International Latin-American Journal of Music Therapy

Revista Internacional Latinoamericana de Musicoterapia

Published by ADIMU Full Organisational Member of the WFMT

Editor-in-Chief

Dr. med. Gregorio Tisera, MD, psychiatrist, Head of the Music Therapy Department, University Psychiatric Hospital, Rosario, Argentina

Editorial board

Dr. Sabatino Palma, MD, psychiatrist, specialist in therapeutic drama, Rosario, Argentina

Marisel Fékete, psychologist, Associate Professor, Catholic University of La Plata, Argentina

José Báez, educator, principal of the school "J.H.Pestalozzi", Rosario, Argentina

International Scientific Advisory Board (listed alphabetically)

Dr. Dorit Amir, ACMT, director Music Therapy Program, University Bar-Ilan, Israel

Claus Bang, M.Ed., director of Music Therapy, School for Hearing-Impaired and Deaf-Blind Children, Aalborg, Denmark

Marianne Bargiel, MTA, Présidente de l'AQM (Association Québecoise de Musicothérapie), Montréal, Canada

Prof.Prof.h.c.Dr. Hans Volker Bolay, Lehrmusiktherapeut DGMT/DBVMT, Dean of the Music Therapy Program, Heidelberg, Germany

Graziela Cintra Gomes, Associação Portuguesa de Musicoterapia, Lisboa, Portugal

Prof. Giulia Cremaschi Trovesi, MT, Head of the Music Therapy Department of the Institute of Audiology, Università degli Studi, Milano; supervisor of the Music Therapy Program of Bristol University in Bologna; president of APPM (Associazione Pedagogia Musicale e Musicoterapia), Bergamo, Italy

Prof. Dr. Hans-Helmut Decker-Voigt, Director of the Institute for Music Therapy, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hamburg, Germany

Heidi Fausch-Pfister, psychodramatist, lecturer at Moreno Institute, lecturer of the Music Therapy Program at "bam", Switzerland

Dr. phil. Isabelle Frohne-Hagemann, MT, Head of the Music Therapy Program, Fritz Perls Institute, Germany

Ingrid Hammarlund, MT, head of the Music Therapy Program, Stockholm, Sweden

Dr. Fritz Hegi, Director of the Berufsbegleitende Ausbildung Musiktherapie (bam), Zurich, Switzerland; Musiktherapeut SFMT, Psychotherapeut SPV

Dr. Carolyn B. Kenny, MTA, CMT, program coordinator of Music Therapy, Capilano College and Open University of British Columbia, Canada

Linda Labbé, MTA, AQM (Association Québecoise de Musicothérapie), Montréal, Canada

Prof. Dr. phil. Mechtild Langenberg, Dipl.-MT, Music Therapy Program, Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany

Édith Lecourt, Ph.D., psychologue, psychanalyste, musicienne, Professeur de psychologie et responsable de la formation à la musicothérapie, Université Paris V (Sorbonne), secrétaire générale de l'Association Française de Musicothérapie, Paris, France

Kimmo Lehtonen, Ph.D., Department of Education, University of Turku, Editor-in-Chief of "The Finnish Journal of Music Therapy", Director of the Music Therapy Schooling Program, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Fernanda Magno Prim, Associação Portuguesa de Musicoterapia, Lisboa, Portugal

Melissa Mercadal-Brotons, PhD, MT-BC, Music Therapy Clinical Center, Barcelona, Spain

Dr. Claudio Naranjo, MD, musicologist, pioneer of Transpersonal and Gestalt psychology, Berkeley, California, USA

Sylvie Ouellet, MTA, psychopédagogue, codirectrice de MIREs (Institut de recherche et de formation), Lévis, Québec, Canada

Dr. Francesco Palmirotta, psychosomatic music therapist, president of A.M.O. and A.O.P., Bari, Italy

Gabriella G. Perilli, Ph.D., psychologist, MT, vice-president of the Soccietà Italiana di Musicoterapia, Roma, Italia

Serafina Poch Blasco, President of Asociación Catalana de Musicoterapia, Spain

Colleen Purdon, Dipl.MTh., MTA, member of the board of directors of the Canadian Association for Music Therapy, Ontario, Canada

Jacqueline Z. Robarts, MA, Dipl. MTh., Research Fellow in Music Therapy, The City University, London and Senior Music Therapist and Clinical Tutor, The Nordof-Robbins Music Therapy Centre, London, UK

Even Ruud, Ph.D., Associate Professor, former Coordinator of the Music Therapy Training Program at Østlandets Music Conservatorium, Director of the Institute of Music and Theater at Oslo University, Oslo, Norway

Prof. Karin Schumacher, MT, Music Therapy Program, Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany

Chava Sekeles, PhD, OTR, RMT, Director of the Music Therapy Program, Institute of Therapeutic Education, The David Yellin College, Jerusalem, Israel

Prof. Ernst-Walter Selle, music therapist, Lehrmusiktherapeut, Music Therapy Program, Heidelberg, Germany

Dr. med. Ralph Spintge, Director of the International Society for Music in Medicine, Head of the Pain Clinic at Sportkrankenhaus Hellersen, Germany

Brynjulf Stige, MT, head of the Music Therapy Program in Sandane; editor-in-chief of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Norway

