Music Therapy
1991,Vol. 10, No. 1, 77-98
The Voice of the Forest: A Conception of
Music for Music Therapy’
KENNETH AIGEN
RESEARCH DIRECTOR, NORDOFF-ROBBINS
MUSIC THERAPY CLINIC, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY;
ADMINISTRATIVE
CONSULTANT. CREATIVE ARTS
REHABILITATION CENTER, INC.; NEW YORK CITY
An adequate conception of music therapy demands a view of
music specific to the clinical milieu. The view of music promoted
herein has implications for training, research, and clinical prac­
tice in music therapy as it contributes to a conceptual worldview
for music therapists. Because contemporary philosophy of
science suggests that such a worldview is a necessary component
of a progressive research tradition, its importance for music
therapy is made apparent.
Discussing issues of definition and function, the present
author argues that exploring the original functions of music can
shed light on the mechanisms of clinical music therapy process.
This original function is seen in shamanic and other ritual uses
of music that contain analogues to the clinical milieu.
A personal vision of music is offered that connects these
thoughts on shamanism and its relevance for therapy to current
psychological and ecological crises. A unique role for music
therapy is proposed in regards to these contemporary ills.
Once, flying over the American midwest, I was struck by the contrast
between the straight and direct lines of the plowed fields, and the
curved, indirect meanderings of the rivers crossing these fields. My
initial reaction was to denigrate the linear, “shortest distance between
two points,” logically produced lines, and to elevate the “natural,”
curved lines that seemed to follow the whims of the river, unguided by
any utilitarian purpose.
Yet, as I recalled that geologists have actually devised formulae for
describing the various curves and paths of rivers, I realized that the lines
1Someof the ideas developed in this article were originally presented in
author’s unpublished master’sthesisentitled “Sacro-magical Aspects of Music
Therapy, New York University, 1984.
78 Aigen
described by the flow of the rivers were themselves guided by an inner
logic. The river is also guided by logic, although it is not a logic that is
rigidly linear, but is instead one that molds to the quality of the land in
shaping and transforming the contours in which the river flows.
The structure of this article follows the meandering logic of the river,
subsuming our capacity for linear reasoning to the “contour of the land”
I wish to explore, comprising the connection between my clinical ex­
perience as amusic therapist andthe deep feelings of reverence for music
and nature that I possessand notice in other music therapists. Although
this exploration takes us through a variety of areas that may seem only
peripherally related, in fact each step along the way is guided by and
integral to the effort to gain a greater understanding of the phenomenon
of music, our tool of choice as music therapists.
The Importance of a Conception of Music for Music Therapy
An adequate rationale and explanation for the mechanisms involved
in clinical music therapy process requires an adequate formulation as to
the nature of music itself. I say this not because I believe that music
therapy is a hybrid profession that should be defined merely by addi­
tively combining
definitions
of its components, music and
psychotherapy; instead, I believe we should formulate a view of music
that reflects the status of music therapy asa unique and singular domain,
not necessarily limited by traditional, global characterizations of its
constituents. Amongst other considerations, such a view must be ade­
quate to account for the transformative processes effected by clinical
interventions.
Yes, we do talk, move, sit in silence and, of course, both listen to and
create music in a music therapy session. Yet all of these activities acquire
a unique significance in the context of a music therapy session-a setting
where two or more individuals are gathering with the specific intent of
enhancing human contact or personal transformation through music.
The intent of the participants in a music therapy session defines and
orients both the verbal and nonverbal processes comprising the session
in a manner that is not reducible to the significance of these activities in
fundamentally different contexts, such as that of verbal psychotherapy
or a musical performance. Thus, there is the need to understand music
specifically-and solely-in terms of the uses it is put to in the context
of music therapy process.
In order to do justice to this process, our view of music must stand on
its own, independent of existent psychological rationales. If we begin
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 79
with a psychoanalytic conception of music, for example, as an ego-syn­
tonic vehicle for expressing taboo and other repressed emotions, then
other clinical functions of music-possibly
of more primary clinical
significance-will be obscured or distorted. Taking such nonindigenous
perspectives as a starting point unnecessarily biases and limits our
empirical discoveries regarding the salient elements of creative music
therapy practice. Once we abandon the intellectual exercise of superim­
posing psychological systems on music therapy process, we must look
elsewhere for a conceptual basis of music.
Conceptions of Music: Definition vs. Discovery
There are a variety of cognitive strategies we can employ in gaining
a more complete understanding of a particular phenomenon. When a
concept or property is acknowledged to be a human creation, we typi­
cally struggle with devising an adequate definition of it, delimiting its
realm of use in terms of other words. Words such as “freedom,” “chair,”
and “piano” represent human artifacts whose realm of application is
decided by convention. Their existence is defined by, and depends upon,
human intentions.
On the other hand, other types of entities are said to be discovered;their
nature is not arbitrarily determined by a human agency, but rather the
light of awareness-intellectual,
affective, or spiritual-is brought to
bear on a phenomenon existing independently of the human agency.
