Part 3.2
Part 3.2
Part 3.2
researchers can explore and understand more deeply the interaction and collaboration
between therapist and client. The reason for this is the developed knowledge about
how human interaction is ruled by factors mostly outside or beyond consciousness
and control – within the implicit and unconscious domain – and it is of great
importance to understand how the therapeutic alliance is developed and maintained,
since its qualities are correlated to positive outcomes in psychotherapy (Norcross
and Lambert 2006). Research on parent–child interaction shows that children and
their parents are only affectively attuned about 40 per cent of their interactive time
(Stern 2004). During the rest of their time together they are unsynchronised, in the
sense that they are in different incongruent affective states and are in the process
of reconnecting or restoring states of match and attunement. This work is usually
described as ‘ruptures and repairs’ (Beebe and Lachmann 1994).
Jeremy Safran and Christopher Muran (2000) have researched this part in the
process of developing alliance and collaboration, and state that the balancing of
ruptures and repairs in the therapeutic relationship is crucial to a good outcome
of psychotherapy. The therapeutic relationship contains continuous negotiation
both explicitly and implicitly about differences between therapist and client, and the
ruptures and repairs are strengthening the alliance. Johns (2018) uses concepts from
music dynamics to describe intersubjective exchanges in time-limited intersubjective
psychotherapy with children who suffer from problems with emotion regulation.
The relational turn in psychotherapy emphasises process versus content. In
their parent–infant research, Beebe and Lachmann (1994) have explored relational
patterns that generate change. They describe three principles in this process:
‘ongoing regulations’, ‘disruptions and repairs’ and ‘heightened affective moments’.
Experiencing non-confirmation and difference on the one hand, and confirmation
and recognition on the other, can be seen as analogous to disruption and repair.
The process of surrender is also connected to altered states of consciousness
(ASC), or rather to the movement between states and into ASC. The phenomenon is
deeply human and connects humanities across cultural boundaries (Maslow 1968,
1999; Smith 1991; Wilber 2006). When we open up and connect with deeper levels
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 123
Table 2.4.1.1: Categories of analysis, with definitions and examples from GIM
sessions (Bonde and Mårtenson Blom 2016; Mårtenson Blom 2010)
Category of analysis Definition Examples from GIM
sessions
1 Focus of attention – First-person descriptions and I see myself
sharing attention expressions of where in the I can sense water
experiential field the attentional
focus of the traveller is,
establishing a starting point for
movement and direction
2 Movement and Descriptions and expressions of Warm air is coming
direction – sharing intention, directions, movements, towards me
intention experienced as more or less Perhaps I will fall
deliberate
3 Affectivity – shared Descriptions and expressions of Sad and melancholic,
and conveyed in the affective qualities surrounding pleasant and powerful
words and expression and colouring the relational
– attunement sequence (vitality affects and/or
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categorical affects)
4 Share and regulate Expressions of experiencing The air is balancing my
coherence/ qualities of recognition and/or body, me
correspondence in confirmation and belonging. Often I can feel the mountain
attention, intention also strong activating affects under my feet
and/or affectivity
5 Share and regulate Expressions of experiencing I need to work in order
difference/non- tensions, differences, ruptures and/ not to fall
confirmation in or non-confirmation. Often also Feel fear, and dizziness
attention, intention anxiety, shame or other inhibiting
and/or affectivity affects
cont.
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124 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
When analysing the transcripts, it became clear how transpersonal and spiritual
experiences were connected to ‘the traveler’s ways of relating/being in relation; to courses
of events in her inner world, to the music and to the therapist’s presence’ (Mårtenson
Blom 2001, p.12). The surrendering process described in the transcripts moved the
traveller through ways of sharing focus of attention, directions of intentionality and
affect attunement in relation to the music and the therapist. The altered states of
consciousness were regulated (with music and the therapist’s presence) through fields
of tension between experiences of deep recognition (category 4) on the one hand, and
deep non-confirmation or differentiation (category 5) on the other. This field of tension
was found to be a crucial ingredient in the surrendering process, eventually leading into
experiences of transpersonal and/or spiritual character, transcending duality.
Surrender, as a concept from psychological and spiritual development, was in
Mårtenson Blom’s study further developed into the concept of the relational mode of
surrender, emerging from a process of surrender (category 6), and defined as follows:
A deepened capacity to share and regulate experiences of coherence and difference
in attention, intentions and affectivity, in different interactive meetings; being able to
find a surrendering mode in relation to something ‘third’, something beyond the self
and/or the other, or to something greater. (Mårtenson Blom 2001, p.11)
A surrendering process defined in terms of relational modes may be cross-culturally
crucial to mental health. Cultural differences, with reference to the culture-sensitive
areas identified by Maack and other researchers (Bonde and Mårtenson Blom 2016;
Maack 2007), can be managed in the therapeutic relationship. When music plays the
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126 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
4. The beta band, which is the frequency band of the waking state, alert
conscious activity and awareness (often divided into lower and higher beta1
and beta2).
5. The gamma band, which is the area of extreme but effortless attention and
ecstasy.
Using advanced techniques of brain scanning (e.g. electroencephalography (EEG)
and positron-emission topography (PET)), researchers have gathered further
information on the activity of the brain in different states, and this has led to neuro-
phenomenology and psychophysiology of consciousness.
During the last four decades, psychologists, neuroscientists and psychotherapists
have studied the so-called ‘altered states of consciousness’ (ASC), which give access
to experiences beyond the normal, alert state (beta band activities). ASC (related
to the theta, alpha and gamma bands) can be induced by pharmacological stimuli
(hallucinogens like LSD or psilocybin), by psychological stimuli (sensory deprivation
or overstimulation, e.g. through autogenic training, meditation, trance dance or
hyperventilation) or by a combination of techniques.
Within music psychotherapy this knowledge of entering ASC is also used. The
physiologically stimulating (ergotropic) type is represented by Grof ’s holotropic
breathwork, in which hyperventilation and powerful rhythmic music is used to induce
ASC; the relaxing, introvert (tropotropic) type is represented by Guided Imagery and
Music, in which autogenic training or other relaxation techniques are used (Bonny
1975/1999; see also Chapter 3.2). Music can in itself induce and stimulate ASC.
