Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

• credibility and sincerity
• precision and shading
• organic yet complex features
A parallel characterization could be made of the main (dialogue) theme of the Bach
Concerto for Two Violins, 2nd movement or specific elements of other music
selections. They would all have a specific metaphoric profile. – In many of the music
listening periods analyzed in this study a dialogue is born between the musical entity
and the client. The specific outcome of such a dialogue cannot be predicted, but the
analyses show how the careful choice of music selections matching the participant’s
needs and level of experience may increase the options. Thus, the Heuristic Music
Analysis gives access to the field of existential and therapeutical meaning in music in
a unique way.
9.4.2.1 The intensity profile
The “Intensity profile” (IP) was proposed in section 8.3.2.4 as an easy to grasp
graphic representation of experiential features of a specific piece of music. The
profiles are meant to show especially how musical and psychological tension is built
and released and to inform the therapist whether there are experiential plateaus and
climaxes or peaks in the music. The IP was inspired by Helen Bonny’s “Affective
(program) contours” which function as graphic representations of the intensity
profiles of complete music programs. It was shown how the three categories of music,
“supportive”, “challenging” and “mixed”, had their specific typical intensity profile
(fig. 9.1).
In contemporary music psychology there is no consensus of what “intensity” in the
music experience is, how it can be measured or represented in graphs. The differences
between the exact, digital measures of what Lem calls the “Digitized wave-form” and
the IP was shown and discussed in relation to the analyzed movements of Brahms and
Bach. It is difficult to draw and validate an IP in an intersubjective perspective, yet I
am sure that music therapy researchers and clinicians need a tool of this type. The IP
can also be used as an effective tool to represent the intensity of therapist’s and
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