That the land mass referred to by the word “America” existed prior to
Columbus’ “discovery” is obvious; in no way can the existence of the
referent of this word be said to be a matter of convention. Yet the
definition of the word-its delimitation in terms of other words or
representations (such as a map)-is something that is decided. America
is discovered; the boundary delimited by “America” is defined.
When we look at scientific laws and concepts, however, the issue is
not so clear. Certainly, the nature of planetary orbits was not dependent
upon the astronomer Kepler’s formulation of their paths aselliptical. Yet
what is not apparent is whether Kepler’s mathematical formulation was
somehow “out there” waiting to be discovered, or was rather created by
the human intelligence capable of thinking in mathematical terms. There
are good arguments on both sides of the issue as to whether scientific
laws can best be characterized asbeing discovered, or are better charac­
terized as human creations, thus existing as objects of definition. (Of
course all words are defined, not just those referring to human artifacts.
My point here is that the referent of “chair” is decided by convention;
80 Aigen
presumably, the referent of “atom” is determined by the structure of the
universe.)
This issue is important for music therapists in considering whether
the nature of music-as seen in the context of music therapy-is some­
thing more appropriately approached through definitional efforts or
those more typical of acts of discovery. Is music a purely human con­
vention whose nature we define according to arbitrary and pragmatic
considerations, or do the processes characteristic of musical creation
contain a universal essence existing apart from our considerations of
them? Another way of phrasing this question is to ask whether music is
merely a human artifact or whether music possesses an extra-human
source or significance.
Of course, the words “music therapy” will ultimately require defini­
tion; what needs to be determined is the source of this definition. If we
look at music therapy as an artifact, we can describe what music
therapists do and reach a consensus on the meaning of “music therapy.”
Alternately, if we believe that there are some inherent organic,
psychological, or symbolic processesessential to music therapy, then we
will need to define it based upon discovering these essences.
The way that eachof usaddressestheseissueswill certainly influence how
we conceptualize ourclinical practice and, hence,what directions and tech­
niques we believe are most important for the development and progress of
both researchand training in music therapy. This is true whether our answer
is explicitly formulated or, instead, remains as a tacit component of each of
our individual matrices of beliefs about music therapy.
Bruscia (1987) introduces a distinctionbetween the discipline ofmusic
therapy and the profession of music therapy that can be helpful in
approaching the question of how best to define music therapy. “The
discipline is an organized body of knowledge pertaining to the
therapeutic applications of music; the profession is an organized group
of people who work in the field” (p. 26). I would like to briefly expand
upon this distinction, though in so doing I make no claim that this
elaboration upon Bruscia’s insight is completely consonant with his
original formulation.
Music therapy-as a profession--is something that we can define.
Professional standards and responsibilities, educational competencies,
certification criteria, acceptable forms of practice, and the function of
accrediting bodies all reflect social agreements and play a role in being
a music therapist. We decideupon these things by establishing a com­
munity consensus of interested professionals.
Yet underlying the profession is apractice, or discipline, whosenature
and essencewe discover.Music has been used throughout human history
A Conception of Music for Music Therapy 81
to promote physical well-being and spiritual and emotional develop­
ment. The reasons why music has this ability must be discovered
through empirical research on clinical practice, aswell as through cross­
cultural historical inquiries into the universal significance of musical
activity. The processes operative in this realm exist independently of
specific cultural and social exigencies, such as the need for professional
regulation and the institutionalization of training.
Functions and Uses: Explanatory Considerations
I have argued elsewhere (Aigen, 1991) that traditional research in
music therapy has been limited and led astray by fundamental miscon­
ceptions regarding the locus of effect of music therapy process. Gaining
a true understanding of the personal transformation characteristic of
therapeutic growth necessitates that our explanatory efforts go beyond
categories and concepts like client, therapist, health, illness, and clinical
intent. “These elements are the supportive social edifice that allow and
enable the transformative process to occur, but they do not provide the
impetus upon which the process turns” (Aigen, 1991,p. 235). The social
structure in which music therapy process takes place functions to ensure
the integrity of treatment-through
establishing a context of profes­
sional regulation and responsibility-but
these “components of the
enabling social structure are not themselves the agents of change”
(Aigen, 1991, p. 245).
Thus, in our research efforts, we have made the mistake of attributing
explanatory significance to the components of the professionof music
therapy-the realm that we define through convention-rather
than
looking to the elements of the discipline. The fundamental elements of
the discipline lie buried and await discovery in the intuitions, actions,
and tacit knowledge of our most gifted music therapists.
Because I believe that in music therapy we are rediscovering the very
function for which music was created, illuminating the transformative
processesoperative in the clinical milieu will then allow us to distinguish
between arbitrary usesof music and manifestations of the original func­
tion of music. Central to what follows, then, is the idea that to understand
music therapy process is to understand the original purpose of creating
music.
This is not an unproblematic approach, and some may not want to
accept that music has any one defining function, distinguishable from
all of its possible uses. Yet it does make senseto distinguish between the
function of an artifact and some arbitrary use to which it is put. For
82 Aigen
example, a piano can serveasa picture stand, and thus one of its uses can
be identified as a piece of furniture; yet no one would say that serving
as a piece of furniture is a piano’s function.