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 127
and (more or less) well-known theories of the human mind, levels of consciousness
and the scientific study of five basic levels: matter (physics), life (biology), mind
(psychology), soul (theology) and spirit (mysticism). Wilber has developed the
concept of ‘holons’ (and correspondingly ‘holarchies’) to insist on the basic premise
that reality – material as well as immaterial – is not made from ‘objects’ and ‘processes’,
but from holons that are both whole in-themselves within one of the five levels and
parts of other wholes on the same level or higher levels.
Wholeness can be viewed as individual and ecological. Individual wholeness is
composed of all of the various parts/wholes (or holons) that make up the person, in
whatever ways they are defined and differentiated. Ecological wholeness is composed
of all of the parts/whole (or holons) that make up the contexts in which the person
lives (e.g. society, culture and environment) (Bruscia 2014a).
In this chapter, it is only possible to outline the framework and central
components of Wilber’s world of ideas, and a good starting point could be his
definition of psychology:
Psychology is the study of human consciousness and its manifestations in
behaviour. The functions of consciousness include perceiving, desiring, willing, and
acting. The structures of consciousness, some facets of which can be unconscious,
include body, mind, soul, and spirit. The states of consciousness include normal
(e.g., waking, dreaming, sleeping) and altered (e.g., nonordinary, meditative). The
modes of consciousness include aesthetic, moral, and scientific. The development
of consciousness spans an entire spectrum from pre-personal to personal to
transpersonal, subconscious to self-conscious to super-conscious, id to ego to spirit.
The relational and behavioural aspects of consciousness refer to its mutual interaction
with the objective, exterior world and the socio-cultural world of shared values and
perceptions. (Wilber 2000, p.433)
All concepts and categories mentioned in this definition are relevant for the theory and
practice of music therapy, but here we shall focus on Wilber’s theory of psychological
development – his so-called ‘spectrum theory’ of the developmental ‘fulcrums’ of
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128 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
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130 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
will lead to a healthy and early differentiation in fulcrums 1–3. There is no causal
connection between levels and domains.
INTERIOR EXTERIOR
I IT
Intentional Behavioural
(subjective) (objective)
COL LEC T IVE
WE ITS
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Cultural Social
(intersubjective) (interobjective)
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 131
of worldviews shared by a collective (from family to nation). The major point is that
each of the levels, lines and states of consciousness has these four quadrants.
The ‘all-quadrants, all-levels, all-lines, all-states’ (AQAL) model ‘opens up
the possibility of a more integral approach to education, politics, business, art,
feminism, ecology and so on’ (Wilber 2000, p.4). The AQAL model is a classification
of the many different developmental theories in Western and Eastern psychology.
The upper, ‘Northern’ half of this model deals with individual processes, while the
lower, ‘Southern’ half deals with collective processes. The left, ‘Western’ half deals
with inner, subjective processes of consciousness; the right, ‘Eastern’ half with outer,
objective processes of matter and materials. When quadrants are combined with
levels of development, the model looks like the one in Figure 2.4.2.3.
I IT
2n
d
consciousness
.
etc
7 7
holistic self
s,
se
6 6
ur
co
sensitive self
eo
5 5
,n
achiever self
ms
1s
t ti
ste
4 4
er
mythic self
sy
ic
3 3 mb
warrior self
, li
tes
2 2
sta
magic self
nic
1 1
ga
instinctual self
or
2 2
ra
g
3 3
n
ho
er
ag
4 4
em
ult
ra
ur
pr
5 5
n
rn
6 6
ind
mo
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us
7 7
al
WE ITS
or
n
integral
m
er
integral
at
od
8 8 meshworks
io
na
l
po
This means that ‘developmental psychology’ (the area of Wilber’s fulcrums) belongs
to the upper left quadrant, while the corresponding upper right one shows the
development of the human organism and the brain. The lower left quadrant is the home
of the cultural development of human societies and their value systems, while the lower
right one shows the development of social and societal organisation systems.
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132 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
Transpersonal experiences
An important point in Wilber’s theory is that transpersonal experiences may occur
at any level of development – no human being is excluded from the transpersonal
field. The cultural history of the human race bears numerous witnesses of these
often short and intense experiences of something mystical, sacred or ‘numinous’ (a
concept coined by Rudolf Otto). Even though these experiences have been studied
systematically, mostly within Eastern traditions, they are also known in some Western
philosophical, religious and mystical traditions (as meditative states or experiences
attainable through spiritual practices). Wilber makes a very important additional
point. A human being inevitably needs to interpret a transpersonal experience,
and this interpretation will be influenced and limited by the developmental stage,
or horizon, available. This is also well known, but not always properly recognised
in psychotherapy and self-developmental work. It may even explain some of the
enigmas of religious fundamentalism so sadly prominent during these difficult
months and years in the life of our planet.
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 133
• How can the roles of music (king) be described within a larger epistemological
and ontological framework?
‘An archaeologist of the Self ’ is Wilber’s metaphor for ‘the full-spectrum therapist’
(Wilber 2000, p.541). Clients bring problems to therapy, and these problems may
be identified as belonging to one or more fulcrums. Thus the therapist must be able
to work with differentiation or integration problems of the body, the shadow, the
persona, the ego, the existential self, the soul and the spirit – when relevant – and help
the client bring these aspects of the self into consciousness as a whole. According to
Wilber himself, this is not eclecticism, as it is not a question of incommensurable or
competing paradigms or value systems; integral psychology has the noble and daring
ambition of dealing with all the aspects and forms of human existence. References
to Wilber’s books in the music therapy literature fall into one of the following areas:
• General and unspecific, more or less announcing a leaning towards Wilber’s
ontology and epistemology – ‘universal integralism’, not to be confused with
classic essentialism, also suggesting the importance of meta-theoretical
understanding of transformation processes in music therapy (Bruscia 2000,
2014a; Bunt, Burns and Turton 2000; Kenny 1989).
• Specific references to the fulcrums (or other versions of Wilber’s spectrum
of consciousness model) in analyses of client experiences, suggesting that
a client’s specific pathology or problem can be correlated with a specific
developmental stage (Bruscia 1991; Lewis 1999; Rugenstein 1996).
• Specific reference to, or elaboration of, Wilber’s evolution theory (the
quadrant model) in a music therapy context (Bruscia 1998, 2014a).
• The use of Wilber’s theory to underpin the understanding of transpersonal
experiences in therapy (Abrams 2002; Clark 1999; Lewis 1999).