Dr. Tonius Timmermann, Dipl.Päd., MT, director de formación en musicoterapia, FMZ, Munich, Germany

Dr. phil. Rosemarie Tüpker, Dipl. MT, head of the Music Therapy Program, Westfälische Wilhelms- Universität, Münster, Germany

Barbara L. Wheeler, Ph.D, RMT-BC, Professor and Coordinator of Music Therapy, Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA

Dr. Björn Wrängsjö, MD, psychotherapist, Director of the Post-graduate Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stockholm, Sweden

Cooperating institutions

AAMT (American Association for Music Therapy), NY, USA

A.M.O. (Musicoterapia Psicosomática), Bari, Italy, President: Dr. Francesco Palmirotta

APPM (Associazione Pedagogia Musicale e Musicoterapia), Bergamo, Italy

AMT-CRSM, Area de Musicoterapia del Centro Regional de Salud Mental, Rosario, Argentina

C.E.D.I. (Centro de Encuentro para el Desarrollo de la Improvisación), Madrid, Spain, Director: Pedro López

C.I.M. (Centro de Investigación Musicoterapéutica), Bilbao, Spain, Director: Dr. Aittor Loroño

DGMT (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie), Berlin, Germany

Hungarian Music Therapy Association, Budapest, Hungary/Hungría, President: Katalin Urban Varga

Soccietà Italiana di Musicoterapia, Roma, Italia

Revista Internacional Latinoamericana de Musicoterapia

Volume 6, Number 2, 2000

Indications and Therapeutic Effect of Human-Structural Inpatient Music Therapy*
Dr. med. Rolf Schmidts, MD, neurologist and psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, Head of the Clinic and Dr. med. Egon Fabian, MD, psychiatrist, psychotherapist; Menterschwaige Clinic for Dynamic Psychiatry and German Academy of Psychoanalys (DAP), Munich

*Original paper submitted by the authors in English, translated by G.T.
Abstract The human-structural inpatient music therapy as practiced in the Dynamic Psychiatric Hospital Menterschwaige in Munich was created by Günter Ammon and is based on a psychodynamic and group-dynamic approach. It is a non-verbal therapy, using free improvisation in order to render group-dynamic processes "audible", to diminish anxiety and to facilitate interpersonal contact and relationships in the "here-and-now", being particularly apt for symbiotic, anxious, autistic and paranoid patients. It allows the treatment of severe, pre-oedipal psychiatric illnesses when integrated in the global therapeutic milieu of the hospital. Its therapeutic goal is not limited to the alleviation of symptoms, but aims to strengthening and widening the central, unconscious core of the personality, the "human structure".
It is a level of meta-communication through the "third object" and thus a direct contact therapy, making possible "the development of guilt-free autonomous needs for relationships in the group as a 'via regia' to the unconscious of the group and of the individual". The verbalizations of the therapists include analytical, group-dynamic, metaphorical or music-theoretical interpretations. It utilizes the atmospheric quality and the mood which are peculiar to dreams and primary-process thinking, closely linked to the language of the subconscious. The whole clinic is considered a milieu-therapeutic instrument.
 

Prenatal Acoustic Experiences and Music Therapy*
Dr. med. Gregorio Tisera, MD, PhD, MT, Head of the Music Therapy Department, Regional Center for Mental Health, University Psychiatric Hospital, Rosario, Argentina

*This paper was presented at the 1st Music Therapy Symposium in Santiago, Chile, November 2000
Abstract The deep-rooted relationship between sound and human being provides the ground, the foundation for our approach of music therapy. Music therapy makes use of the sound of conventional and non-conventional music instruments, of materials of daily life, of the human voice, and of other sounds produced by the human body, also movement and body language, as a non-verbal means of communication in the therapeutic process, in which all kinds of sounds and noises, even pre-natal acoustic experiences are taken into consideration. From the 16th week of pregnancy until delivery the fetus perceives more than eighteen million heartbeats of the mother. The fetal perception of sound could produce an "imprinting" and be the basis of speech rhythm, and also of the universal occurrence of the two syllables of babies making their first sounds. Both the mother's voice and other sounds exert a strong psychological influence through their timbre, rhythm and melody. The adults have substituted these perceptive categories of the communications system by a semantic category or diacritic perception. With the help of music therapy these abilities can be revived so that adults are able to make use of a lost perceptiveness.

Evaluation of Group Improvisations*
Prof. Dr. Susanne Metzner, music therapist, Ahrensburg, Germany

*Original title in German "Ein Traum: Eine fremde Sprache kennen, ohne sie zu verstehen. Zur Evaluation von Gruppenimprovisationen", Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 2000, 21 (3) 234-247, translated by G.T. with permission from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie (German Society for Music Therapy)
Abstract Engaging with the clinical and academic practice of therapeutic improvisation evaluation, the author develops a procedure for the evaluation of psychoanalytical music therapy. The procedure consists in drawing up description protocols of group improvisations and conducting a depth hermeneutic analysis according to specific guidelines.

