Body-based schemata in receptive music therapy

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-74
Author(s):  
Hallgjerd Aksnes ◽  
Even Ruud

In the receptive music-therapeutical method BMGIM (The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music) the client listens to a specifically selected program of classical music in a deeply relaxed state, whilst reporting his/her concomitant musical imagery to the music therapist. The imagery (or travel) reported by the client (traveler) serves as point of departure for the therapeutic process, as mediated by the therapist (guide). The purpose of this study is to investigate possible relations between structural features of the musical selections, and the imagery that may arise during a BMGIM session. It was assumed that such an investigation might also contribute to our general understanding of musical meaning −1 more precisely, how meaning is produced through our interaction with specific musical structures. Furthermore, if it is possible to trace any relations between structural features and concomitant images, a deeper understanding of these relations might also be helpful in the programming (selection) of musical pieces for the BMGIM session. In the research project to which we refer in this article, a new program, Soundscapes, was designed. The program has several aims: Firstly, we wished to create a BMGIM program based upon more local traditions within the European classical canon; in this case, Norwegian music with a distinctly “national” flavor (see Aksnes and Ruud, 2006). Secondly, we wished to investigate whether it was possible to demonstrate a link between musical structures and the musical images resulting from the embodied perceptions of these structures. Here we will focus upon the first piece of the program, which was analyzed in cognitive semantic terms, the analysis being subsequently compared with the transcriptions of nine BMGIM sessions. In the analysis the well-balanced and “floating” character of the music was understood in terms of amodal, body-based schemata that are operative within music cognition. In the subsequent comparison with the reported travels, it was concluded that the schemata evoked by the music afforded a sensation of being held and carried by the music.

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margareta Wärja ◽  
Lars Ole Bonde

In receptive music therapy, music listening is used as a therapeutic medium in many different ways. The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) is a specific receptive music therapy model where the client or patient listens to selected classical music in an expanded state of consciousness in an ongoing dialogue with the therapist, facilitating symbolic and metaphorical imagery in many modalities. In this model, music is often considered a “co-therapist”, and more than 100 music programs are used to address specific issues and problems. However, no classification of the music used in GIM exists. This article presents a matrix with 3 major categories: 1) Supportive music – 2) Mixed supportive and challenging music – 3) Challenging music, with three subcategories within each category. Based on a review of literature related to music listening in music and medicine the taxonomy is introduced and its relevance for the Bonny Method discussed, with special focus on two adaptations: KMR-Brief Music Journeys and Group Music and Imagery (GrpMI). Vignettes from KMR with one individual cancer patient and from GrpMI sessions with psychiatric patients are presented and related to the taxonomy.


Author(s):  
Lars Ole Bonde

Lars Ole Bonde considers musical imagery in the context of music therapy sessions and focuses on the Bonny Method of guided imagery and music as a well-documented example of music imagery. While Bonde mainly focuses on listening in clinical settings, he argues that imagery listening should be seen as a health resource in everyday listening settings. Taking in perspectives from neuroaffective theory, Bonde analyzes clinical material and evidence from the analysis of EEG data and shows how music therapy theory—as a specific tradition within musicology—can contribute to research in music listening through a greater understanding of multimodal imagery in such listening.


Author(s):  
Sumi Paik-Maier

The Supportive Music and Imagery Method is derived from the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM). It uses one piece of pre-recorded music that is short and simple in all musical elements and non-classical music is often used.It aims at enhancing one’s ego by supporting one’s positive resource rather than exploring problems and issues. It is containing and highly structured compared to BMGIM and it focuses on the here-and-now.I will introduce how the SMI method is conducted by illustrating a few case examples supervised by me and conducted by graduates and trainees of the Music and Imagery training in Korea.


Author(s):  
Denise Grocke

Listening to music is an everyday experience for most people. In music therapy music listening can be used to support many therapeutic goals. This chapter presents an overview of methods used in receptive music therapy that are supported by research literature, including music-assisted relaxation, music and imagery, and Guided Imagery and Music (Bonny Method). Salient features of each approach are outlined and supported with evidence-based research. Elements of music used in relaxation and imagery are discussed in some further depth to highlight the need for greater transparency when reporting the effect of recorded and live music in receptive music therapy.