It is not a coincidence that Wilber’s theory serves as a good theoretical framework
within GIM and is required reading in many GIM training programmes. Client
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134 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
Credits
Figure 2.4.2.1 from Transformations of Consciousness: Conventional and Contemplative Perspectives
On Development by Ken Wilber, Jack Engler, and Daniel P. Brown. Copyright © 1986 by
Ken Wilber. Reprinted by arrangement with The Permissions Company, LLC., on behalf of
Shambhala Publications Inc., Boulder, Colorado, www.shambhala.com.
Figure 2.4.2.2 from Integral Spirituality by Ken Wilber. Copyright © 2006 by Ken Wilber. Reprinted
by arrangement with The Permissions Company LLC on behalf of Shambhala Publications
Inc., Boulder, Colorado, www.shambhala.com.
Figure 2.4.2.3 from Sex, Ecology, Spirituality by Ken Wilber. Copyright © 1995, 2000 by Ken
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2.5 Music as Analogy and Metaphor
Lars Ole Bonde
We shall continue the discussion of meaning in music from Chapter 1.3. We now
present two important approaches to music as/in therapy: music as analogy and
music as metaphor. Both approaches have their limitations, of course. For instance,
they do not systematically cover all four levels in Ruud’s model of music’s properties,
or all six types of experience in Bruscia’s model (see Chapter 1.3). The investigation
of music as analogy and metaphor has a focus on the relationship between what Ruud
calls the syntactic and the semantic level. In Bruscia’s model, it refers primarily to
subjective and aesthetic music experiences.
The concepts of ‘metaphor’ and ‘analogy’ were not included in any standard
music lexicons or handbooks before 2010 (e.g. Decker-Voigt and Knill 1996; Decker-
Voigt, Weyman and Decker-Voigt 2009), and they are not indexed in The Oxford
Handbook of Music Therapy (Edwards 2016). However, both are included in a recent
‘dictionary’ (Kirkland 2013). A short definition: analogy (often called isomorphism)
describes similarities and correspondences between forms or phenomena that are not
related but have features or qualities in common (e.g. similarities between musical
form and biological form). Metaphor is a linguistic comparison, where ‘as’ is not
used to establish the similarity, or more precisely the use of features or qualities of a
well-known phenomenon to describe a less well-known phenomenon (e.g. Gustav
Mahler’s ‘credo’ that a symphony is a world).
Metaphor is closely related to play (see Chapter 2.3.5), and many music
therapists use metaphors every day to communicate with clients and patients, just
as they talk and write about music based on the (more or less conscious) axiom
that the client’s music, expression or experience is closely related – an analogy – to
the client’s personality or pathology. In an even broader sense, music is analogous
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to a human being’s way of thinking, feeling and interacting. This is expressed in the
improvisations of active music therapy, and in the listening experiences of receptive
music therapy.
One of David and Gudrun Aldridge’s papers bears the title Life as Jazz (Aldridge
and Aldridge 1999), and David Aldridge has often used similar analogies or
metaphors in his characterisation of the relationship between music and the human
body, mind and spirit, and between music perception and music performance. In a
chapter entitled ‘Health as Performance’ (Aldridge 1996, Chapter 20), he suggests that
the creative act (especially musical improvisation) is a core element in the question
of how health is enhanced or promoted. Thus, Descartes’ classic motto Cogito,
ergo sum – I think, therefore I am should be replaced by Ago, ergo sum – I perform,
therefore I am. In a wider perspective, he suggests that personal identity should be
135
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 137
…analogy in itself resembles the object it refers to. In analogy there is no dualism
between symbol and object, and therefore there is no need for interpretation. In
analogy there always is a resemblance with the object, but this is not a concrete visual
representation. When there is analogy, the person expresses his being in an object,
in the same way he expresses himself in other behaviours, in other contexts and
by other objects. For instance, the soft dynamics of a shy person’s musical play are
expressions of his personality. They are analogous to the way he expresses himself in
verbal communication. Playing pian(issim)o in musical improvisation is analogous
to staying in the background during a verbal discussion, not talking at all, or talking
softly. Because the musical behaviour is not the original verbal behaviour, because
it is ‘same and different’ (Ansdell 1995, p.180), it is called an analogy. (Smeijsters
1998, p.300)
There are many non-specific analogies between pathological problems and patterns
of behaviour, for example if a client feels isolated from the surrounding world and
is unable to engage in the therapeutic process (be it a talking cure or arts therapy).
Smeijsters’ theory sets the stage for an identification of specific analogies in music
therapy, because valid and useful indication criteria demand this specification. He
thinks that musical elements like melody, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, timbre, form
and interaction are specific symbolic equivalents of non-musical elements of human
behaviour and interaction. For example, a client who is unable to express his feelings
improvises without any noteworthy variation in tempo, rhythm, dynamics and so on.
Smeijsters thinks – proposing an equivalent analogy – that specific musical
processes corresponding to psychological processes may gradually set the client
free, enhance development and promote new life quality and wellbeing, for example
when a client struggling with boundaries learns to distinguish her own music from
the therapist’s and/or other clients’ contributions in a group, develops the courage
necessary to take the space of a soloist or to find a clearly defined role in the music
of a group. Many examples can be found in Chapter 2.3.
Smeijsters has coined the double conceptualisation of ‘pathological-musical
processes’ and ‘therapeutic-musical processes’. They refer to the two core analogies
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138 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
communication is of critical importance for the infant, and for the adult this ‘experiential
register’ is often more or less intact or even further developed through life, but in
Western cultures it is not attached any importance. In music therapy, however, vitality
affects and forms are at the centre of the client’s experience of the musical interaction,
regardless of age and problem area. Smeijsters explains why and how:
A person is able to experience his felt temporal, dynamic, kinetic vitality affects
when listening to the vitality forms of musical phrases. The equivalence of the
vitality affects in the person and the vitality forms in the musical phrases is
what analogy means. There is equivalence because the vitality affects of inner
experiences and the vitality forms of music are processed by the same parameters.
(Smeijsters 2012, p.230)
The analogy between the elements of music and the existential themes and qualities
of human existence is also a core construction in the Improvisational Assessment
Profiles (IAPs) of Ken Bruscia (1987, 1994) (see also Chapter 5.2). When developing
this method for the description and interpretation of clinical improvisations,
Bruscia looked for concepts that would give the six ‘profiles’ each a specific listening
perspective and also psychological relevance (Stige 2000). What he came up with was:
• salience (with five scales forming a spectrum: compliant, conforming,
attending, controlling, dominating)
• integration (with the spectrum: undifferentiated, synchronised, integrated,
differentiated, overdifferentiated)
• variability (rigid, stable, variable, contrasting, random)
• tension (hypo-tense, calm, cyclic, tense, hyper-tense)
• congruence (unengaged, congruent, centred, incongruent, polarised)
• autonomy (dependent, following, partner, leader, resistor).
