Music Therapy
1988, Vol. 7, No. 1, 34-37
Music Therapy: Health Profession
or Cultural Movement?
EVEN RUUD
SENIOR LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF OSLO
The history of music therapy reveals that there has always been
someone able to translate new findings in any dominating philosophical
or scientific thought into a new rationale for the use of music to take
care of health and disease. This suggests that the current new concept
of science and reality which is evolving from the late movement toward
a paradigmatic change in the science of physics will be answered by
modification in the somewhat loose structure of music therapy theory.
This time, the paradigmatic change sounds promising to music therapy:
Since the whole universe is a vibrating, dancing organism, music and
sound really should have their historical opportunity to change
humankind.
The Science of Music Therapy
From a point of view of sociology of knowledge, it is understandable
that music therapy, when it first established itself among other uni­
versity disciplines in the fifties, had to depart from all kinds of meta­
physical or idealistic types of theory in order to gain respect in the
prevailing scientific community. But in creating the scienceof music
therapy, along with the professionof the music therapist, the question
of the general role and value of music in everyday life was handed over
to the music educator and the philosopher of music-as well as to the
music industry. The concept of music as therapy won much scientific
credibility but lost its historically important role as a field of knowledge
seeking to utilize music as a prime source of information about how
to live and relate to the universe.
Therapy:
A Strengthening
of the Mind
This more general approach to the role of music in relation to health
and illness can be illustrated with a few examples. One of the first ideas
we meet in the history of music therapy is a belief in music as a general
strengthener of the mind, a belief in the general prophylactic power
of music. We meet this medical model among the so-called prescientific
explanations where illness was thought to be caused by a worm or an
animal entering the body, such as the “chimera,” a fantasy animal with
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Health Profession or Cultural Movement?
35
the head of a lion and the tail of a snake. These ideas prevailed in ancient
Greece around the medical center of Epidauros, and cultural as well
as medical activities were built upon these beliefs. The ultimate goal
was to strengthen the mind so that the fantasy-animal could not enter.
(It is of note that this view has the same structure as our contemporary
bacteriological theory.)
Other ancient theories stressed illness as disharmony-either
spiritual, as in the lack of harmony in the pythagorian system; or as
inner disharmony between the body-humours, the so-called “humoral
pathology.” Music was thought to restore harmony, either because it
reflected the numbers of the macrocosmos (according to Pythagoras
or the “allopathic effect”) or because it cleansed the body through
cathartic activity (according to Aristotle and the “iospathic effect”).
Later in history these theories were elaborated and brought into align­
ment with existing medical and philosophical beliefs. In the seventeenth
century the mechanistic philosophy of Descartes, combined with the
affect theory of the music aesthetic of the Baroque period, laid the basis
for a theory of music therapy which stressed that the intervals of music
could expand or contract the spiritus animaleof the body and, therefore,
directly influence the state of the mind. Then a “vitalist conception”
in medicine stressed that illness did not have any material basis, but
was to be seen as a distraction of the life spirit. Music was thus justified
in therapy because of its ability to reach these pre-intellectual spheres
of the mind.
Throughout the nineteenth century, however, music lost much of its
general therapeutic power, in part because of the weakening of the con­
cept of dietetics in medicine, and in part because of the growth of the
positivist philosophy of science with its emphasis on the experimental
method or natural science-based procedures.
A New Romantic Conception?
Lately, a “romantic conception” of music as a universal kind of
therapy or peacemaker seems to have won popularity, due to such fac­
tors as changing concepts of science, a more holistic-based approach
to life, influences from other music cultures, and increased understand­
ing of the breakdown of linear logic or instrumental type of reasoning.
A recent change in the scientific climate appears to favor a paradigmatic
change also in the field of music therapy, where the emphasis is once
again put on the inherent qualities of music to effect change regardless
of the therapeutic interventions made by the therapist. A characteristic
feature of this view seems to be a belief that music can be an illustra­
tion of some of the basic characteristics of “universe,” “reality,” or
whatever we name the world “out there.”