Similarly, a hammer can be used as a doorstop, though this does not
mean that ahammer is a doorstop. Becausethese artifacts are undeniably
the product of aparticular intention, and we can uncontroversially assert
the nature of the designer’s intent, we can easily distinguishbetween the
fundamental function of these objects and the incidental uses that they
may serve.
Music itself can be put to a number of uses:to provide reinforcement
in a behavioral research study; to serve as a projective device for
psychoanalytic diagnosis; to encourage us to spend more money at the
supermarket; to “soothe” us while waiting on the telephone. Yet, I would
argue that none of these are tapping the essential function of music. To
seek for the function of music necessitates transcending theborders and
arbitrary constraints of our particular culture and considering more
perennial themes.
We can talk without controversy about the functions of artifacts in
instances where the designer's intent is clear. However, I would like to
argue that music is not merely an artifact. Music is essentially an activity
that owes its clinical efficacy to extra-human considerations, and we can
therefore discuss its essential function without invoking the intent of its
“designer.” Allow me to briefly support this somewhat unconventional
stance.
In considering the human hand, we can observe that one use of the
hand is to communicate through sign-language, while at the same time,
acknowledge that the hand’s ability to grasp objects has determined its
form and survival value. Because the grasping ability of the hand has
determined its structure, survival value, and very existence, it is ap­
propriate to consider the ability to grasp objects to be the function of the
human hand, although the ability to sign (or to manipulate a computer
or piano keyboard) are still important uses.
Once we accept the argument that studying the structure of a
phenomenon can enable us to discern its function from other incidental
uses, the way is open to approaching the question of the function of
music from an investigation of its essential structure, and the structure
of the experience of musical creation. In neither case do we need to
appeal to the presence of a designer in order to gather the implications
of the design. Because music exists as a product of evolution, discussing
the function of music-although
posing practical difficultiesis
as
legitimate as discussing the purpose of the hand or heart, parenting and
migratory instincts, courtship behaviors, and any other organ, psychic
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 83
structure, or behavior that enhances survival.
Key to understanding the purpose of music is to seehow it enhances
the conditions for life. Because music therapy is oriented toward estab­
lishing, maintaining, and improving one’s health and general function­
ing, it is a life-enhancingactivity. A global conception of music must then
offer a rationale regarding the origins and characteristics of music that
endow it with such abilities.
Before proceeding, I would like to address an objection that may be
arising in the reader. This relates to my claim regarding the facilitation
of personal transformation as the essential function of music. I acknow­
ledge that any claim regarding the function of music cannot go beyond
a specific explanatory context. That is, an historian of religion, an
economist, and a communications expert might all derive different
functions of music based upon their level of analysis, that is, the ques­
tions they are asking and the conceptual tools they are working with.
What I am arguing, then, is not that music has only one essential
function, but that adequate theories and explanations in music therapy
must relate to the function of music most relevant to music therapy. And
we can only discern this function by distinguishing between the in herent
structures of music and musical experience and the incidental properties
of music.
While engaged in music therapy process, the music therapist is living
in music, infusing him/herself into the music while simultaneously
allowing the music to penetrate his/her being. To articulate a view
regarding the nature of music-encompassing the nature of the domain
we function in as music therapists-is to then contribute to the construc­
tion of a worldview for music therapy. Before exploring the components
of this perspective, I will briefly discuss the function of such a worldview
for science and research in general, thus establishing the relevance of the
present article for music therapy theory.
The Need for a Worldview for Music Therapy
Among the many descriptive entities offered by philosophers of
science to account for the unity of scientific communities are Thomas
Kuhn’s (1970) “paradigm” and Larry Laudan’s (1977) “research tradi­
tion.” Both philosophers attribute to their respective concepts the role of
providing scientists with a metaphysical basis for their research efforts.
A paradigm comprises the community’s “characteristic set ofbeliefs and
preconceptions.. . including instrumental, theoretical and metaphysical
commitments” (Kuhn, 1977, p. 294), and a research tradition supplies
84 Aigen
the researcher‘with “an ontology which specifies.. the types of entities
which exist in the domain” (Laudan, 1977,p. 79), as well as the permis­
sible modes of interaction of these entities. Empirical problems must
then be framed in, and reduced to, the constructs provided by this larger
worldview.
By sanctioning certain working assumptions-both
metaphysical and more practical ones-these global perspectives allow
for the conduct of everyday research.
Since no explanation of an event or phenomenon can be completely
self-contained, it is apparent that the activity of science actually requires
the employment of indemonstrable metaphysical beliefs. What contem­
porary philosophy of science has to teach, then, is that explanation is
only possible when offered in relation to an epistemological and on­
tological background whose validity must be assumed. This claim has
overturned the traditional view of science-advocated by adherents of
logical positivism-which
held that the scientist’s work was free of these
sorts of subjective, unprovable judgments.