Music Therapy for Cancer. Reflections on Psychooncological Models*
Dr. Hans Peter Bilek, neurologist and psychiatrist, psycho-oncologist, president of the Austrian Society for Psycho-oncology, Vienna, Austria

*Original title in German "Musik bei Krebs? Gedanken zu psychoonkologischen Modellen", Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 1999, 20 (4) 325-341, translated by G.T. with permission from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie (German Society for Music Therapy)
Abstract Cancer is becoming an ever increasing problem, and we must exhaust all possibilities in order to enhance the therapeutical efforts. In this article the current status in psychotherapeutic methods in oncology is reflected upon, in particular the "concept of autonomy", an unique approach created by the author. It is shown that sound and music have a central meaning in the universe, and that music as such can magically change a person's mood, although this is difficult to prove on the basis of natural science.
Referring to the idea that every individual has a "life melody" (a central aspect of the "concept of autonomy"), the author tries to outline new inroads for music therapy with cancer patients by supporting the way of becoming more autonomous.

Silence in Music. Essay*
Dr. Sergio Bittencourt-Sampaio, member of the Brazilian Academy MDs of Letters and of the Friburgo Academy of Letters

*Submitted by the author. Original title in Portuguese “O siléncio na música” published in “Trieb”, Nr. 8, 1999, official organ of the Brazilian Society for Psychoanalysis in Río de Janeiro, Brazil. Translated by L.R. and G.T.
Abstract The inicial idea originates from the term “music” as the presence of sound in opposition to “silence” as the lack of it. The strong attraction of sound makes silence to be underestimated. The effects of sound in ancient myths and legends are reviewed. The importance of silence is clear in the sound-silence relationship. Both are fundamentally and permanently interrelated. Each sound is a transient phenomenon, a brief interruption of the monotonous universal silence. Silence can be assessed in terms of amplitude and length. The author elaborates on philosophical considerations, one of them related to the concept of meta-music, and puts forward that, on a symbolic level, sound and silence can be taken as life and death. Life and music share two qualities: transience and movement. Furher hearing as a sensory phenomenon and music performance, both in the reality and in the psyche, are analyzed. The author studies the initial and the final silence, observing that the differences between them are not limited to their affective character, but also involve time perception. He analyzes the silence in the works of great composers, concluding that listening to silence gives music a new dimension, and that without silence music would not be possible to exist.

Is Music an Archaic Form of Thinking?*
Kimmo Lehtonen, Ph.D., Department of Education, University of Turku, Editor-in-Chief of "The Finnish Journal of Music Therapy", Director of the Music Therapy Schooling Program, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

*Submitted by the author. Originally published in the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 1994, 3 (1), 3-12. Translated by G.T. with permission from Brynjulf Stige, editor of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy.
Abstract The central idea of this article is based on the assumption that there is a close parallel between the forms of music and archaic forms of thinking. The article discusses the Piagethian assimilation and accomodation process and their resemblance to the growing and relaxing inner tensions caused by music. The article also discusses the forms of archaic thinking as a hierarchy. Theories concerning the different developmental phases of thinking are also presented and discussed, such as the cognitive and psychoanalytical theories of Daniel Stern and Eva Basch-Kahre, which have shed new light on the problem of music.

Special issue: Music and Altered States of Consciousness

Music Therapy with Archaic Instruments. An Innovative Method for Treating "Early Disorders"
Dr. med. Peter Hess, MD, neurologist and psychiatrist, director of the Day Clinic Metznerpark, Frankenthal, Germany

*Original title in German "Musiktherapie mit archaischen Klangkörpern. Eine neue Behandlungsmethode sogenannter früher Störungen", Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 1999, 20 (2) 77-92, translated by G.T. with permission from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie (German Society for Music Therapy)
Abstract The so-called gong-therapy is an innovative method of receptive music therapy with archaic instruments for psychotic patients. Indications and experiences in a psychiatric clinic are presented as well as the theoretical background of this method of healing with deep altered states of consciousness. The trance induced by archaic instruments (e.g. didgeridoo, gong) reveals early biographical layers of consciousness and transpersonal dimensions. The similarity of the experiences in the sound trance and in the psychotic episode gives the patients the chance to integrate them. So a healing process is initiated and the patients' sense of responsibility and indepence is supported.

Psychoanalysis and a Method of Receptive Music Therapy (GIM). A Comparison*
Björn Wrängsjö, médico psicoterapeuta, director del Instituto de Formación de Post-grado en Psiquiatría Infantil y del Adolescente, Estocolmo, Suecia

*Original paper submitted by the author.
Abstract Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) is compared with psychoanalysis from theoretical, methodological and technical points of view. Similarities include using the couch to explore the dream level of mental experience, using transference and countertransference phenomena, confronting resistance and defenses, and appreciating the holding process. Technical differences for handling these similarities include the use of music and less emphasis upon the the development and interpretation of the transference. GIM evokes and manages a wider span of material, promotes encounters with deep emotional conflict and stimulates deep inner healing and mental integration.

On the Hermeneutics of Music Therapy Processes. Metatheoretical Approaches to Understanding*
Dr. phil. Isabelle Frohne-Hagemann, music therapist, coordinator of the program "Integrative Music Therapy" at the European Academia for Psychosocial Health and Creativity Stimulation (formerly Fritz Perls Institute), Hückeswagen, Germany; supervisor, private music therapy practice.

