Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

selections in the sounding questionnaire encompassed an optimum mix of qualities
within the parameters (e.g. jazz selections with differences in tempo, mood, power).
Selections were rated by 519 participants aged 14-80+ on two Likert scales – one on
familiarity (“How well do you know this kind of music?”), the other on preference
(“How do you like the music”). The result of the study revealed, that only two
parameters had significant influence on preference: Power (intensity); and Rhythm vs.
Melody/Harmony. Performance and Text may have a marginal influence, while
Mood, Tempo and Style has no influence on preference.
8.1.4 Qualitative methods used in GIM
In the years 1973-1989 Helen Bonny developed – or ”composed” – 18 GIM music
programs (Bruscia and Grocke 2002, app. B,; Grocke 2002a, 2002b; see also the
database GIM Music Programs on the cd-rom). In the so-called “‘Monograph #2“
Bonny (1978) described the therapeutic meaning of the specific musical elements and
designed a music-centered system of analyzing the music programs. Bonny identified
the following characteristic features of the music used in GIM sessions:
”1) the music is a catalyst for tension and release
2) the music is a container for the GIM experience
3) the music stimulates the flow and movement of the imagery
4) the music offers variability in the stimulus
5) the music conveys mood
6) the music is of the Western tradition of classical music” (see Grocke 1999, p. 149)
The features of tension and release, variability and mood are examined together with
the primary musical elements of pitch, rhythm/tempo, timbre and melodic line for
each music selection and for the program as a whole. These elements are primary,
because they carry specific metaphoric implications for the listener, e.g. changing
timbres may represent particular characters in the imagery experience. In the
monograph Bonny also presented her idea of the “‘Inner morphology“ of a music
program in graphic ‚affective-intensity profiles’ of selected programs. An example is
given below: The music progam Positive Affect.
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