In music therapy a variety of these larger worldviews have been
offered as frameworks within which to conceptualize clinical music
therapy processes. In certain instances these worldviews have been
explicit and preceded a specific theoretical formulation-such
as Mad­
sen, Cotter, and Madsen Jr.‘s (1968) advocacy of behaviorism-and
in
other places the larger worldview has been presented as a component
of a specific theory. Each of these following perspectives is drawn from
one particular use of music in the clinical milieu. (Note that placement
in any particular category is not meant to exclusively characterize any
of the following theorists, but to suggest that important componentsof
their theory can be so described):
The demands of musical interaction as an integrator of sen­
sory and cognitive processes guides the formulations of
Alvin (1978) and Orff (1974).
Gaston (1964, 1968) considers the biological foundation of
musical and aesthetic experience to be the starting point for
theoretical rationales for music therapy treatment.
Music asa form of nonverbal expression that either accessesthe
source of, or circumvents the limitations of, pathology can be
seen in the theoretical rationales of Priestley (1975), Tyson
(1981), and Nordoff and Robbins (1977). (The observed iso­
morphism between music and emotions has also played an
important role in other aspectsof Nordoff and Robbins’ work.)
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 85
The last perspective offered here-taking a variety of for­
mulations-involves
examining the uses of music as a
transpersonal force. Esoteric spiritual rationales for music
therapy relate the common vibrational essence shared by
music and living beings and can be seen in the music healing
and toning literature (Keyes, 1973; Khan, 1962). Priestley
(1987) discusses the role of music in constellating archetypal
personality constituents. Broucek (1987) looks at music
therapy treatment in the context of holistic approaches to
health. Bonny (1978) discusses the significance of music in
facilitating self-exploration through evoking deeper states of
consciousness. Kenny (1982) has shown how music provides
for the instantiation of mythical forces of transformation
through engagement in ritual.
There is currently great interest in this latter, related group of perspec­
tives, particularly in shamanism, ritual, and their relation to clinical
process in music therapy, as well as to the other creative arts therapies.’
Ibelieve that this interest, within music therapy at least, is due to the fact
that shamanic forms of healing, as well as other ritual uses of music,
represent the first efforts to effect self-transformation through music. In
music therapy then, we are rediscovering this original function of music.
In this article I attempt to show how the shaman’s work is analogous
to that of the music therapist. If this is true, then understanding the
nature of shamanic work-and the mechanisms of its contemporary
manifestation in music therapy-will
illuminate the most basic and
universal level of clinical process. In adapting this quasi-anthropological
approach, we are beginning from a psychologically neutral specification
of the nature of music3 Therefore, we can see that the significance for
music therapy of understanding shamanic and ritual activity lies not in
the application of yet one more extrinsic conceptual scheme to music
therapy process, but instead is to be found in the manner by which
essential and universal characteristics of musical activity are thereby
rendered prominent.
2 SeeArts in Psychotherapy,
Vol. 15,No. 4,Winter 1988.
86 Aigen
Iwould like to add to this discussion, contributing to the metaphysical
rather than the more practical component of the previously discussed
worldview. The viewpoints expressed above answer “How” questions:
They provide mechanisms and techniques for using music in a certain
way, guided by the basic assumptions of the particular theorist. I would
prefer to discuss a “Why” question: Why do we find music to be such a
powerful vehicle for achieving health--spiritual, emotional and physi­
cal-and, thus, why is it life enhancing?
Rather than look at the current interest in shamanic forms of healing,
ritual, and collective forces by music therapists as epi-phenomena of
larger cultural movementssuch asholism or alternative health care-I
suggest that we instead look at the nature of music itself to determine the
source and significance of this interest. Without being limited by the
need to support either an extrinsic worldview or a specific empirical
formulation, we can approach the phenomenon of music on its own terms
and thereby facilitate the emergence of indigenous and progressive
research and treatment (Aigen, 1991). In offering this global charac­
terization of music, I hope to fuel and stimulate thought by other music
therapists about our chosen medium-a powerful tool for establishing
deeper contact with others and thereby discovering greater meaning in
life.
The Nature of Ritual
An understanding of shamanic and ritual uses of music requires some
understanding of the psychological and social functions of ritual in
general. One important function of ritual activity, particularly relevant
to the present discussion, is that it allows the participants to enter into
relation with the unseen forces that control events in both the inner
(psychological) and outer (social, physical) world. In pre-technological
societies ritual was oriented toward preventing and curing psychologi­
cal and spiritual maladies, aswell astoward ensuring bountiful harvests,
hunting, and favorable conditions for the maintenance of life.
Fears of the unknown were lessened and a sense of mastery was
attained through acquiring knowledge of such hidden forces. In addi­
tion, the individual’s social and emotional growth was facilitated
through the participation in sacred rites that marked the various stages
of the eternal life cycle. In this way the individual’s natural psychological
resistance to change was overcome as the instinctual energy released
through sacred activity was put in the service of the inner impetus
toward development.
A Conception of Music for Music Therapy
87
In contemporary industrialized society we have lost the sense of our
life passages as a reflection of the sacred, and thus our rituals have
become emptied of their true meaning and significance. The words
associated with ritual have gained a pejorative connotation, aswhen one
describes an autistic child’s behavior as “ritualistic,” implying that the
behavior is repetitiously engaged in and denuded of meaning; or when
the word “myth” is used to imply something is false. The psychological
truth of myth is denied when its events are denigrated-and considered
false-because the events so described are not literally true.