In the preface to the Norwegian translation of the IAPs, Bruscia (1994) wrote that
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the method gives guidelines for how the musical elements and the process of an
improvisation can be interpreted, based on psychoanalytic and humanistic existential
theories. The IAPs are an assessment tool based on two basic assumptions:
• Improvised music is a sound reflection of the improviser’s way of ‘being-in-
the-world’, not only in the here-and-now world of the improvisatory moment
itself, but also of the more expanded context of the person’s life world.
• Each musical element provides a universal metaphor – or perhaps archetype
– for expressing a particular aspect of ‘being-in-the-world’. Thus each musical
element has its own range of possibilities for expressive meanings which are
different from the other elements. (Bruscia 1994)
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 139
The first assumption is basically identical with Smeijsters’ analogy concept, and we
consider it an axiom of psychodynamic music therapy. The second assumption is
explored in the IAP method, but here we will try to give a short overview of Bruscia’s
metaphoric interpretation of the musical elements on the basis of psychoanalytic and
existential psychology (Table 2.5.1.1).
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142 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
witch’s cauldron’, ‘I felt beyond time and space’, ‘The melody hit me right in the heart’.
An analysis of these metaphors not only shows very clearly how clients experience
the music, but also how they experience themselves, and how they may (not) benefit
from music therapy.
Jungaberle (2007) studied musical metaphors extensively, first through an
analysis of music reviews, then through an analysis of clients’ verbalisations of
their therapeutic experience of music. In the review, a series of core metaphors was
identified, like ‘Music is xyz’ (e.g. ‘Music is space’, ‘Music is a landscape’, ‘Music is
water’). These metaphors were also found in the clients’ verbal reports on their music
experiences, but they were even richer, containing several new core metaphors (or
‘metaphor families’, in Jungaberle’s words).
For example, one family is ‘Music is energy and power’ with subgroups like
‘Music gives access to the inner world’ or ‘Music moves me’. Another family is ‘Music
is language’ with subgroups like ‘Music can hide truth’ or ‘Music makes the ineffable
understandable’. Jungaberle attaches special importance to the family ‘Music is a
landscape’, because it expresses the spaciousness of music – there is ‘room for everyone’,
and most people can ‘find their place’ in the music. Based on this study, Jungaberle
formulated a theory of ‘the metaphorical circle’: extramusical structures influence the
music experience, when we hear or project into the music specific qualities from our
life world. Conversely, intramusical structures (the music experience) have an impact
on our life experience, when we extract or project qualities from the music that give
meaning to our life. Structures are transferred both ways – through the metaphor.
And thus metaphors provide clients and therapists in improvisational group music
therapy with ‘maps’ of musical experiences.
Metaphors also play an important part in receptive music therapy. The client’s
‘music travel’ in guided imagery and music (GIM; see Chapter 3.2) is often composed
of imagery in different modalities (even if the client’s eyes are closed, they ‘see’, ‘hear’,
‘smell’, ‘taste’, ‘feel’ and ‘move with’ the music). The imagery experience is reported
verbally, and in dialogue with the therapist (metaphorically the ‘guide’), the client’s
inner world stands out as different types of imagery, reported verbally as metaphors.
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For example, if the therapist/guide suggests the opening image of ‘a garden’ to the
client/traveller, and chooses Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto (second movement) as a
travel accompaniment, the client may experience the garden as anything from a vast
open park with flowers in all colours, to a small, narrow backyard with burnt-off
grass and a dead pear tree. The five stages of the GIM session are often interpreted as
metaphors, for example ‘the music travel’. Zanders (2008) studied how GIM clients
expressed their understanding of the five stages as metaphors.
Of course, metaphors invite interpretation – and the interpretation will be
based on the principle that only the client knows the true meaning of the image or
metaphor. In contrast, the German psychotherapist Hanscarl Leuner, who had some
influence on GIM in its early years, used specific induction images diagnostically,
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 143
in the transition between music selections: Will the volcano erupt? Can the wall
be penetrated by some kind of help? Can the octopus be conquered? How will the
one-legged woman transport herself? The complete narrative unfolds like a coherent
story of the protagonist’s destiny – in several chapters or acts. In retrospect, client and
therapist can discuss core metaphors, narrative configurations, as well as the overall
plot: who or what is the driver of the story?
Of course, there are no causal relationships between music, metaphor and
narrative. The imagery of the clients cannot and must not be directed. The music
offers a number of affordances (DeNora 2000). However, a music selection cannot
stimulate or support any (random) kind of imagery and metaphor. The affinity of
musical elements and metaphoric potential is discussed in the following chapter.
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144 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
American music psychologist Kate Hevner in the late 1930s. Her so-called ‘mood
wheel’ (Hevner 1936) is a model arrangement of moods that can be expressed in
music and recognised by listeners. The ‘Mood wheel’ is a categorical model with
discrete moods arranged in opposites (1–4, 2–5, 3–7, 4–8), with a ‘light’ (3–4–5–6)
and a ‘dark’ half (7–8–1–2). In contemporary music psychology it is more common
to see dimensional models where moods and emotions are positioned relatively in
a multidimensional space, typically within dimensions such as Valence (happy–
sad) and Arousal (active–passive). See Music listening and emotions in Chapter 2.1
for further discussion.
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 145
In the 1st edition of this book, a revised version of the ‘mood wheel’ can be
seen on p. 59. In order to include typical moods from popular music a new category
was inserted between 6 and 7, with the following qualities: active, energetic,
straightforward, extrovert, encouraging. The ‘mood wheel’ is frequently referenced
in the Guided Imagery and Music literature and it can be used together with the
taxonomy described below.
