Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

Bonny found that the musical elements with the strongest influence on the therapeutic
process of the listener was: “pitch, rhythm and tempo, vocal/instrumental mode,
melody and harmony, timbre” and mood (Bonny 1978/2002 p. 302; Grocke 2002, p.
95).
In the grounded theory of how specific musical elements influence the imagery,
suggested in table 8.9 “mood, form, volume/dynamic change and melodic
conciseness” are considered the most influential elements. The differences may be
due to the fact that Bonny’s appraisal of the musical elements was seen in the
perspective of a complete program, while my appraisal was seen in the perspective of
a single musical selection. I do not see them as in conflict with each other; on the
other hand I think Bonny underestimated the element of form as a narrative matrix.
Form (or structure) was actually included as an important element in Bonny’s
lectures, as documented by this transparency sheet 72 , which also is a link to the
SMMA.
Table 9. 3 Musical Elements to listen for in the GIM tapes (Bonny)
1. TEXTURE: harmonic/melodic
2. TENSION/RELEASE: Dynamics, Amplitude – loud/soft
3. MOVEMENT: Tempo – fast/slow, Time – Rhythm Patterns. Directionality
4. MOOD/MODE Happy/Sad/Exalted. Consonance/Dissonance
5. STRUCTURE: Style/Form. Simple/Complex. Repetition/Diversity
6. TONAL: Resonance/Timbre. Instrumental/Vocal Colour. Volume
7. PITCH: High/low. Intervals
8. SYMBOLIC/ASSOCIATIONAL: Images. Memory
9. EMBELLISHMENTS: Rests/No sound. Legato/Pizzicato
10. COMPOSER’S INTENT: Movements. Performance Cues.
72 From the Bonny Archives at Temple U. Found in a folder with transparency sheets used in Bonny’s
music lectures
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