Psychotherapy, as a phenomenon of our contemporary technological
culture, has evolved in response to the psychic distress caused by the
emptying of rituals and the resultant disconnection from instinctual
sources of power, wisdom, and integration. The myths of a group reflect
the desires and needs of its members, thus giving form to the shared,
communal experience. The individual’s life is endowed with meaning
through the answers such myths provide to perennial existential con­
cerns.
In psychotherapy we create our own rituals and myth-in essencea
“personal mythology.” Our inner life-combining both our communal,
psychological legacy, and the specifics of our personal and unique
experience-is given an outer form and meaning through current ac­
tions and expressions, and the myth created by the account of our
psychological and developmental origins. It is important to remember
that characterizing our ownemotional history as myth is not to denigrate
its importance; it is to emphasize that the symbolic, psychological truth
of such memories is more important than the literal truth of the actual
events recounted.
In music therapy we are given the opportunity to create external
forms, that is, musical structures, whose purpose is to manifest and
provide a field for interaction with the “unseen realm” comprising our
affective and spiritual selves. The forms thus created can be extremely
powerful agents for transformation as they are reflections of each
individual’s unique experience in life. On the other hand, they lack the
communal energy and impetus carried by social rituals, and thus there
is a trade-off in transformative efficacy between the iso-morphism of the
ritual form with one’s unique psychological reality (characteristic of
psychotherapy), and the ability to draw from the transpersonal forces
present in group ritual. What is most important is the similarity between
the function of the therapist in therapy and the shaman in ritual in
facilitating the manifestation of otherwise hidden forces and entities.
88 Aigen
The Function of the Shaman
The shaman is considered a “wounded healer” who must undergo
extreme deprivation, suffering, and demanding rites of passagein order
to acquire his/her designation. Since the forces that control the inner and
outer worlds are the same, the shaman is the guardian of both the
psychologicaland the ecologicalequilibrium of his/her social group. The
shaman does this by traveling to unseen realms, encountering demons
and monsters who are battled with, and gods and tutelary spirits who
share their wisdom. These experiences enable the shaman to function as
a guide for the individual undergoing healing. Communal and in­
dividual healing is effected through the nature of these interactions. For
the maintenance of life, it is imperative that both the individual, and the
tribe as a whole, maintain appropriate relationships with the entities in
these hidden realms (Halifax, 1982).
In a psychodynamic sensewe can look at the shaman’s unseen realm
as what we might describe as the personal and collective unconscious.
The shaman is an ally, coaxing out and providing manifestations of the
hidden parts of the psyche. The shaman facilitates constructive interac­
tions with these elements, encouraging the “client” to do battle with and
overcome deep fears, to learn from archetypal sources of wisdom repre­
senting one’s true-and often repressed-self, thereby promoting a
healthy relationship among the various psychic structures. As a
wounded healer, the shaman cannot guide or facilitate another’s
therapeutic transformation or growth without having undergone the
therapeutic process him/herself.
All of this is not to say that the shaman is “really” manifesting hidden
parts of the psyche in the guise of contacting external entities. What I
believe this psychodynamic interpretation of shamanic healing consists
of is a translation between ontologically equivalent worldviews. In this
view, contemporary taxonomies of psychological structures-consist­
ing of entities such as the superego, id, shadow, anima, parent ego state,
inner child, etc.-function merely as our contemporary mythology.
These are the ways that we conceptualize and gain a sense of mastery
over the hidden realms of the human mind and spirit. Yet I would hold
that attributing an individual’s actions to the influence of a vengeful
superego, for example, is not inherently more objective or rational than
attributing the same action to the power of a wrathful demon or spirit.
One might hold that, while the shamanic perspective attributes
causality to external, supernatural agents, the psychological perspective
explains human actions based on internal entities subject to natural
influences, and thus reflects an explanatory stance of enhanced
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 89
rationality. Yet this argument assumes a metaphysical duality between
the human individual and the natural world that is not characteristic of
shamanic peoples.
For the shaman, the environment is emotionally alive, and the forces
and entities of the external world are seen as simultaneously residing in
theindividual (Halifax, 1982). The gods,demons, andtutelary spirits are
no more external entities than are contemporary conceptions like ego or
anima. The strong senseof identification with the natural world renders
a purely dualistic rationality (between self and other) inadequate as a
source of evaluation for the shamanic world view. Understanding this
identification is an integral part of understanding the shaman’s relation­
ship to musical instruments and their use in ritual.
The Symbolism of Musical
Instruments
in Shamanic Ritual
In pre-technological societies an important fact about the instruments
is that they were formed from once-living substances: Consider the
gourds used in making rattles, the wood used as resonators in percus­
sion and string instruments, and the skins used as vibrators in drums.
Instruments are sacred objects to the shaman (Eliade, 1959), literally
“bodies of the gods” whose use is dedicated to religious and sacro-magi­
cal purposes (Rudhyar, 1982,p. 119). Moreover, the entities manifested
by the shaman appear as various forms of plant and animal life. Thus,
the shaman’s activities invoke the presence of these entities, summoning
them-and providing a field for their manifestation-through
instan­
tiating their voice and physical presence through music and movement.
