Metaphoric Music Listening

inside and outside music

therapy
The Ear in Music

Norwegian Academy of Music May 11-12th

Lars Ole Bonde

Dept. Of Communication/Music Therapy , Aalborg University
Center for Music and Heath, Norwegian Academy of Music
Overview
 PART 1:
 OUTSIDE THERAPY / INSIDE EVERYDAY LIFE
 Ways of listening
 Theoretical models
 PART 2:
 INSIDE THERAPY /OUTSIDE EVERYDAY LIFE?
 Ways of listening
 Metaphorical listening – practice and theory
 Conclusions
 Ways of listening: Howard’s End
 From E. M. Forster: Howard’s End, Chapter 5:

 It will be generally admitted that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most

sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man. All sorts and
conditions are satisfied by it. Whether you are like Mrs. Munt, and tap
surreptitiously when the tunes come - of course, not so as to disturb the
others - or like Helen, who can see heroes and shipwrecks in the music's
flood; or like Margaret, who can only see the music; or like Tibby, who is
profoundly versed in counterpoint, and holds the full score open on his
knee; or like their cousin, Fraulein Mosebach, who remembers all the time
that Beethoven is echt Deutsch; or like Fraulein Mosebach's young man,
who can remember nothing but Fraulein Mosebach: in any case, the
passion of your life becomes more vivid, and you are bound to admit that
such a noise is cheap at two shillings.

 Mrs. Munt: Automatic kinaesthetic responses Helen: Multi-modal Imagery

Margaret: Musical Imagery?; Tibby: Visual Analysis Fraulein Mosebach: Non-
musical associations Young man: Emotional associations
Layers of meaning (Frede V. Nielsen)
E. Clarke: An ecological model
(Ways of Listening, 2005)
The Info-processing model Alternative model:
”Resonance is not passive: it is a
Cultural Aesthetics perceiving organism’s active,
exploratory engagement with its
environment.” (Clarke p. 19)

Affordances and appropriations:

Mental Cognition ”I mean simply what things furnish, for
good or ill. What they afford the
observer, after all, depend on their
properties.” (Gibson 1966).

Physical/M Psychoacoustics However, affordances are not determined

Physical Acoustics
by the object and its properties, but
”through an interaction between
people, interpretations and decisions
and the use of materials. Affordances
are the products of practices of
appropriation, achieved in and through
practical action and how to locate
affordances may have to be learned.”
(DeNora 2007)
Intensive listening to the musical
timespace (Erik Christensen)
 Other ways of listening
 Body listening (Bonny)
 ”Of course listening to music
with the body is nothing new.
Spontaneous movement to
music is the genesis of
dance. However, at some
point in time we have
forgotten the educational
functions of the body – what
we could call body
improvisation. Basically it is
about feeling the music in the
body and then let the body
express the emotion in
movement.”
 (Helen Bonny 1993)
 Fireside listening (Bastian)
 ”When we listen to contemporary
music it is probably irrelevant to
expect a Shakespearean plot. In
the moment we may not be able
to grasp the melody, the rhythm or
the harmonic progression – we
don’t recognize the ’characters’.
In this case the best listening
mode is what I call fireside
listening. We decide not to make
presumptions or judgements
about what may come from the
inside or the outside. Instead we
concentrate on how the music is
reflected in mind and body. What
actually happens is what counts.”
 (Peter Bastian 1987, s. 149)
Theory

 Imagery as a representational mode

(Horowitz)
 Music as metaphor and analogy (based on
Lakoff & Johnson and Paul Ricouer)
 Theory: Imagery as one of
Three modes of representation
A theoretical model by Mardi J. Horowitz (1983)
 Enactive representation: includes innate and learned response mechanisms.
 This is bodily 'thinking through enactions'
 Image representation: allows information processing (often spontaneous)
after perceptual events in several subsystems or -modalities:

kinesthetic, olfactory, gustatory, visual, auditive, emotions.

