Communication, Heart Rate and the Musical Dialogue

Author(s): Aldridge, D.

Journal/Book: British Journal of Music Therapy. 1998; 12: 46-52.

Abstract: This article is concerned with a psychological investigation into what happens when two people play music together in a situation that is similar to that of music therapy. Active music therapy is a process of dialogue, with both therapist and patient as part of one musical process. In evaluations of music therapy the musical process is often emphasised, although the question remains as to what effect this musical process has on the body of the patient. In this paper we take this question one step further by asking what effect the musical process has on both partners in the process of playing improvised music. Such a perspective is not trivial. We expect that the therapeutic contact influences both therapist and patient. At the end of this paper we will hypothesise about the ramifications of this idea for other clinical encounters. It is important, in explaining the benefit of music therapy to others, to know what happens when people improvise music together. Our intention is to be able to demonstrate the influence music therapy has on the physiology of the patient and the therapist. This is to accept not only the ramifications music has for mental well-being but also the physical effect that music therapy has on the patient's body. While music can be demonstrated to have a direct physical effect on the body, it is organisation, the non-material aspect, that is vital to communication both within the person and between persons (Aldridge 1996a). However, the ground from which we will argue is that music has the ability to bring about physical changes in the human body, an understanding that has been in our culture since antiquity (aldridge 1993)

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