It is not individual beings that the shaman contacts, but the primordial
spirit of the particular species-what Eliade (1964) refers to as the
“theriomorphic ancestor” (p. 170) akin to Jung’s concept of the ar­
chetype.
These animal spirits represent the individual’s instinctual energy and
capacity for transformation or, in a therapeutic sense, the capacity for
growth and change. The plant spirits typically represent both wisdom
and revelation, as well as the source of life energy. This is most clear in
the concept of the “world tree” from which the shaman takes his/her
drum. Such a tree functions as the source of the community’s life and
psychic energy and also serves asits connection with the three realms of
existence-spirit world, physical plane, and underworld-to
which the
shaman’s music provides access (Eliade, 1964; Halifax, 1982). This tri­
partite division of the external world is mirrored in the psychological
realm. (Consider Freud’s id-ego-superego, or Jung’s consciousness-per-
90 Aigen
sonal unconscious-collective unconscious.) Music, having its source in
the world tree, is seen as that which unites these realms, just as in a
psychodynamic sense,music functions asan integrator ofdiverse psychic
structures and processes.
Parallels Between Ecological and Psychological Functioning
Thus, for shamanic peoples, a healthy psychological state is indistin­
guishable from a healthy ecological one: A life in harmony with natural
forces and drives creates a balance in both realms. A healthy spiritual
state means living life in accordance with principles that simultaneously
ensure a healthy relationship to the environment. The shaman, then,
becomes the “guardian of the psychic and ecological equilibrium of his
group” (Hamer, 1982, p. 52).
This should not seemodd, even to a contemporary mind, as the model
of awell-functioning ecological system parallelsthat of awell-functioning
psychologicalone. In both types of systems, optimal functioning is char­
acterized by the free flow of energy among its constituents.
Though an ecosystem is in a constant state of flux, characterized by
the continual movement of energy (nutrients) through the system, there
is, nonetheless, an overall state of balance allowing each plant and
animal species continued survival through occupying unique ecological
niches. The optimal state of an ecosystem is one of dynamic balance;its
continuity and stability are paradoxically maintained by constant
change. When the totality of living things is considered in its unity, then
we can see that the more diverse and differentiated the forms of life in
an ecosystem, the better chance that life has to maintain its existence.
Healthy human functioning is also characterized by the ability to
maintain a flexible response to the ever changing demands of one’s own
internal development, aswell asto those of the external society. Essential
to therapeutic growth is the ability to maintain a flexible self-image in
order to allow for the changes characteristic of emotional development.
Paradoxically, the stability of our identity is then dependent upon our
adaptability to constant change. We maintain our healthful functioning
by allowing our being its natural transformation. The diversity of life
supported by a healthy ecosystem is mirrored by the manner in which
the healthy individual relates to and develops the myriad facets of the
personality.
Conversely, in both the psychological and ecological realms,
problems are caused by energy becoming bound and unavailable for
further transformation or use. In the environment we can seethis in the
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 91
form of nuclear waste and non-biodegradable matter. The energy com­
prising these substances has reached a dead end and cannot be trans­
formed and re-channeled back into the system. The parallel for the
individual can be seen when pathology causesenergy to become bound
in a psychic structure, part of the body, or particular mode of function­
ing. For example, in Jungian terms, a destructive complex results when
a psychic structure becomes inflated due to its attraction of excess
psychic energy, as when an overabundance of energy in the persona
causes one to over identify with his/her social role and lose an inner
sense of self. Extreme pathology is marked by a rigid experience of, and
response to, the world. As with the ecosystem, the coalescing of energy
into immutable forms within the individual impairs the functioning of
the whole and ultimately can cause its total breakdown.
The Role of Music in Maintaining a Harmonic Existence
The important points to keep in mind in this emerging picture of
music are the following: (a) understanding the deepest use of music in
music therapy involves maintaining a conception of the purpose of
music derived from its inherent structure; (b) cross-cultural evidence
suggests that such apurpose is to enhance life and health through rituals
oriented to allying individuals and societies with those natural forces
maintaining well-being; (c) an essential component of this ritual process
is a strong sense of identification with the natural world; and (d) the
process of facilitating health through music flows from a sense of com­
munion with the various forms of life with which humans share the
earth.
The conception of music I have to offer flows from and integrates
these various strands. Yet the source for this concept lies neither in
purely scholarly investigations nor solely in my clinical experience as a
music therapist, but rather in an inspiration I had one evening in the
desert. I would like to describe this experience-thus conveying its
poetic and psychological truth-before elaborating upon its more con­
crete, and perhaps more accessible, dimensions:
My understanding of music underwent a radical re-defini­
tion one night in the Arizona high desert, at the end of one of
those epic cross-country journeys that we all dream about
and occasionally even embark on. The “Four Corners” area
of the American southwest had always held a fascination for
me. It is characterized by dramatic, multi-colored bluffs,
92 Aigen
mesas and innumerable other geological formations, the
sparse presence of water that throws the existent forms of life
into a strong relief against the seemingly hostile environ­
ment, and the surprising presence of pine and other
evergreen trees in the high altitude. All of these elements
combine in a unique way to convey the sense of being in a
sacred land.