6
7 merry
5
joyous
exhilarated humorous
gay
soaring playful
happy
triumphant whimsical
cheerful
dramatic fanciful
bright
passionate quaint
sensational sprightly
agitated delicate
8 exciting light 4
vigorous impetuous graceful lyrical
robust restless leisurely
emphatic satisfying
martial serene
ponderous tranquil
majestic quiet
exalting soothing
1 2
pathetic
3
spiritual dreamy
lofty doleful
yielding
awe-inspiring sad
tender
dignified mournful
sentimental
sacred tragic
longing
solemn melancholy
yearning
sober frustrated
pleading
serious depressing
plaintive
gloomy
heavy
dark
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146 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
Table 2.5.3.1: A taxonomy of therapeutic music – with examples from the GIM repertoire
(Wärja and Bonde 2014). Mood categories refer to Hevner’s Mood Wheel (see above)
SUPPORTIVE MUSIC
1. Supportive and safe. Music that is reliable and predictable with no or few surprises. It will
take you by the hand and lead you gently. Simplicity in musical elements and form, perhaps
a solo instrument and/or one or two supporting instruments. Light moods only.
Examples: Stefan Nilsson: Nr 17, Wilmas Tema. Jan Johansson: Bandura.
2. Supportive and opening. Music that can open up to one or two ‘tiny surprises’. Music with
dialoguing instruments, possibly two different themes and at least two instruments.
Examples: Steve Dobrogosz: Mass and Chamber Music, Nr 13, Resting Place. Benny
Anderssons Orkester, Nr 9, Sånger från andra våningen.
3. Supportive and exploring. Music with some dynamic tension and complexity in texture
and form. Gives further support for surrender and a possibility of exploring differences.
Crescendos/decrescendos and accelerandos/ritardandos. Moderate harmonic tension.
Examples: Secret Garden: Papillon. Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5, Adagio.
MIXED SUPPORTIVE-CHALLENGING MUSIC
4. The explorative field with surprises and contrasts. The music often presents a non-familiar
soundscape, with surprising shifts in melody, harmony and specific instrumental texture.
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The musical course of events contains at least one major surprise, and there is moderate
harmonic tension.
Examples: Bach: Shepherd Song. Respighi: Gianicola.
5. The explorative and deepening field. This is music that invites the listener into a well-
defined emotional field, a certain mood or emotion, and holds the listener there, even
though this can be challenging. The music is often in a minor or modal key, expressing a
‘dark’ atmosphere, typically through intense and expressive melody.
Examples: Bach: Mein Jesu. Elgar: Sospiri. Mendelssohn: 5th symphony, Andante.
6. The explorative and challenging field. Music in this category offers some surprises and
contrasts, often with a rather high degree of melodic or harmonic tension. The balance is
often obtained by letting the piece begin and end in a calm and supportive character/quality.
The profile can also be movement towards a climax.
Examples: Bach/Stokowski: Passacaglia and fugue in D. Debussy: Sirenes. Brahms: Violin
Concerto, 2nd movement. Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, 2nd movement.
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 147
CHALLENGING MUSIC
7. The rhapsodic field. The music is a sequence of often unrelated (or loosely related) musical
ideas, presenting many different moods, textures, tempi and timbres. Ideas/elements can be
quite elaborated or even improvisatory.
Examples: Bach: Toccata and fugue in D. Wagner: Siegfried’s Funeral March. Copland:
Appalachian Spring (excerpt).
8. The field of metamorphosis. Music is characterised by one or a few significant ideas
that are elaborated in many different ways (shape, timbre, dynamics, tempo) and even
transformed into something very different from the first form.
Examples: Ives: The Unanswered Question. Schostakovich: 5th symphony (excerpt).
9. The field of mystery and transformation. Music in this category cannot be generalised.
However, it is often music that is intended to describe, express or facilitate transformative
or mystic states of consciousness. The tempo is often slow, the mood predominantly dark,
sombre or solemn.
Examples: Bach: Crucifixus. Rachmaninov: Isle of the Dead. Gorecki: 3rd symphony, 2nd
movement. Mahler: Der Abschied (excerpt from Das Lied von der Erde).
The taxonomy has informed several clinical studies where, for example, music with a
supportive or a mixed profile has been used to match and mirror the needs of specific
client groups and therapeutic processes (Bonde 2010; Hertrampf 2017; Rudstam et al.
2017). Hertrampf (2017) worked with cancer patients in group music and imagery
therapy over six sessions, and she planned the process to include music with a mixed
profile in the working phase (sessions 3–4).
The taxonomy has also guided the development of playlists for a specially
designed system of software and hardware called The Music Star. In The Music
Star, only supportive music is used, but in all three subcategories: ‘The supportive
and safe field’, ‘The supportive and opening field’, ‘The supportive and exploring
field’. Independent of musical style or genre, there are no sudden or major musical
surprises. The tempo is steady, often slow-medium, the rhythm is regular, and the
melodic and harmonic progressions are clear and predictable. There is a ‘touch of
the well known’, even if the music is new to the patient. The purpose of the music in
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these fields is to allow for surrender and comfort, and metaphorically speaking to let
the listener ‘give in to the musical embrace’ (Lund, Bonde and Bertelsen 2016). Wärja
developed a special music and imagery method called Korta Musikresor (Short Music
Journeys) where clients (individually or in groups) listen to supportive music from
the first three subcategories only (Wärja 2015; Wärja and Bonde 2014).
Of course, the taxonomy is a theoretical construction, and some examples
may help the reader to gain a clearer understanding of the idea. We have chosen
to focus on four selected examples of composed music from the baroque period
(1600–1750). The argument is that in baroque music it is fairly easy to isolate one
musical feature (variable), which is held stable, while other features (variables)
change. However, we think that, in principle, the considerations presented here are
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 149
to ‘fill the tank’ and be confirmed by a significant other. Within guided imagery
and music, numerous client experiences confirm that Pachelbel’s Canon is ‘holding
music’, a safe and predictable composition enabling a safe ‘arrival’ after a long and
maybe frightening journey in the world of imagery. This is an example of music with
a supportive intensity profile (subgroup 3: the secure and exploring field).
Now, the question is, do all compositions based on an ostinato have this
‘holding’ quality? A closer investigation of other selections will demonstrate that it
is not so. A provisional explanation is that music is a multi-layered composition (or
configuration) of many elements, which play their specific role in the construction
of meaning. When a composition is more complex, the ostinato may change its
metaphoric potential. This is evident when we take a closer look at two ostinato-
based compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 151
heartbeat. But how does this relate to the salient contrasts and tensions between the
calm progression of the bass and the expressive melodic lines of the upper parts?
