A qualitative research approach to analytical music therapy

Author(s): Frommer, Jorg, Tress, Wolfgang

Journal/Book: Music Therapy. 1993; 12: 59-84.

Abstract: Illustrates an interactive method of analyzing music therapy consistent with the treatment, using the procedure of triangulation (patient, therapist, independent describers). Three aspects of music-making are involved: participants' self-images as resonators, their ability to participate musically, and their perceptions of inner images. Five independent describers not trained in music therapy and patients were asked to listen to a recording of an improvisation from a music therapy session and to spontaneously and frankly describe what they heard. These accounts, along with the therapist's log of the improvisation, were analyzed, with qualities (subjective responses of listeners) and motifs (character of the music) compared to the clinical case study. Results showed interconnections among motifs identified by comparing participants' accounts to aspects of biography, psychodynamics, and treatment setting.

Note: interactive method for analysis of music therapy processes; clients & independent describers

Keyword(s): Music therapy; therapeutic processes; adulthood

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