Two rather opposite world views might be drawn as a consequence
of this holistic approach. In response to the weakness of rational
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Ruud
thought, some theorists have adopted a religious attitude beyond art
and science in order to seek a new understanding of reality. Such an
attitude may imply an understanding or a seeking of another reality
behind what is commonly known. One corollary of this view is a belief
that this “more real” reality, of which we all are a common part, can
be shared through music, for instance. Statements such as “music is
an ultimate leap”‘­ or that we all are part of a universal vibration2­
may derive from this interpretation. However, it is hard to see how this
universal partaking through music in this other reality could guarantee
peace, health, and harmony, unless there are some outer forces which
intervene in the more trivial affairs which disrupt our life. And if there
are not any such directive forces, this view is more mechanistic (rather
than holistic) than the most hard-core, natural science music therapy.
So, instead of asking if music represents another kind of reality, a
reality which is “more real” and more conducive to producing health,
we ought to be asking what kind of mythology is producing this kind
of ideology. And further, is this mythology useful in promoting health?
Perhaps it is. If the mentality of the question implies a more holistic
outlook toward health, that is, views the issue of health not only as
a biological question, but also as a matter concerning the personal as
well as the societal and economic aspects of humankind; if the new
mentality means sticking to an anti-reductionist attitude-that is, a way
of preserving the complexity of the question concerning the influence
of music upon people-and the use of this influence in a therapeutic
discourse, then we might be able to use music in a more prophylactic,
preventive way. But this means a new reading of the music therapy
situation, a semiotic approach which deconstructs the cultural/morpho­
logical meaning constructed in the situation as a part of departure for
the understanding of music (in music therapy).
Reality as Constructed
The opposing world view would also agree that reality is “more than
what is given,” but would argue that we do not have any direct access
to this reality except through language. Each time we try to say
something about this world, or about music, we are constituting the
world. We are constructing the world through re-presenting our sensa­
tions through our culturally derived language system. This means that
not have any way of knowing what music really is. All we have
aesthetic outlooks, that is, data about views about music.
(Among the more prevalent in music therapy are the ones fabricated
by acoustics.)
‘Refer to Yehudi Menuhin’s quotation cited in the editor’s letter of invitation, page 5.
‘Refer to the physicist’s quotation cited in the editor’s letter of invitation, page 5.
Health Profession or Cultural Movement?
37
Music is a culturally derived phenomenon; it is a way of organizing
vibrations; it is coded sound. While vibrations may be universally felt,
understanding music implies knowing the codes or manner of representa­
tions prevalent in the culture, which also means knowing the culture.
This means there can be no mechanistic translation of vibrations into
preprogrammed ideas or actions. There is not a universal program writ­
ten which directs the representation of vibrations into definite mental
concepts.
The Aesthetic Impact
One of the primary functions of music, in general, is to make an
impact. Due to its indefinable aesthetic nature, or sometimes merely
to its sound presence, the experience of music may transcend the
culturally and verbally prescribed code written into the music. The
polysemic nature of music sometimes forces us to open up non­
investigated areasof body and consciousness. This increased awareness,
combined with thought and reflection, may help us construct new
categories-new glasses, as it were-through which to meet the world.
And if this increased awareness includes not only aspects of mind and
body, but also a new awareness of our relation to nature-as well as
our place in society, culture, and world community-there is a hope
that the experience of music may lead to personal change. But there
is still no guarantee that personal change will lead to actions with the
intent of changing the political and economic order which maintains
and balances power and ideology at the edge of disaster.
The author wishes to thank Carolyn Kenny far commentsand help with the editing.
Even Ruud, Ph.D., RMT, coordinator of the first music therapy training program in
Norway, holds a master’s degree, as well, in musicology He is a senior lecturer at the
University of Oslo, Norway, where he also teachescoursesin systematic musicology, music
and media, and music education. Chairperson of the Norwegian Association for Music
Therapy, he has also served as editor of the Norwegian journal Musikktempi. He is author
of the book Music Therapy and Its Relationship to Current TreatmentTheoriesand is editor
of the book Music and Health. His lectures and presentations at world symposia and
congresses have gained him international recognition.