*Original title in German "Zur Hermeneutik musiktherapeutischer Prozesse. Metatheoretische Überlegungen zum Verstehen", Musiktherapeutische Umschau, 1999,  20 (2) 103-113, translated by G.T. with permission from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie (German Society for Music Therapy)
Abstract This article discusses the hermeneutics of the non-verbal processes. Relating to the epistemology and anthropology of an "integrative" music therapy and its heraclitian, creative and corporal dimensions the author develops a heuristic for a hermeneutic of active music therapy.

Breathing and the Use of the Voice*
Wilhelm Porzelt, specialist in breathing therapy and hygienics of respiration, psychotonics, voice education and logopedics. Breuberg, Germany. Lecturer at the post-graduate music therapy program at C.I.M. (Centro de Investigación Musicoterapéutica), Bilbao, Spain. Lecturer at the Winter Seminar and Workshops organized yearly by ADIMU, Rosario, Argentina.

*Original paper submitted by the author in Spanish
Abstract The author unfolds the practical use of air during speech, relying on the "theory of minimal air" and the experience of voice coaching. The "mean respiratory area" and the rhythmic structure of speech are described, as well as the influence of breathing in health and vegetative disorders. Over-demanding the child in speech implies a risk for the development of language. Kindergarten and school can play a decisive role in the global development of an individual by teaching the economical use of the voice. Voice education should embrace the entire field of pedagogy.

The Archetypal World of Sounds in Music Therapy*
Dr. med. Wolfgang Strobel, MD, major in neurology, psychiatry, psychoterapy and psychoanalysis. Teaching music therapist. Head of post-graduate Course in Music Therapy, Body Therapy and Trance Therapy, Würzburg, Germany

*Paper submitted by the author. Original title: "Die archetypische Welt der Klänge in der Musiktherapie". Translated by G.T.

Abstract Between the kind of sounds used for the induction of trance and the imagery experienced by the subjects there is a thematic correlation. Based on the author's clinical experience, five archetypes are presented, which correspond to the following instruments: singing bowls, monochord, tribal drum, gong and didgeridoo. The archetypal theme can only be experienced if sounds, patients, and therapist are in resonance with each other.

Making music or playing in child music therapy. An alternative?*
Eberhard Küsel-Glogau, music therapist DBVMT, Starnberg, Germany

*The original paper appeared in "Musiktherapeutische Umschau", 1998, 19 (3) 164-170. Translated by G.T. with permission from the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie" (German Society for Music Therapy)

Abstract The particular nature of children's playing and thinking gives rise to the hypothesis that in child music therapy the music and the play interact. On this basis, specific characteristics of music therapy with children are presented. Various reaons for not making music are discussed, as well as the music therapist's need for "more music".

Operant Music Therapy Strategies for the Treatment of Pain*
Prof. Dr. Hans Volker Bolay, professor for music therapy DGMT/DBVMT, dean of the Department of Music Therapy of the Technical University Heidelberg and director of "Viktor Dulger" Institut for music therapy research in Heidelberg. Since 1989 in private practice and expert consultant in alternative therapies;Thomas Hillecke, psychologist, behavioral therapist DGVT; Hartmut J. Otto, music therapist

*Original paper submitted by the authors. Title in German "Musiktherapeutische Handlungsstrategien in der Behandlung von Schmerzpatienten" translated by G.T.
Abstract We developed a joint research project in the field of PAIN. Forty individual music therapy sessions (periodically assessed by means of standardized tests) are administered to selected patients. According to the HEIDELBERG MODEL, music therapy in the treatment of chronic pain is not only an unspecific therapeutic measure, but a mode of treatment which is specifically designed for each diagnostic category. It is based on scientific proofs of the effectiveness of music in acute pain, of music therapy in chronic pain, and on our own experience in the treatment of patients suffering from chronic pain. Music therapy helps these patients to express their feelings non-verbally, it activates the recollection of well-being, it associates muscle relaxation reactions with a particular music, it helps in self regulation, in coping with problems, and in working out conflicts. The circular, spiral and linear etiological models are described. Our goal is to achieve an effective and conclusive therapeutic concept by means of microanalysis and measurement of effectiveness.

Music Therapy: A Gestalt Art*
Marie-Claude Denis, PhD, clinical psychologist and professor of the Department of Psychology at the University of Québec in Trois-Rivieres, co-director of the University Psychological Center, diploma from the Gestalt Institute in Houston; Josée Préfontaine, MA, CMT, MTA music therapist, graduated at University of Québec, currently doctoral studies, member of the Assotiation Québequoise de Musicothérapie and in charge of the Comité de Deontologie, scholar at Council for Research in Human Sciences of Canada

*Original paper submitted by the authors. Title in French "La musicothérapie. Un art gestaltiste" translated by G.T.
Abstract The concepts of "awareness", contact and action as treated by Polster (1995) in "A Population of Selves" are illustrated in this article through four clinical cases (an adult, two elderly persons, and a child) treated in music therapy. Each one of them exemplifies a crucial aspect of any therapeutic relationship. The first case presenta an inner conflict and shows how music "anchors" the expanding of consciousness; in the second one the contact, with oneself and with the other, was made through music; the third one exemplifies the function "merger" of contact within the therapeutic relationship; the fourth case presents the liberating force of action, long time in the background due to the introspective bias of early psychotherapists.