2020 ◽  
pp. 102986492097214
Author(s):  
Aurélien Bertiaux ◽  
François Gabrielli ◽  
Mathieu Giraud ◽  
Florence Levé

Learning to write music in the staff notation used in Western classical music is part of a musician’s training. However, writing music by hand is rarely taught formally, and many musicians are not aware of the characteristics of their musical handwriting. As with any symbolic expression, musical handwriting is related to the underlying cognition of the musical structures being depicted. Trained musicians read, think, and play music with high-level structures in mind. It seems natural that they would also write music by hand with these structures in mind. Moreover, improving our understanding of handwriting may help to improve both optical music recognition and music notation and composition interfaces. We investigated associations between music training and experience, and the way people write music by hand. We made video recordings of participants’ hands while they were copying or freely writing music, and analysed the sequence in which they wrote the elements contained in the musical score. The results confirmed experienced musicians wrote faster than beginners, were more likely to write chords from bottom to top, and they tended to write the note heads first, in a flowing fashion, and only afterwards use stems and beams to emphasize grouping, and add expressive markings.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Smith Goldberg ◽  
Louise Dimiceli-Mitran

Abstract Spirituality and psychotherapy are both inherent in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music. This article discusses the integration of these aspects of GIM and the evolution of Helen Bonny's journey in this regard. Included are Bonny's early humanistic and transpersonal influences, along with her grounding philosophy of the healing aspects of music, the central tenets of GIM as she initially envisioned, and the development of GIM theory as it relates to this integration. A GIM case study illustrates how psychotherapy and spirituality work together in a holistic way. Current trends indicate that transpersonal practices are becoming more mainstream in many areas of the world.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Holtz

In an interview study with 17 music-creating artists (composers of contemporary “classical” music, electronic music, musicals, movie scores, and jazz musicians) from Southern Germany, three types of music-creating artists could be discerned: the avant-gardists, the neo-romantics, and the self-disclosing artists. These types represent social groups that are prone to typical intergroup conflicts. The different types of music-creating artists adhere to different aesthetic ideals: the avant-gardists emphasize the abstract beauty of musical structures and try to develop their music from within the music itself, the neo-romantics view music as the true language of the heart and try to express something through their music, and the self-disclosing artists feel the drive to express their feelings and sensations by means of music. As a consequence, different dimensions of musical communication are pivotal: formal aspects, the relationship between the musician and the listener, and self-disclosure. The three types of music-creating artists resemble the types of composers analyzed by Julius Bahle in the 1930s ( e.g. Bahle, 1930). Regarding their modus operandi, the musicians differ on a continuum between a purely rational creative work and the creation of music in an unconscious outburst of inspiration. Nevertheless, most musicians experience an alternation between phases of intuitive inspiration and phases of deliberate rational construction during the creative process. Therefore, a typology of musicians based on their modus operandi seems unhelpful.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1195-1217
Author(s):  
Lassi A. Liikkanen ◽  
Kelly Jakubowski

AbstractInvoluntary musical imagery (INMI) refers to a conscious mental experience of music that occurs without deliberate efforts to initiate or sustain it. This experience often consists of the repetition of a short fragment of a melody, colloquially called an “earworm.” Here, we present the first comprehensive, qualitative review of published empirical research on INMI to date. We performed an extensive literature search and discovered, in total, 47 studies from 33 peer-reviewed articles that met the inclusion criteria for the review. In analyzing the content of these studies, we identified four major research themes, which concern the phenomenology, dynamics, individual differences, and musical features of INMI. The findings answer many questions of scientific interest—for instance, what is typical in terms of INMI frequency, duration, and content; which factors influence INMI onset; and whether demographic and personality factors can explain individual differences in susceptibility and responses to INMI. This review showcases INMI as a well-established phenomenon in light of a substantial body of empirical studies that have accumulated consistent results. Although the populations under study show an unfavorable bias towards Western, educated participants, the evidence depicts INMI as a universal psychological phenomenon, the possible function of which we do not yet fully understand. The concluding section introduces several suggestions for future research to expand on the topic.


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