Improvised Songs as Personal Stories

In this video presentation, Dr. Turry shares highlights from the clinical process that gave rise to the improvised songs examined in his doctoral dissertation. The musical process provides a unique and secure container for personal stories that are often too difficult or complex to express through spoken words alone. By engaging fully in creating and shaping their narrative, the participant in music therapy can establish a crucial sense of creative mastery.

“[Maria] explained that the music from the piano encouraged her to continue her exploration and expression even when the feeling she was experiencing in the moment was intensely painful. She felt contained by the music …”

-Alan Turry, DA, MT-BC, LCAT, Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapist

Music Psychotherapy and Community Music Therapy: Questions and Considerations

“As an improvising therapist and a Nordoff-Robbins clinician, I have been immersed in a culture that values entering into the unknown. The sense of diving into the process is further amplified and intensified when it is shared publicly. Though the program is predetermined, our reaction to it, as well as that of the audience, is unpredictable. Perhaps one motivation to share this material publicly for Maria is that she wants to create a sense of empathy within the audience by feeling the music and living the experience with a depth that a simple narrative explanation cannot enable. I can understand this. When presenting, it is invariably more powerful and effective to include actual music from a session than to try to explain what occurs in the session. Hearing the musical process as it unfolded allows the audience to enter into this experience, and allows Maria and I to re-enter it, as the intensity of sharing it with others brings it to life.”

-Alan Turry

Read the full article online at Voices Journal >