Proceedings, Oxford, UK (2002) - World Federation of Music Therapy

phenomenon which sums up our sound archetypes, the sounds we
experienced in the intra-uterine phase, at birth, in childhood, up to our
actual age” (Benenzon, 1998: 46). This definition leads directly to the
concept of sound identity, which is split up into various levels: gestalt or
individual, complementary, group, cultural, universal (for more details,
see the relevant publications)
In sessions of active music-therapy with patients, either as individuals or
in groups, it is important to take into account the sound identity of the
patients in its various aspects, ranging from the most original and
personal to those that form part of the wider relational context within the
therapy group, as well as those within a socio-cultural context, which
patients may well express through sound in one way or another. On the
part of the music-therapist, it is equally important to be aware of the
various levels of one’s own sound identity, in order to be able to use them
appropriately during the settings, first and foremost to avoid the risk of
projecting and imposing one’s own ISO onto the patients, through the
medium of sound, without achieving any creative or generative effect.
In music-therapy sessions, the use of sound-producing instruments is
regulated in specific ways for the music-therapist, which make the object
suitable to the therapy context. Benenzon describes the characteristics of
the intermediary object in these terms: “An intermediary object is an
instrument of communication able to act therapeutically on the patient
within a relationship, without giving rise to intense states of alarm”
(Benenzon, 1998: 56). To meet these requisites, the intermediary object
must have the following characteristics: “real and tangible existence;
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