 This is (metaphorical) thinking "as if…”
 Lexical representation: intimately connected to language.
 This is traditional ’thinking in words and concepts'

 Metaphor: The metaphoric language is a special language enabling verbal

representation of imaginal and enactive experiences.
Metaphor theory – Lakoff & Johnson

Meaning in natural language begins in figurative,

multivalent patterns.
These patterns and their connections are embodied and
cannot be reduced to a set of literal concepts and
propositions.
The body-based patterns of meaning are condensed in
image schemata.
Image schemata are the basis of metaphors.
Metaphors are cross-domain mappings in the conceptual
system.
Certain image schemata lend themselves readily to the
description of music experiences, e.g. PATH, FORCE,
BALANCE
Ricoeur on metaphor and narrative
The rule of the metaphor (1977) Time and narrative (1984)

Metaphor is a SEMANTIC EVENT made

possible by 3 KINDS OF TENSION:
 Tension within the statement
 Tension between literal and metaphorical
interpretation
 Tension between identity and difference in the
interplay of resemblance

 ”Musik in ihrer schönsten Form ist die Sprache der

Liebe, die Alles heilen kann.” (Richard Wagner)
 ”Jede Krankheit ist ein musikalisches Problem - die
Heilung eine musikalische Lösung” (Novalis)
PART II: Music therapy

 Receptive music therapy methods:

 The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and
Music (BMGIM) – individual format
 Music-Centered Guided Imagery and Music
(MCGIM) – individual format
 Music and Imagery – group or individual format
 The BMGIM session
BMGIM was developed by Helen L.
Bonny in the 1970s in USA.
Definition: ”A modality of therapy involving
spontaneous imaging, expanded states
of consciousness, pre-designed
classical music programs, ongoing
dialogues during the music-imaging,
and non-directive guiding techniques”
(Bruscia 2002) Prelude and Postlude: Sitting up

Session duration: 90-120 minutes

1. Prelude (15’-25’) Identifying a focus
2. Induction/relaxation (5’-10’)
3. Music imaging (”Travel” to a ’program’)
(25’-50’) with ongoing dialogue
4. Transition w. drawing (5-10)
5. Postlude (20’-30’) Making meaning of the Transition
experience
Induction and
’Music travel’: On
the couch
Summer: A double metaphor
 BMGIM/Drift dive:  MCGIM/Manta dive:
 Changing music is the  No current. Repeated
strong current that music makes the
pushes the individual individual stay in one
into new territory for place for a receptive,
active and open focused contemplation
exploring of a singular
experience
 3 levels of metaphoric thinking
 Three levels or types of metaphoric thinking in GIM has been
identified in the GIM literature (Bonde 2000, 2005):

 (I) The narrative episode, configured around a core

metaphor
(e.g.a crossroad in life -> an exploration of a new path)
 (II) The narrative configuration of the self
(e.g. ’the jester’ as a self metaphor, exposed to a situation)
 (III) The full narrative (including emplotment)
(e.g. a story of the jester being first praised and then
rejected and abandoned by the king – and maybe supported
by the queen…)
What is configuration?
 Configuration is the specific construction or arrangement of
elements in a given context
 In a narrative context Configuration is the distribution of elements
in the ’image’, ’scene’ or ’narrative’:
 what is foreground/middle ground/background?

 who is the protagonist/antagonist(s)?

 who is the helper (a person, an animal, a force or artefact)?

 In therapy a C can be changed = reconfiguration

 This demands a change of the ’plot’: the dynamic web of causes
and effects (the ”who dunnit” question)
 In BMGIM and M&I there is a spontaneous configuration of
images/metaphors, and in a dynamic process there may be a
reconfiguration -> ”A New Story” may begin.
Music and Imagery Examples

 Exercise: Listen to a piece of music with

focus on:
 Bodily reactions
 Emotional reactions
 Imagery
 Sound properties
 Structural observations
 ….
 Or follow the contour of the following slide
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Tveitt: O be ye most heartily welcome

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A THREAT DRAMATIC INCREASE RETURN TO TRAQUILITY?