I was thinking about the Native Americans who had lived
in an exquisite and delicate balance and had been displaced
from this land they considered holy. I began feeling the
alivenessof my entire surroundings and imagined the various
forms of life as actual sentient beings: I saw the trees as wise,
old beings that had discovered a way to live in harmony with
such a harsh environment. If only the trees could share their
wisdom!
I started to understand that there was some force of nature
that allowed all living things to co-exist in a state of dynamic
balance, and that contemporary industrial society had com­
pletely lost touch with this force. I then realized that, in a
sense, trees do convey their wisdom to us through music; this
is their voice. Music-as the sound of sacred, once-living
substancesis the voiceof wisdom ofnature. It is the vehicleby
which we contact that force of nature that maintains a
dynamic balance in both our inner and outer worlds. To truly
understand music is then to understand the secret of the
maintenance and enhancement of life itself.
As a symbol of transformation, music stands in the intersection
between our inner and outer worlds. Its significance and therapeutic
potential derives from its essenceas that which can unite these realms.
In a therapy group, musical activity shapes and forms the social environ­
ment, as well as transforms and reconstructs our internal selves. Engag­
ing in the therapeutically-guided creation of music facilitates our social
and emotional development by creating a field in which diverse en­
tities-such as the constituents of our psyche, the members of a therapy
group, the various groups that comprise society--can meet, engage in
conflict, and relate in a manner that facilitates the life and functioning of
the whole.
Such constructive relating is not comprised of the purely harmonious,
tension-free-and ultimately lifelessmusic, at times promoted for use
in healing contexts. Instead, it is in music that reflects the intense, vital,
alternately joyful and suffering wail characteristic of the life struggle. It
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 93
is in music “that can fully integrate our dissonances, as well as our
consonances” (Hesser, 1988, p. 71). An ecosystem, though existing in a
delicate balance, can be a brutally competitive environment. Certainly,
effective therapy also contains elements of such conflict, though-as the
hunter who honors and respects that which must be killed in order to
survive-it is conflict that is guided by a deep honor and respect for
those who share in its participation.
Contemporary Implications and Applications
Winnicott (1971) talks about “play” as being essential for cognitive,
emotional, and social development and discusses how we can view
psychoanalysis (and science in general) as an extended form of play. He
reverses the traditional conceptual hierarchy by using an analysis of the
significance of “play” to explain psychoanalysis, rather than using
psychoanalytic conceptions to explain the significance of “play.”
With the conception of music presented herein, we can employ a
similar strategy and define impaired emotional and spiritual function­
ing in terms of an absence of music, rather than begin with externally
derived notions of health, illness, the personality, and psychotherapy,
and can derive the nature of music asa secondary phenomenon. Broucek
(1987)begins the task in delimiting three levels of music therapy practice
based upon the client’s stance toward the life spirit. The crucial link­
argued for in this article-is to realize that music is the natural voice of
this spirit: A being deprived of the regenerative and transformative
powers of music is a being deprived of the ability to survive and draw
meaning from life.
To adopt this perspective on music and health is to realize that
contemporary psychic problems are both reflected in, and exacerbated
by, our pathological physical environment. The pollution of the external
world-involving
a profaning of that which is by rights sacred-is only
possible by individuals who have lost contact with the sacred within
themselves-the life spirit-and therefore are unable to perceive this
quality in their environment.
We can then look at the state of our society from a diagnostic perspec­
tive in order to contribute to our understanding of contemporary psychic
ills. The pollution of our external world is an external manifestation of
the alienation from the life spirit that is at the root of contemporary
psychological disturbances. The spiritual and emotional needs of con-
94 Aigen
temporary society, when conceived of in terms of one’s stance toward
the life spirit, can be Seenas a natural consequence of the loss of access
to this spirit paralleling the emptying of ritual. The important implica­
tion for music therapy is that we can consider contemporary ills asbeing
caused by a deficit in that very quality of existence for which music was
created to provide access.Hence, music therapy is uniquely poised to
address the ills of our contemporary culture. Just as a physical organism
develops antibodies to fight specific infections, our culture has
(re)created music therapy in order to combat the alienation from the
natural world-and, hence, life itself-brought on by industrialization
and reflected in our various ecological crises.
The Link betweenCreativity and Health
Since the creative use of music is an essential component of music
therapy, any adequate theoretical stance must explain the importance of
creative activity for emotional well-being. One strategy is to explore the
connections between creation (of life) and creativity. Certainly the fact
that these two words share the same root is no accident.
All creative acts have as their archetype the creation of the world and
our presence in it. Very simply, then, to embrace creation, and hence
creative activity, is to embrace life. Conversely, the symptoms of extreme
emotional need-such as depression, isolation, and suicidal inclina­
tions--can be seen as a rejection of life. Inner health cannot be separated
from physical well-being in this perspective. Certainly we can see this
in people whose depression drives them to suicide. The inner sense of
meaning and purpose supplied by ritual is not incidental to physical
survival but is integral to it.