The movement is an ‘Air’ – ‘a song without words’. However, it is possible to
approach the ‘words’ or the meaning of the song. The baroque doctrine of ‘musical
affects’ makes it possible to identify the emotions (affects) expressed in violin 1 (and
to a lesser degree in violin 2). The melody is complex, irregular, characterised by
large melodic intervals and ‘sighing’ accents (‘Seufzers’) or suspension that create a
harmonic tension between melody and bass. This is a symbol of suffering. There are
also melodic episodes characterised by a striving upwards, in syncopated rhythms
and with increasing volume. This is a symbol of passion. Heard as a whole, the
passionate voices express longing – a longing of the heart.
Experienced and interpreted in this way, Bach’s Air is a musical expression of the
passionate human being, longing or striving for a higher order. This (divine) order
is (re)presented by the bass and its accompanying harmonic chords, proceeding in a
solemn progression undisturbed by human suffering, passion, longing and mistakes.
In our postmodern era, it is not common to understand man as ‘enfolded’ in a higher
order. However, the experience of ‘coming home’, ‘belonging’ and ‘being accepted’ is
accessible through music listening, and many GIM ‘travellers’ have experienced this
during their imaginal journey through Bach’s Air. The music is therefore identified
as an example of music with a supportive intensity profile (subgroup 3).
Other examples
If you listen to the four music selections on the website it becomes obvious that
Pachelbel’s Canon and Bach’s Air can be used in pain management and supportive
psychotherapy. The other two Bach selections would be inappropriate for these
purposes; however, their potential can be explored in intensive psychotherapeutic,
existential or spiritual processes.
If the reader wishes to compare the four selected examples with other ostinato-
based movements, we can suggest a few. An example of a fast, merry and reassuring
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ostinato movement is the final Halleluja of Buxtehude’s cantata Der Herr ist mit mir.
The Death of Falstaff from Walton’s suite Henry V is based on an ostinato of the same
length and melodically quite close to Pachelbel’s. However, as it is in a minor key and
the mood is very different, this rather simple composition has a mixed intensity profile.
The title of Bach’s cantata BWV 12 is Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. This is also the
text of the first chorus, based on the same music as the Crucifixus. Through the text,
we gain information on the nuances of pain and suffering expressed in the music,
and if the interpretation accentuates the many advanced dissonances, the music will
probably function as music with a mixed rather than a challenging profile. Much the
same can be said about Dido’s Lament, the final aria When I am Laid in Earth from
Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. A movement with a chromatic descending ostinato
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152 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
may also have a lighter character. An example of this is the instrumental Ground
from Blow’s opera Venus and Adonis (a predecessor of Purcell’s more popular work).
Melodically this ostinato is very close to the Crucifixus ostinato, but it is in triple time,
the tempo is relatively fast, and so together with the poignant rhythm this makes the
movement noble and light at the same time – a supportive intensity profile.
The rock group Procol Harum recreated Bach’s Air in A Whiter Shade of Pale
(1967), giving it a very different character, and of course the ostinato principle is also
used outside the classical tradition, for example in blues, jazz, rock and electronica.
‘Riff ’ is often the concept used instead of ostinato.
The selected recordings of baroque music in GIM are all more than 40 years old, in
arrangements for full orchestra or a fairly large string body, and the performances follow
the romantic style of performance and recording that dominated in this repertoire
until 1980. Contemporary baroque performances are very different, including the
use of period instruments and based on scholarly studies of baroque performance
practice. However, many of these excellent ‘period’ recordings cannot be used in GIM
because they do not have the absolutely necessary ‘holding quality’ of the romantic
performances, enabling the client to let go and delve into the music experience.
Conclusion
In summary, we will present some general characteristics of music with a supportive
intensity profile that may be applied in pain and anxiety management, in deep
relaxation and in supportive psychotherapy (called ‘sedative music’ by Helen Bonny):
• medium or slow tempo (60 beats per minute or slower)
• steady, predictable rhythm (matching the breathing and pulse of the client)
• simple structure with recognisable melodies or themes (instrumental
or vocal)
• simple, consonant harmony without sharp dissonances, sudden shifts or
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modulations
• stable dynamics without sudden shifts or contrasts.
Similar characteristics are presented by Grocke and Wigram (2007, p.46) and by
Grocke (2016, p.687). Even though Bonny recommended classical music, it is
obvious that these characteristics can be found in almost any musical style or genre.
We also know that some people achieve relaxation and wellbeing using stimulating
music, which differs from the above by having a faster tempo and a more active
rhythmic drive. Two different principles may be followed when music is selected for
modification or transformation of mood:
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Theoretical Foundation of Music Therapy 153
1. Following the ISO principle, music must be selected that matches the mood
of the client in the beginning, and then gradually induces the intended
mood.
2. Following the Compensation principle, music must be selected that contrasts
the mood of the client and thus gradually (re)attunes the client’s mood.
The two principles are not mutually exclusive, as they can be related to two different
aspects of the music. The ISO principle works on a vegetative level where the musical
sequence corresponds to the listener’s bodily sense of tempo (slow/fast; accelerando/
ritardando), excitement and relief, tension and release. The compensation principle
works on the emotional level where there is a complex interaction of the mood
expressed in the music and the client’s mood and emotional state.
Music with a mixed or a challenging intensity profile cannot easily be
characterised in the same way as music with a supportive profile. Not only is the
music more complex in itself, but the combination of selected movements is like a
psychologically informed composition. It is part of the qualification of a GIM therapist
to make clear distinctions between the three levels in clinical practice (using the
music programmes with a length of 30–45 minutes and their, in principle, unlimited
combination potential). This expertise is developed not only through traditional
music analysis of structure, melodic material, harmonic progression and so on, but
also through self-experience (the music as heard in an altered state of consciousness)
and phenomenological description of the music sequence – what is salient in the
listener’s experience of the music as it is unfolding – and of the imagery potential,
based on personal and client imagery.
In other words: a GIM therapist is systematically trained in metaphoric music
listening. However, music experienced as metaphor is not the privilege of experts
or therapists. Using a final metaphor, we can say that open and attentive listening
is the Pearly Gate to a thorough understanding of music’s enormous existential and
therapeutic potential.
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3
Selected Music
Therapy Models
and Interventions
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3.1 Perspectives on Internationally
Well-Known Music Therapy
Models – An Introduction
Lars Ole Bonde and Gro Trondalen
In international music therapy there are many methods, schools, models, procedures
and techniques and different ways of practising and understanding music therapy.