Music Therapy Research*
Barbara L. Wheeler, PhD, MT-BC, Professor of Music Therapy, Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA

*Original paper submitted by the author.
Abstract Research is defined as "a systematic, self-monitored inquiry which leads to a discovery or new insight, which, when documented and disseminated, contributes to or modifies existing knowledge or practice". Doing research in music therapy presents a challenge. The specific methods needed to study the combination of music and musical relationships within an interpersonal context have led some to suggest that music therapists need to develop methods specific to music therapy. One traditional division of research is into philosophical, historical, descriptive, and experimental research. Published music therapy research has been divided into process and outcome studies, classifying methodologies as documentary, experimental, descriptive, and interactive. More recent analyses have classified music therapy research as qualitative or quantitative, the latter being experimental or descriptive. Types of qualitative research vary according to their philosophical foundations, methods of data analysis, and views on the role of the researcher. Four types of inquiry, "grounded theory, naturalistic, phenomenological, and hermeneutics", have been found to be predominant in music therapy. There is an ongoing discussion of the uses and validity of qualitative as compared to quantitative methods of music therapy research.

Analogy, a core category of music therapy*
Dr. Henk Smeijsters, Coordinator of the Program of Creative Therapies, School of Professional Education, University of Limburg, Netherlands

*Original paper submitted by the author.
Abstract The author presents his perspective as a qualitative researcher, stressing that both quantitative and qualitative approaches can be used, because both strategies give answers to very different questions. Claiming a theory of music therapy does not mean refusing knowledge from other sources, but stresses the fact that music therapy can provide musical assessment data and therapeutic strategies. The genesis of a theoretical concept that can be part of a theory of music therapy is reported. In different perspectives there exist some shared idea about what is essential to music therapy. First the qualitative research method is described, next the results of research, specially the definition of "category" as a classification that is discovered when concepts are compared and appear to belong to a similar phenomenon. A "core category" is a central phenomenon around which several other categories can become integrated. The concept of "analogy" is differentiated from other concepts such as "metaphor", "symbol", "replica", and "isomorphism". The category of "analogy" can summarize a substantial number of musical processes that are analogies of psychological processes. Finally several case studies are presented.

The function of musical instruments in the therapeutic process*
Univ.-Prof. Hartmut Kapteina, music therapist (DBVMT, DMVO, ÖBM), didactic music therapist (DBVMT), professor for Musical Pedagogy and Music Therapy, University of Siegen, Germany

*The original paper "Zur Funktion der Musikinstrumente im therapeutischen Prozeß" was published in "Musiktherapeutische Umschau", 4, Bd. 18, 1997. Translated by G.T. and published with permission of the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie"
Abstract This paper gives an extract out of our research program on the function of musical instruments in the therapeutic process. Taking as example instruments which are usual in the music therapy practice, such as mallet instruments (xylophones and metallophones), and by means of reported associations by the participants, it is shown how it is possible to find out which is their function in the shaping of social interactions, and which psycho-physical experiences are involved in the process.

Integrating body and breathing into music therapy*
Gabriele Engert-Timmermann, therapist of respiration and Dr. Tonius Timmermann, music therapist, Coordinator of the Music Therapy Program and Director of the Freies Musik-Zentrum, Munich, Germany

*Original paper submitted by the authors. Title in German "Integration von Körper und Atem in die Musiktherapie", translated by G.T.
Abstract Music and breathing have may elements in common, which make them both appropriate for a therapeutic role. The earliest experiences are related to body and sound. Receptive and active music therapy, breathing therapy, and bodily sense-perception offer ideal conditions for reaching that early life period, triggering growth processes in the person. The paper describes the instruments used, the global approach and the methods developed by the authors.

Creative music therapy in the treatment of chronic pain*
Peter Hoffmann, music therapist, Institute of Music Therapy, School of Medicine, University Witten- Herdecke, Germany. He works with psychiatric and internal medicine patients at the General Hospital Herdecke.

*The original paper "Schöpferische Musiktherapie bei Menschen mit chronischem Schmerz" was published in "Musiktherapeutische Umschau", 1, Band 18/97. Translated by G.T. and published with permission of the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie"
Abstract In this preliminary study seventeen adult patients with chronic pain received music therapy treatment. The aim was to investigate what creative music therapy could offer to people suffering from chronic pain. The development was illustrated by collecting single case material (including music therapy assessment and evaluation as well as clinical data). The study supports the hypothesis that creative music therapy can help people in finding a different identity and another way to deal with life, including illness and pain.

Experiential workshop "Psychosomatic music therapy"*
Dr. Francesco Palmirotta, psychosomatic music therapist president of A.M.O. and A.O.P., Bari, Italy

*This paper was submitted by the author. It is based on the recording made in Buenos Aires July 1st, 1994
Abstract The author presents the cultural background underlying psychosomatic music therapy. During an experiential workshop he shows how certain typical South-American musical instruments may produce imageries (music therapy and guided imagery) and psychosomatic sensations among the people present. Psychosomatic music therapy is the wish to find again the sense of the psyche in the living individual itself. According to his method, a music therapy session consists of 3 or 4 stages, corresponding to the natural stages of REM sleep, in which the psychosomatic energy is restored. As an historical background of this primal intention of healing through music, the author mentions the philosophy of the ancient Greek. After playing the instruments, the members of the group are encouraged to express their feelings, which are then analyzed under the light of the psychosomatic music therapy approach.