TRANQUILITY UNEASINESS IN TENSION SOFTER, MORE DELICATE
MOOD: 4 Mood: 5 Mood: 3 CRESCENDO
Mood: 3 WHAT WILL HAPPEN? FRAGILE?
MINORModal Mood: 2
Mood: 2-> 9
Mood: 3 or 4?
Section C2
Bassoon takes over
Dynamics raise to climax
Declining base line

Section A Section A1 Section B Section C1 Section A3 Coda

Section B1
Pluckings Waves and pluckings Flute continues Dynamics raising Clarinet Clarinet brings
Flute plays B
Bassoon theme Theme in strings /flute melody Bassoon returns Original theme them to end
theme again
Soft w aves

0:00 0:20 0:40 1:00 1:20 1:40 2:00 2:20 2:40 3:00 3:20 3:40
TIME (MIN:SEC)
Hevner’s Mood Wheel
 Tveitt #1 Soundscapes
 Aksnes & Ruud (2008)
 ”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.(Furthermore, the
slightly darker turn towards the
end of the piece is also
reflected in several of the
narratives).
 In the 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. ”
 A psych. Patient (HL f 54)
 In the beginning a positive
mood and beautiful nature
imagery. However, the
darkness and tension in the
middle section spoiled the
good mood, and even if she
could hear the mood of the
beginning return in the end,
she could’nt reenter this mood.
 She accepted the suggested
interpretation - that the music
experience repeated one of
her ’scripts’: the music didn’t
hold its promise, and she
couldn’t get out of the negative
response this evoked in her.
Group Music and Imagery
with psychiatric outpatients
 Groups of up to four psychiatric outpatients with a
score of 51 or above on the Global Assessment of
Function (GAF) Scale.
 Diagnoses: Paranoid schizophrenia, Anxiety
disorders, Personality disorders, PTSD, OCD…..
 90 minutes session: Long prelude (up to 60’) –
Induction (3-5) – music listening (4-10) – mandala
(5) – prelude (10-20).
 Music with a mixed supportive-challenging profile
used in most cases
Tveitt #1 Patient assessments (1)
Patient Patient’s imagery Incl.
CK Positive nature imagery (spring, light, fresh air, Yes
M 49 leaves and trees). Going into a forest and out
again. Mood: Like Mozart’s Elvira Madigan.
EB Gave a precise description of the music as a flow No
M 65 in time, with changing moods. Liked the music, but
had no imagery or emotional reactions.
RB The music was perceived as sad and even a bit Yes
F 27 scary twice, before it returned to the initial mood.
Associations to ’someone dying in a hospital’.
LL Darkness – thorugh a tunnel – a flash of light – Yes
F 49 darkness again – an eye -> eyes behind
sunglasses. Strange, but not scary, imagery makes
sense.
Tveitt #1 Patient assessments (2)
Patient Patient’s imagery Incl.
FJ Gave a precise description of the music and also a Yes
M 42 title (”The road of life”). Reflections on the music
affording representation of dynamic states
HH Nature imagery (meadow, forest, water). Did not No
M 42 want to draw or discuss the imagery
VM A fairy tale of a person visiting a forest with light Yes
F 44 and darkness. A ’troll’ was hiding in the shadows,
but it came forward and took what it needed before
leaving, as the light returned. Not scary. Fine music
LO No visual imagery, but strong bodily sensations of Yes
M 41 the music and its development. The shift to a
darker mood made him relax and feel calm. Not
scary- liked the music.
Some clinically based conclusions

