Experience of Self in Music Therapy

Author(s): Klemm, H.

Journal/Book: Musiktherapeutische Umschau. 1983; 4: Stuttgart. G. Fischer Verlag. 185-204.

Abstract: How close does man live to his true self, the self he both dreads and desires? Often we do not do what we really want to do. Many a sloughing process and a good deal of unconventional searching and activity are necessary if we want to get closer to our true selves. It is a question of recognising things that are already known to our inner selves. But this knowledge is not directly available to us, it can be disclosed in the course of a chain of events and experiences. Mind and will are the barriers that separate us from our true selves. Free musical improvisation gives us the opportunity to come face to face with ourselves, so long as we just "let things happen" in our playing, i.e. observe it attentively and consciously but without seeking to influence it. It is a matter of fresh involvement every time, of casting off the preconceptions on which we base our judgements, for example freeing ourselves from the idea of art and kitsch, good and bad music. We cannot achieve self-experience by wanting it, it comes about when the time is ripe and if we pursue this path.

Keyword(s): Improvisation, self-experience.

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