Transcultural music therapy. Music, sound and movement in traditional healing practices of South- American indigenous cultures*
Dr. med. Gregorio Tisera, MD, PhD, MT, Head of the Music Therapy Department, Regional Center for Mental Health, University Psychiatric Hospital, Rosario, Argentina

*This paper was presented at the 8th World Congress of Music Therapy Hamburg, Germany, July 14-20, 1996. Members of the Round Table: Dr. med. Gregorio Tisera, Dr. Joseph Moreno, PhD, RMT-BC, and Dr. Chava Sekeles, PhD, OTR, RMT
Abstract In the healing traditions of South-American indigenous cultures sound and music play a very important role. In view of the general belief that most illnesses are due to charms or magic spells, the person capable of warding them off best would become the best healer. In this way the shaman was born, the person who took the first step against diseases in the long journey of the history of medicine becoming the therapist of our days. The shaman is a ritual specialist, man or woman, believed capable of communicating directly with spirit powers. A beautiful and typical example is described, the so called "machitún" ceremony among Araucanian Indians in Patagonia The woman shaman, called "machi", is the central figure in the religious life of this people. With the help of musical instruments she is able to announce the diagnosis and to predict the course of the disease. Traditional healing practices are centered upon symbolic actions, for symbols are of the utmost importance among these peoples. But while our symbols dematerialize, the primitive symbol is always concrete and allows acting through the mystical effect upon invisible forces. Only since psychotherapy came into deliberate and conscious use we have been able to understand one of the main reasons of success of medicine men. Their ceremonies are part of the common faith of the community in its entirety, people often attends the healing rituals and even takes part with singing and dancing. The whole weight of religion, of myths and the history of the tribe participates in the healing process, as well as the spirit of the community. This mobilizes strong psychical forces which are no longer present in modern society. Traditional healing practices satisfy a basic belief and certain metaphysical needs of mankind.

Music Therapy in Funcional and Psychosomatic Disorders*
Dr. phil. Rosemarie Tüpker, Dipl. MT, Coordinator of the Postgraduate Music Therapy Program, Wilhelm University of Westphalia, Münster, Germany

*This paper was submitted by the author.
Abstract This paper deals with a group of pacients whose primary disturbance was generally treated as something insignificant. 1. Clients with different pain conditions without sufficient physical findings. 2. Clients with changing disorders, with phobic or hypochondriac traits, with the psychodynamics of a hysterical syndrome, without a clear diagnosis of neurosis. 3. Clients who had undergone several operations without any results. The basic features of the methodological process can be externally described as alternating between verbalization, joint musical improvisation (client and therapist), and remaining silent. Individual and group music therapy, as well as a combination of both, are generally suitable in these cases. In music therapy we must first attain the restoration of the relationship between perception and reality, between the unavoidable violence of the pain sensation and the repressed psychological reality. Music therapy (combined with verbal therapy) is a psychological means in search of the disturbances and their relationship to the world, of the communication between body and soul, with oneself and with the world, which strives to express itself here through the pain, but at the same time hides behind the incomprehensibility of this means of expression. Summarizing: Music as therapeutic means may become a "translator" for everything psychological. The treatment aims at improving the possibilities of psychological development.

Making Instruments for Music Therapy
Dr. med. Gregorio Tisera, MD, PhD, MT, Head of the Music Therapy Department, Regional Center for Mental Health, University Psychiatric Hospital, Rosario, Argentina
José Báez, educator, principal of the workshop-school No. 76 "J.H. Pestalozzi", Rosario, Argentina

Abstract This paper endeavours to bring nearer the understanding of the activity "making instruments" in relation to music therapy. In order to develop activities promoting personal growth it is very important to motivate the participants. This work should be an opportunity for meeting, for interpersonal relationships, to stimulate a creative spontaneity, for leisure, for opening new fields of interest. The potential participants (11 years-old fifth-graders attending an elementary school with workshop) were motivated through a video showing ethnic african instruments. Cognitive, sensory-motor, and affective abilities and skills required for the action were assessed, studying the patterns of interaction during the process. During three consecutive school years (1994-96) the participants learned from this experience how valuable it is to keep as many spaces of growth and development open as possible.

Music and tragedy. An Approach to Music Therapy
Denis André Casagrande, M.D, psychiatrist, music therapist, composer Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

*This paper was submitted by the author.
Abstract Tragedy is here an existential category which refers to an inconditional declaration of life. Considering tragedy as category of the universal human being, and thus unseparable of human condition, a close link between music and our inner world (emotions) is established, which gives a representation, an object (music) to the inner world. In evidence of the very close relationship between arts and sciences, the studies of Abraham A. Moles show that the creative process of Albert Einstein (the discovery of relativity), is similar to what leads the artist to create a work of art. The author of this paper puts forward that facilitating the experience of the tragical content of a given individual or group in a musical context, we create a favorable environment, so that the participants in the process may take part, may assume the whole plot.