 This piece of music – with a mixed profile – has

proven an excellent in/exclusion tool, independent of
diagnosis.
 Patients react to the music in a variety of modalities,
and their readiness to report is easily assessed.
 Patients seem to have stronger sensibility and
reactions to the ’darker’ sections of the music, and
their reactions show if they are able to work with the
metaphoric imagery in a constructive way.
 Differences from the imagery reported in
Aksnes/Ruud study may also be related to the
different setting.
Perspectives in/outside therapy:
Music Imaging as ’health musicking’
 Music imaging is a natural phenomenon
 It is used in therapy (e.g. BMGIM), but also in everyday
life as ’a technology of the self’ (DeNora)
 Affordance & appropriation (Gibson): Music affords
imaging and music imaging can be appropriated in
multiple ways: listening self-care, musical self-
medication (regulation of physical, psychological and
spiritual wellbeing) (Ruud 2008)
 Music imaging is both a mode of thinking (introjection)
and a mode of expression (projection).
 Sharing music images can be powerful group process –
also outside therapy
Theoretical perspectives
 Music can be categorized by intensity profiles and
applied in receptive music therapy at different levels:
 Supportive: Trust building and encouraging aims.
Music must provide a catalyst for immediate positive
interpersonal interaction. (Small containers)
 Reeducative: Change through insight in conscious
conflict material. Music provides experiences leading
to greater self-awareness and –understanding.
(Small to medium containers)
 Reconstructive: Change and transformation through
insight also in unconscious conflict material. (Medium
to large containers)
 (Summer 2002, referring to Wolberg 1967)
Intensity profiles:
Graphic representations of experiential intensity
I n t ens it y
P eak *

C lim ax

Bu il d i ng /
R e l e as i ng
T ens i on
(almost)
Pl a t eau No tension,
0 = No m us i c
even intensity
T i me ax is : Ti me
E pi s ode s : ( Ba r s / T he m es / F o rm )
Cu e s : ( P r im a r y / s e conda r y i n s t r u m en ts , t ex t u r e, key , m ood, dyna mi c s )

P eak *

C lim ax

Bu il d i ng /
R e l e as i ng
Some tension
T ens i on
(in the middle),
Pl a t eau

0 = No m us i c
ABA intensity
T i me ax is :
E pi s ode s :
Cu e s :

P eak *

C lim ax Rich in tension,

Bu il d i ng /
R e l e as i ng
T ens i on
high intensity,
Pl a t eau unpredictable
0 = No m us i c
T i me ax is :
E pi s ode s :
A grounded theory: the contribution of the
musical elements
Helen Bonny developed the ‘affective contour’ model to
represent the changing levels of intensity in a GIM music
program in a graphic form. The ‘intensity profile’ presented
here is used to give an easily understood graphic
representation of the course of experienced intensity in one
music selection. It is obvious that supportive, mixed and
challenging music have very different profiles. The build-up
and release of tension in challenging and mixed music, or
the absence of tension-building in supporting music, is the
main feature of a profile. The intensity of a given music
selection influences the imagery in many ways, and
increasing or decreasing intensity of the music is immediately
reflected in the imagery. The music parameters with the
greatest influence on intensity, and thus on the imagery, are
mood, form, intensity(profile) and melodic conciseness.
The end: A cancer survivor’s imagery
 Analysis of Music:
3 Categories
Supportive Re-educative Reconstructive

• Faure Pavane • Debussy String • Rodrigo Concierto de

(Hillary) Quartet, Andantino Aranjuez, mvt 2 **
• Faure Pavane (Bill) • Copland Rodeo, • Wagner Siegfried Idyll
• Mozart Vesperae Corral Nocturne ** • Beethoven Violin
Solemnes, Laudate • Bach (orchestrated) Concerto, mvt 2 **
Dominum** Prelude in Eb minor • Respighi Pines of
• Canteloube Songs of • Mascagni Cavalleria Rome, Giancolo
the Auvergne, Rusticana, Regina • Debussy Danses
Brezairola ** Coeli Sacred and Profane
• Beethoven Piano • Strauss
Concerto #5, mvt 2 ** Death&Transf,
• Schumann Funf Transfiguration
Stucke im Volkston, • Brahms Symphony
Langsam #3, mvt 3 **