Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

describes him or herself as ‘feeling like a mixed up child’, ‘standing at a crossroad,’
or ‘living in a concentration camp.’ The therapist may also try to use metaphors to
explore a situation or feeling, either by suggesting one, or by asking whether images
from previous sessions are pertinent.
In the induction, the task is to transform the core metaphor from the prelude into an
embodied induction image. Sometimes the core metaphor identified can be
incorporated into the relaxation, and sometimes it can be used as the starting image
itself. Many inductions themselves can be considered metaphors. For example, ‘tense-
release’ is not only a physiological procedure, but also a metaphor of holding and then
letting go of psychological tensions, thereby allowing oneself to explore the inner
world more easily. We may even say that an ‘altered state of consciousness’ is not
only a shift in brain wave frequency, it is also a metaphor for changing one’s mode of
mental operation.
In the music-listening period (metaphorically called the ‘journey’ or ‘travel’), the
primary task is to explore and elaborate the images and metaphors through both the
music listening experiences and the verbal dialogue. The music allows the images to
unfold and stimulates the client to interact with the imagery, assisted by the therapist's
interventions. The verbal report is very often, but not always, metaphorical, and the
therapist encourages the client to explore the metaphors (not the cognitive statements)
and to transform non-metaphoric statements into metaphoric. For example, when a
client says ‘My left elbow hurts!’ the therapist may encourage metaphoric processing
by asking ‘Does this feeling have a colour or sound?’ One of the reasons that the
music allows and assists the imagery is that music is metaphoric in itself (see section
3.6). As we saw in section 3.6.2, even such basic musical concepts as high and low
are (spatial) metaphors, and the musical parameters (melody, rhythm, harmony, form,
sound and so on) have metaphorical implications (Zbikowski 1998). Music is a
‘virtual soundscape’ (Christensen 1996), and a BMGIM ‘journey’ is a metaphoric
exploration of this soundscape.
The return to a normal state of consciousness is used to identify what images and
metaphors stand out as the most significant for the client. Mandala drawing, clay
work or creative writing may serve to summarize the client's experience in another
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