For individuals struggling with such severe problems, we can see that
an interest in creative activity manifests their much submerged invest­
ment in maintaining and developing life. Engagement in creative ac­
tivity, particularly music, is therapeutic because it provides both access
to and a field for the development of the individual’s capacity for
embracing creation and, hence, life itself.
Implication for Explanatory Paradigms
I have elsewhere discussed (Aigen, 1991) the inadequacies of both
psychoanalysis and behavioral thought as foundations for clinical and
research theory in music therapy. The current discussion suggests a
fundamental reason why this is so.
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 95
Although there are important differences between them, both be­
haviorism and classical psychoanalysis4 share an overly rationalistic and
reductionistic conception of the world. Becauseof their respective set of
meta-theoretical assumptions, neither psychoanalysis nor behaviorism
can address the progressiveand meaning-laden functions of participation
in ritual and creative activity. Since neither system is equipped to
understand the emotional and spiritual distress caused by the absence
of participation in meaningful ritual and myth, neither system can
suitably account for the mechanisms by which music therapy addresses
the human need for meaning and connection to the life spirit. De-sacral­
ized approaches to science, such as behaviorism and doctrinaire
psychoanalysis, are themselves symptoms, of the alienation from nature
and the life force that has given rise to the need for psychotherapy. As
such, they are inappropriate tools for remediating the effects of the
resultant existential malaise.
Therapyand Ritual
None of the foregoing should be taken as endorsing the return to a
shamanic model for music therapists. The shaman’s role is a social one,
evolving in a specific cultural milieu and epistemological milieu that
determined the efficacy of the shaman’s work. Lacking the supportive
world view, traditional shamanic activities would be ineffectual in
contemporary society.
What I am suggesting is that the music therapist, informed as to the
importance and meaning of ritual and creative activity, is already meet­
ing the social and psychological need that shamanic activity fulfilled.
One could say that the music therapist qua music therapist is a shaman.
A client who discovers long split-off aspects of personality-such as the
capacity to appreciate the world with child-like wonder-is encouraged
to integrate this ability into his/her existent personality, not to merge
with it. Similarly, as we rediscover the ancient uses of music through
experience in music therapy, we should integrate this long-forgotten
poetic knowledge into our matrix of rational clinical beliefs and prac­
tices, not merge with it.
At the core, the shaman’s work is analogous to the music therapist’s,
as both involve musically accessing inner sources of wisdom, power,
and health. The specifics of shamanic ritual-including
the actual ac­
4 However, Jung’sview of symbols,symbol formation and symbolic activity is
completely congruent with the view I am promoting, and I do not include his
theoriesin my criticism of psychoanalysis.
96 Aigen
tivities and supportive explanatory constructs (mythology)-parallel
the constructs of the professionof music therapy. Our concepts of health,
illness, client, and therapist provide forms in which to comprehend our
creative and intuitive actions in music therapy.
In accordance with the modern world view, we seek for the symbolic
significance of ritual activity and do not ascribe its positive effects to the
literal account provided by ritual participants. We need to apply the
same criteria to our own supportive epistemological edifice and seek for
the mechanisms of therapeutic transformation on a more fundamental
level of analysis than is provided by conventional conceptions of illness
and therapy. In other words, if various psychodynamic systems repre­
sent our current “mythology,” it is clear that attributing explanatory
power to a “vengeful super-ego” is no more or less enlightening than
are ancient explanations of thunder as manifestations of Zeus’ ire. In
both cases the nature of empirical data-represented by electrical experi­
ments in the latter case and our clinical experience in the former-re­
quire us to seek for more fundamental explanations than are provided
by either “mythology.”
Conclusion
Though any one global view of music can give rise to a variety of
empirical and theoretical claims, not all theoretical claims can be sup­
ported by a particular view of music. This extremely brief look at
psychoanalysis and behaviorism shows that the value of the present
discussion is not to suggest specific hypotheses, but to suggest the type
of phenomena such empirical claims must address.
I also do not intend to replace music therapy with some form of
musical anthropology. Certainly, psychotherapy is a twentieth-century
phenomenon, arising from the deficit-driven needs of human beings
attempting to cope with an industrialized society, combined with the
positive desire for continued personal growth. One crucial difference
between therapy and ritual is that, while ritual forms are universal and
passed down through time, in psychotherapy each individual is given
the opportunity to create their own specific forms. The need for this
personalized aspect of music therapy that uniquely distinguishes it from
ritual demonstrates that the function of group/social ritual in contem­
porary society is not to replacetherapy, but to complementit.
To answer a question posed in the beginning of this article, yes, music
does have extra-human significance, in the sense that music must be
understood in terms of its role for healthful maintenance of life, in its
A Conceptionof Music for Music Therapy 97
totality. On one hand, we can say that humans created music; alternately
we can say that life has created music, in order to ensure that its most
recent creation-humankind-maintains
a connection to thecommunal
life spirit. Losing this connection, that is, losing our music,means the loss
of our inner purpose, and hence jeopardizes our spiritual and physical
survival on this planet.
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Kenneth Aigen, DA, ACMT, is Research Director at the Nordoff-Robbins
Music Therapy Clinic, New York University. He also serves as Administrative
Consultant to the Creative Arts Rehabilitation Center, Inc. in New York City.