But how can a ‘model’ be defined, as different from a ‘school’ or a ‘method’? In an
early, extensive anthology with contributions from 38 countries, Maranto (1993)
identified 14 models or schools in the USA alone, including more than 100 different
techniques. Similar information can be found in the ‘Country of the Month’ series
published in the e-journal Voices.1 Before selecting models for presentation in this
chapter, there is a need for an outline of our understanding of some core concepts.
Bruscia’s definition of what constitutes a method, variation, procedure, technique
and model is a point of departure in connection with understanding terminology in
theoretical descriptions (Bruscia 2014a, p.128), as he summarises:
A method is a particular type of music experience in which the client engages for
therapeutic purposes; a variation is the particular way in which that method is
implemented; a procedure is everything that the therapist has to do to engage the
client in that experience or method; a technique is one step within any procedure
that a therapist uses to shape the client’s immediate experience; and a model is a
systematic and unique approach to method, procedure and technique based on
certain principles.
In some countries and languages, especially European, there does not seem to be a
sharp distinction between the words method, approach and model, and this may
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158 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
I call them orientations because they are tendencies of thought. They offer a mode of
expressing, describing, and explaining the value of existing music therapy practices.
Comprising values, concepts, and overt philosophical foundations, they cannot
be described merely as theories, although they do contain theoretical constructs;
because they do not contain specific interventions, procedures and goals, the term
models would not be appropriate. (Aigen 2014, p.223)
Many of the models, orientations or approaches mentioned above could also have
been included here (e.g. relational music therapy; Trondalen 2016). However, what
we describe in this chapter is a careful selection of internationally well-known and
acknowledged models of music therapy.
The 9th World Congress of Music Therapy in Washington in 1999 had ‘five
internationally known models of music therapy’ as a concurrent theme. These
five models were introduced and illustrated from many different perspectives –
history, therapy theory, clinical practice, research and training – and included
guided imagery and music (developed by Helen Lindquist Bonny), analytical music
therapy (developed by Mary Priestley), Nordoff-Robbins music therapy (developed by
Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins), Benenzon music therapy (developed by Rolando
Benenzon) and behavioural music therapy (developed by, amongst others, Clifford
Madsen). Four of the founders were present at the conference – only Mary Priestley
was unable to attend; she was represented by Johannes Th. Eschen. In addition to
the models mentioned above, we describe community music therapy (early traces
were initiated by Even Ruud and elaborated further by Brynjulf Stige, Gary Ansdell
and many others). This approach was already presented clinically and theoretically
in the 1980s (Ruud 1980); however, it has only been internationally acknowledged
and theorised as a model mainly during the last decades. Aigen (2014) understands
community music therapy as one of 13 ‘orientations’, not a ‘model’, because it does
not prescribe or define specific clinical interventions (procedures and techniques).
We also include a description of free improvisation therapy – the Juliette Alvin
model, which is still a source of inspiration, promoted by internationally well-known
pioneers like Ken Bruscia, Tony Wigram and Amelia Oldfield.
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The selected seven models are presented in the same format: 1) a historical outline
and definitions from the literature; 2) the session format; 3) clinical applications; 4)
documentation; and 5) classification (using Bruscia’s (2014a, Chapter 20) classification
with four levels of practice: auxiliary, augmentative, intensive and primary). Bruscia
describes the fundamental difference between the augmentative and the intensive
levels using Piaget’s concepts of adaptation, assimilation and accommodation:
the essential differences between augmentative and intensive practices can best be
described in Piagetian terms of accommodation (adapting existing structures to
meet new demands) and assimilation (adapting new demands to fit into existing
structures). When used as an augmentative modality, music therapy accommodates
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Selected Music Therapy Models and Interventions 159
the goals of other treatment modalities and thereby assimilates the client’s needs
into the framework of music. When used as an intensive or primary modality, music
therapy assimilates the goals of other treatment modalities into itself in order to
accommodate the client’s needs. (Bruscia 2014a, p.128)
After the presentation of the seven selected models follows a section on ‘Methods in
music therapy’ (3.9), reviewing four methods that transcend the boundaries of the
models and are used all over the world: 1) Improvisation, 2) Songwriting, 3) Therapeutic
voice work, and 4) Receptive methods. Then follows a section on physiological reactions
to music (3.10), leading to a section (3.11) defining music medicine as something
different from music therapy in theory as well as practice. The chapter closes with
a section on music and healing (3.12) and finally ‘Health musicking’ (3.13). This last
section presents a broader understanding of how music experiences can be used also
in public health contexts. In the descriptive model of the field presented there, music
therapy is a sub-field with specific characteristics – the ‘map’ includes a lot of other areas
where music experiences are used to promote health.
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3.2 The Bonny Method of Guided
Imagery and Music (GIM)
Lars Ole Bonde
1988b), while Bonny went the ‘trophotropic’ way with GIM (Bonny 2002).
One of the problems in the LSD-based therapy was that clients could not
remember much of their very strong experiences after the session, and GIM developed
as a procedure utilising two non-drug components: the altered state of consciousness
(facilitated by autogenic training (Schultz) or progressive relaxation (Jacobson)) and
the dynamic evocative potentials of classical music. Gradually, Bonny developed a
session format in five phases and a series of music programmes. The session format
is described in detail below.
Throughout the years, GIM has grown significantly and is currently practised
worldwide (Bruscia and Grocke 2002; Parker 2010). In particular, GIM is growing
in popularity in Asia and Europe (Bonde 2015; Papanikolaou and Beck 2017).
160
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Selected Music Therapy Models and Interventions 161
available (Bruscia and Grocke 2002), and in 2009 over 100 (Bonde 2009); new
programmes are continually being created, which also include non-classical music.
The music programmes have a duration of 30–50 minutes and are typically
composed of three to eight longer or shorter selected movements or single pieces from
the classical music heritage. The music is sequenced in order to support, generate and
deepen experiences related to various existential and psychological (or physiological)
needs, such as ‘the experience of unconditioned support and a safe base’, ‘an invitation
into deep grief ’ and ‘creating a ritual of transition’. GIM combines listening to music
with relaxation, visualisation, drawing and verbal conversation and allows for
experiences at different levels of consciousness. In the music travel, clients have the
opportunity to experience aspects of their life as imagery in many modalities – inner
pictures, bodily experiences, sensations, feelings, thoughts, ‘messages’, memories and
noetic experiences (Goldberg 2002; Grocke 1999; Muller 2014).