Working with Dreams in Integrative Music Therapy*
Dra. phil. Isabelle Frohne-Hagemann, BKM, DGMT, DGKT, DGIT, teaching music therapist, courses coordinator at the Fritz Perls Institute, Germany

*This paper was submitted by the author.
Abstract Integrative Music Therapy is a method of the "Integrative Therapy" with roots in psychoanalysis, in Gestalt therapy, and in psychodrama, based on an anthropological approach of the creative human being. Although the major means in Integrative Music Therapy is music, we work with all our senses, and with all creative possibilities. Our goal is to restore and stimulate the perceptual, mnemic, and expressive abilities still left at each one's disposal. In the dreams, our Ego projects aspects of what we perceive, memorize and express. We find the same mechanisms as in dreams in a music therapy improvisation. A dream is like a musical improvisation, a preverbal or original language. Integrative Music Therapy sessions follow what we call the "tetradic system". The therapeutic process can be divided, similarly to music, into four stages: exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda.

Receptive Music Therapy and Hypnosis. Effects on the Response to Drugs during the intra- and postoperative Periods*
Dr. Hugo Abel Bertucci, M.D., anesthetist Municipal Hospital and CIMCA Clinic, Cruz Alta, Argentina

*This paper was submitted by the author.
Abstract A receptive music therapy technique with hypnosis was used combined with general inhalatory anaesthesia in order to assess its effect on: depth of hypnosis, muscle relaxation, and post- operative analgesia. A double-blind, randomized and controlled method was applied. Thirty patients of both sexes aged 40-65 and weighing 50-90 kg undergoing different operations were randomly distributed in three groups, each submitted to hear a different tape: group "noise" to a recording of noises from the operating room; group "music" to soft classical music; and group "hypnosis" to recorded hypnotic induction and suggestions. The results seem to show that the use of a receptive music therapy technique with recorded hypnotic induction may influence favourably not only postoperative analgesia, but also the fasciculation produced by succinylcholine, and diminish the amounts of drugs needed in anaesthesia.

Musical developmental psychology and its possible meaning for music therapy*
Prof. Dr. Heiner Gembris, Musicology Seminar Münster University, Germany

*Original paper in German. Published in Musiktherapeutische Umschau. Translated by G.T. with permission from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktherapie (German Society for Music Therapy)
Abstract Developmental pyschology research into musical ability in very early childhood and in adulthood has led in recent years to fundamentally new perspectives. For some time Piaget's theory of development formed the basis of research into musical development, but more recently a number of music-system development theories have been presented. In particular, the symbol-system approach emphasizes that musical development proceeds relatively independently of general cognitive development. Several examples illustrate the potential implications of such findings for music therapy, and the author points out that music therapy might in some areas offer significant contributions to a developmental psychology of musical ability.

Words and Intonation in Psychotherapy
Prof. Dr. med. Raymond Battegay, professor of psychiatry and director of the University Psychiatric Polyclinic, Basel, Switzerland

*Paper submitted by the author in English. Translated by G.T.
Abstract Since biblical times music has been a means of influence on the soul. In Turkey (1481-1512), singers and musicians "reinforced" the spirit of the patients at the psychiatric hospital. Freud neglected in his "talking cure" the voice's pitch and intonation. Human "radiation" is linked with the voice. Reduced hearing can lead to social exclusion, to distrust and paranoid delusions; a cochlear implant may diminish these symptoms. In psychotherapy, it is possible to bring these patients back to communication and happiness. Psychotherapists should take into consideration the effects of their voice, wording and silence. Some therapists may not have the necessary vocal and verbal means, and they may have to train. Singing group psychotherapy in a psychiatric hospital may give a common hold, a general relaxation, a structuring of time, and an empathic doctor-patient relationship, being a positive influence on psychotherapy and on the ward atmosphere. Fairy tales, through symbols, open up the patients to their unconscious problems. Repetition of words, sentences and melodies may have a therapeutic effect. Voice and intonation in psychotherapy are much more intersubjective keys than often thought.

Body Language in Music Therapy
Dr. med. Gregorio Tisera, , M.D., psychiatrist, Head of the Music Therapy Department, Rosario, Argentina

Abstract Body language in music therapy is based on the idea that music therapy works on a predominantly non-verbal level. Interaction between clients and therapists take place mainly through a body-sound- musical language. Relatioships between body and psyche, emotional experiences which go along with bodily training, psychomotor and vegetative reactions to strong affective states, and somatic effects of repressing emotions, neurophysiology and experience of perception, are outlined. The aim of the training in Body Language is to strengthen and deepen perceptive and expressive capabilities, in order to be able to receive, to understand, and to use the non-verbal signs of the patients and of the therapist within a music therapy setting. Practical training includes mental, respiratory, relaxation, sensory-perceptive, and expressive exercises, in order to develop the awareness of own body, the ability of critical observation of others and self, creative and expressive ability. The mastering of the body language opens straight pathways for communication and interpersonal relationships. Body language reflects biological and cultural background and is conveyed through two kinds of bodily reactions: congenital and acquired reactions. They represent a generally accepted code. Territoriality, proxemics or the study of human behaviour in particular spacial zones are described. Every living thing has a non-physical limit, which encompasses what is called the territory of an organism. Distance categories represent ways of coding the amount of distance separating the placement of an object or event from the central core of the body.