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162 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
The prelude
This takes 15–20 minutes and has, as a point of departure, the client’s life world and
conscious experience of their problems. During the verbal dialogue in the prelude
the therapist will gradually try to turn the client’s attention from the outer to the
inner world, and a focus point for the session must be identified. With this in mind,
the therapist chooses the music programme. The transition from the conscious
experience of the outer world to a more open awareness of the inner world is marked
by the client’s physical change of position – they lie down on a mat and close their
eyes. The therapist takes a position enabling physical comfort, full control over the
audio system, and overview of the full body of the client. During the music travel,
the therapist writes down the client’s words for their images. The client gets this
transcription when the session is over, while the therapist keeps a copy.
The induction
This lasts from two to seven minutes, and within the spectrum of attitudes the
therapist may choose a more cognitive position A, to select elements of the client’s
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Selected Music Therapy Models and Interventions 163
such as ‘No one is holding you’. The induction may sound like: ‘Lift part a…b…c…
of your body and feel how light or heavy it is.’ The music begins and the therapist
may say, ‘Allow the music to help you hold part a…b…c… Can the music help you
hold your body?’
The purpose of the induction is to facilitate a transition from ego-dominated to
deeper levels of consciousness and to surrender to a more flexible experience of time
and space. A focus, a limitation of the possible choices, is necessary in order to avoid
insecurity or confusion in this exploratory time space. The focus serves as ‘a miner’s
lamp in the darkness’.
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164 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
The return
When the music is over, there is a return phase where the therapist guides the client
back to a non-altered state of consciousness. As part of the return, the client is then
encouraged to make a drawing such as a ‘mandala’ (Kellogg 1984), a sculpture (clay
work) or freestyle writing (e.g. a poem) to capture what stands out as important
experiences and images emerging during the music travel. This phase lasts 8–10
minutes, and the guide will often start with the question: ‘What stands out for you as
the most important in your experience?’
The postlude
This is a short dialogue (10–20 minutes). The ‘visible’ experiences in the form of, for
example, a mandala serve as a focal point in a verbal conversation, where the therapist
helps the client to connect the experience to daily life and the session focus.
Example: From a more cognitive position, the therapist will guide the client into an
interpretation of the imagery, aiming at new insight into the problem.
From a more humanistic-existential position, the therapist considers the music
and imagery experience transforming in itself. The therapist will probably stay in the
metaphors of the imagery and encourage the client to explore the most important
parts further.
The therapist may be informed by theories of metaphors, narratives and
symbols (Bonde 2000); however, the client’s own interpretation of the experience is
acknowledged as authoritative.
Clinical application
GIM is used in a number of clinical settings and with many different populations: self-
development and transpersonal work of neurotypical people, music healing, training
therapy, drug addiction, abuse, neurotic disturbances and trauma, and in the somatic
field clients suffering from heart problems or cancer, and people living with HIV and
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other life-threatening diseases. Modifications of the format have been developed for
other clinical populations (e.g. psychiatric patients or patients in end-of-life care),
and also different group formats are commonly used (Bonde 2010; Grocke and Moe
2015; Muller 2014; Summer 2002). The clinical field of applied GIM is broadening
quite fast and can be described as a spectrum ranging from short, unguided sessions
of music and imagery to interactive, guided group sessions (Grocke and Moe 2015).
The following elements are typical of interventions less complex than the classical,
individual session described above:
• Sessions may be shorter (3–20 minutes of music) and the music listening
may be unguided.
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Selected Music Therapy Models and Interventions 165
them become vivid. Allow yourself to sense the mood of the place. Project yourself
into the scene. Allow yourself to move and experience some contact with the place.
You might want to touch or smell a flower or sift sand through your toes, run, dance,
skip. As you become more and more relaxed, call to mind your objective for the
journey. Allow it to form into an image or question to the inner self… Start the music.
Then follows the music journey. Bush recommends, for example, Mozart: Clarinet
Concerto, 2nd movement; Mozart: Concerto for flute and harp, 2nd movement; and
Frank Bridge: Lament. The therapist guides the return and the processing dialogue.
For individual (home)work Bush formulates the following steps:
1. Formulate a focus for the journey.
2. Choose the music.
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166 A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO MUSIC THERAPY
Documentation
The GIM literature is comprehensive. Most of Helen Bonny’s articles are published in
one volume edited by her former student Lisa Summer (Bonny 2002). An anthology
by Bruscia and Grocke (2002) describes the model as practised and studied today.
The research literature covers clinical case studies, and studies of both process and
effect, conducted in quantitative, as well as qualitative and mixed-methods, designs
(e.g. Beck 2012; Bonde 2000, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2015; Grocke 2010; Körlin and
Wrangsjö 2001; Maack 2012; Moe, Roesen and Raben 2000; Summer 2009; Wrangsjö
and Körlin 1995). Over the years, devotees of GIM have concentrated increasingly on
metaphors and narratives in their work (Aksnes and Ruud 2006, 2008; Bonde 2000,
2004, 2007; Perilli 2002; Ruud 2003), and personal development has become linked to
personal empowerment (Trondalen 2009–2010, 2011). Research demonstrates that
GIM can change counterproductive behaviour patterns, increase self-understanding,
empower people to solve problems, reduce stress and increase access to personal
creative resources (e.g. Abrams 2002; Beck 2012; Bruscia and Grocke 2002; Grocke
and Moe 2015; Maack 2012; Martin 2007). In 2010, Voices (vol. 10, issue 3) published
an online commemorative issue, dedicated to the life and work of Helen Bonny,2 and
in 2017 a special issue of the e-journal Approaches was devoted to the theme ‘GIM in
Europe’, based on papers from the 12th European GIM Conference in Athens, Greece.
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Categorisation
Relating to Bruscia’s systematic account of music therapy models, GIM is placed
at the intensive level as a transformative music psychotherapy, because in GIM ‘the
music experience is therapeutically transformative and complete in, of, and by itself,
independent of any insights gained through verbal exchange’ (Bruscia 1998, p.219).
2 The issue contains articles in all categories including perspectives on practice, reports, examples of
research, essays, stories, a Refshare document with links to the huge research materials on GIM, archival
texts, and a keynote speech by Helen Bonny that appears for the first time as a written text. See www.
voices.no
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