Music Therapy. The Relationship between Music and Psychotherapy
Kimmo Lehtonen, Ph.D., Ass. Professor, Department of Education, Turku University; Editor-in-Chief of the Finnish Journal of Music Therapy, Coordinator of the Music Therapy Program, Jyväskylä University, Finnland

*Paper submitted by the author in English. Translated by G.T.
Abstract A metaphysical "theory", already presented by Aristotle, is examined from the perspectives of modern psychology of music and analytical psychology, paying special attention to the role of music in psychotherapy. Music is viewed as body language underlying symbolic functions, conveying unconscious information. In the approach of language philosophy, music is a non- discursive language which appeals to emotions, anchored in the world of experiences. It is a "body language" and "elicitor" of mental images, its "cosmic motility" derives from the early developmental stages, and contains a great deal of projective identification. Music is a way of giving shape to the world, as seen from existential philosophy. The "phenomenological method" is taken as a basis for music therapy in the treatment of psychic disturbances. The child acquires his symbolic ability through transitional objects, music among them. Musical creativity could be an attempt to solve an archaic conflict. A theory based on an interpretation of the developmental psychologies of Freud and Piaget is presented. Music as a transformation process where meaningful "interior" experiences gain a resounding external form. Relating music and psychoanalysis, it means integration of beloved object relationships, being part of the individuation process.

Training of Perceptive Processes in Group Dynamics
Prof. Ernst-Walter Selle, teaching music therapist, professor and co-founder of the Music Therapy Program in Heidelberg, Germany

*Original paper in German, submitted by the author. Translated by G.T.
Abstract The present paper deals with perceptual group dynamic processes in therapy groups coordinated by one or two therapists, without assigning much importance to the techniques involved. The experience of these processes stems mainly from the perception of one's own position within the group. Perceptual group dynamic processes are experiential phenomena which are always influenced by, or depend on social factors, i.e. the experience is shaped not only by aural and optical "stimuli", but also by motivations, expectations, and the social situation in its value of subjective experience. Perceptual group dynamic processes are therefore basic constituents which go together with every interaction and communication within the context of interpersonal relationships, stimulating and directing behavior, reflecting the sensitiveness and general condition. Through verbal or non-verbal communication of perceptions we have the possibility of transforming these processes into therapeutically positive factors, for oneself and for others in the group. We can go beyond the content of a verbal message and express via paraverbal communication what we have perceived, i.e. what we have experienced or felt in the relationship, and also in the feelings arising between group members. Even without acting, everyone contributes to the development of the situation and of the atmosphere of the group.

The Art of Music Therapy Improvisation. A Gestalt Psychologic Approach
Fritz Hegi, music therapist SFMT, founder of "bam" (post-graduate music therapy program), Zurich, Switzerland

*Original paper in German, submitted by the author. Translated by G.T.
Abstract Improvisation is the via regia of music therapy. Improvisation and Gestalt therapy meets at the continuum of conscience, in the free Gestalt formation developed in the process, during which homeostasis becomes driving force. Gestalt psychology states that every organism and every form carry in themselves a drive for completion. We find Gestalt phenomena in all improvisational processes, where the perception of a musical figure struggles towards the wholeness of a distinct Gestalt, or it becomes background. One of the effectiveness factors in music therapy is how, not what, because the relationship determines the music, not vice versa. The forms and rules of the game in improvisation is probing the limits of the other person. A music therapy improvisation points to the coincidence of three basic questions of the person: What does (s)he want? What does (s)he feel? What does (s)he do? The analysis of components states that individual parts of musical substance express more than the global impression of the improvisational process. The components rhythm, timbre, melody, dynamics and form can be analyzed methodologically and diagnostically using the concept of figure-background and the four basic categories of feelings. Patients lose rigid forms in order to find new ones, and artists find the right form because they had lost the rigid forms. Improvisation allows both processes to occur: losing the form and achieving the form.

Experiential Work as a Teaching Methodology in Music Therapy
Inge Nygaard Pedersen, MA, RMT, associate professor and coordinator of the Music Therapy Program, Institute of Music and Music Therapy, Aalborg University, Denmark

*Original paper in English, submitted by the author.
Abstract As a pre-experience for clinical work, the students in the music therapy program at Aalborg University, Denmark, are placed in the role of "student-clients" over the three years prior to be allowed to work with clients on a psychotherapeutic basis. The aims of the training are the following: 1. to increase the sensitivity and flexibility of the students ability for establishing contact and communication, 2. to work through traumatic blockings in order to develop more resources, 3. to develop techniques to confront transference and countertransference, 3. to develop techniques to analyze and recognize the therapist/client relationship in the areas: body, feelings, and consciousness, 4. to develop musical techniques to establish and develop contact with clients at different levels. As an example of training design, the work includes confronting phenomena such as parent representations, and pictures of self-identification and identification with others, and.also training in analyzing relationships in terms of stages in the mother/child relationship (in normal development). For example, stages which include the holding process, or the frustration process.
 

back to ADIMU´s home page in English

retorno a la página inicial de ADIMU en español