music and psyche
Christina Becker
>Does anyone have a lead to point me to a library where I could research
>music and its effects on the psyche.
>Any feedback would be appreciated
>Thanks
>Jonathan
Jonathan,
I am very interested in the archetypal nature of music and its effect
on the psyche, and have done some research which I have picked up
during the last couple of years. I am not sure there is a central
source of information. I believe I can point you into some directions,
if you give me more information.
There has been a Colloquium held in New Hampshire for the last 3 years
on Music and Healing. I can give you an address if you want. There
have been two conferences in London on the subject. I included
highlights below.
MUSIC & THE PSYCHE II
Exploring the interaction between sound and consciousness
at City University Music Department St John St London EC1 on FRIDAY
23RD /SATURDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 1996
Contact
MUSIC & THE PSYCHE 56 MANOR PARK ROAD LONDON N2 OSJ 0181 444 1110
(ANSAFONE & FAX). EMAIL M...@TISBURY.DEMON.CO.UK
Full Programme
ANSUMAN BISWAS THE BAULS - MYSTIC MUSICIANS OF BENGAL
The word Baul ('Bah-ool') means crazy. These minstrels wander the lush
engal countryside with a few simple instruments, singing for their
supper with infectious spontaneity. Their songs' simple imagery is
drawn from daily life but masks a subtle system of esoteric lore,
mingling Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, Tantric, and Shamanic traditions in
the Baul sadhana, a practical experience of bliss rooted in the body
and cultivated by a system of sexual yoga. Ansuman Biswas discusses
Baul philosophy and demonstrates their music with songs and recordings
made on a recent field trip.
JAMES D'ANGELO SOUND & MUSIC AS VIBRATIONAL ENERGIES FOR MENTAL &
SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT
Current interest in therapeutic sound is actually a return to ancient
knowledge that tones vibrating in sympathy with our physical, mental
and spiritual structure can induce a sense of wholeness. Such
therapies take three forms: resonating, stimulating and retuning the
body/mind/spirit complex by toning or chanting: application of
external sound sources to the body: and using forms of music
prescribed by a therapist to correct psychological imbalance. Composer
and workshop leader Dr D'Angelo presents an overview of the field,
refering to pioneers and speaking from wide experience. A lecturer at
Goldsmiths College, he co-edited Caduceus magazine's 1994 issue
Healing with Sound and Music, and recently addressed the American
Colloquium on Sound Therapies.
RACHEL DARNLEY-SMITH WHAT DO MUSIC THERAPISTS HEAR?
Many different kinds of sounds are created in the course of a music
therapy session. Rachel Darnley-Smith articulates the distinction
between sound perceptible as musical phenomena and sound perceptible
as expressive of the unconscious. Using clinical case material she
shows how both musical and psycho-analytical perspectives inform what
a music therapist hears and the responses to the music that is made.
ALAN DAVIE TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHY OF SYNAESTHETIC CREATIVITY
The distinguished artist Alan Davie trained first a classical pianist
and throughout his life has maintained an equal interest in painting,
improvised music and poetry. His primary concern has always been a
search for the magical qualities that manifest through the intuitive
faculty of the human mind. Here he talks about synæsthesia and
performs on the piano accompanied by projections of his paintings. In
the 1970s Alan Davie released seven albums of improvised music, and
has toured on the Arts Council Contemporary Music Network. He was
recently honoured by retrospectives at the Barbican, London and
McLellan Gallery, Glasgow.
MANFRED EICHER DISCERNING SPIRITUAL QUALITY WITHIN MASS
COMMUNICATIONS
President of ECM Records, Manfred Eicher reflects on the ethical
philosophical spiritual & commercial issues which confront those who
wish to communicate successfully in the mass media.
KEVIN JONES TUNING THE CALENDAR - NUMEROLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCES WITHIN
MUSIC & THE ORGANISATION OF TIME
Remarkable parallels exist between the western calendar and the
organisation of tonal music. Dr Jones, composer and reader at Kingston
University, explores humanity's attempts to translate the order of the
cosmos into fundamental aspects of earthly existence, albeit ignored
by contemporary materialist minds. Whether musical precepts affect our
perceptions and priorities in interpreting the heavens, or vice versa,
if we are to revive an essential missing dimension in Western music we
need to reawaken this relationship, recognised as central in the
equivalent contexts of non-western cultures.
ADAM OCKELFORD EDUCATING A MUSICAL SAVANT - CASE STUDY OF DEREK
PARAVICINI
Formerly RNIB music advisor, Adam Ockelford has worked for 12 years
with Derek Paravicini, a prodigious blind pianist with learning
difficulties now 16, who will be present. He reflects on contemporary
and historical attitudes to musical savants in the light of creating
the Amber Trust to assist their education.
JOHN PAYNTER SOUND & STRUCTURE
All over the world people invent music and preserve musical
traditions. Perhaps because of its totally abstract nature, there
seems no end to ways of making music. Stylistic features,
circumstances of presentation, cultural conventions and learning
processes vary widely, but whatever our use for music, all hold in
common the central reality of musical experience - the satisfying
completeness of a musical form, which is greater than the sum of its
parts. We may be moved emotionally by certain elements of a piece of
music, but would we ever find deeper satisfaction in them were it not
for their structural consequence within that music's entirety?
Professor Paynter asks what this says about the persistence of music
in human society.
FRANK PERRY SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE AS MUSICAL DISCIPLINE
One of the leading British improvisers and a practising psychic, the
percussionist Frank Perry will talk about and demonstrate the
relationship between exoteric and esoteric awareness within the
musical personality with reference to his study of Tibetan bowls.
RICHARD POVALL MUSIC OF THE BODY - A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO MUSIC &
MULTIMEDIA COMPOSITION
Research Fellow & Senior Lecturer in New Performance Media at
Dartington, Richard Povall addresses the 'humanisation' of music
technology as a means of creating a new holism between
composer/performer and musical structure. He contrasts dominant
movements in Europe, Japan and America, and suggests that the urban
centred character of academic institutions militates against art which
values human expression and the natural world.
JENNI RODITI VOICE MOVEMENT THERAPY
Using a simple vocabulary of vocal timbres the voice can lead us into
the parts of our selves which are in some way blocked. By channelling
feelings and experiences vocally and bodily we reach a place where
therapeutic and creative expression are one. Composer Jenni Roditi
explains how she facilitates the release of voice/personality by
encouraging people to invent musical patterns that mirror /contrast
their psychological patterns.
MIKE STEER DREAMING & CREATIVITY - PRACTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR ENGAGING
WITH THE SUBCONSCIOUS
As a composer, broadcaster and philosopher of music Mike Steer's
career has been motivated by exploration of his inner landscape rather
than external considerations. Dreams mediate directly with the
unconscious and as such offer unfiltered experience of that coherent
symbolic language which underpins all the wisdom traditions.
JOHN TAVENER ART & THE END-POINT - AN ILLUSTRATED TALK ON THE SACRED
IN ART
The leading British composer and mystic John Tavener asks whether
there can be any 'real' focus for art other than its power to evoke
realities which transcend the physical world? He sees all art which
truly expresses the divine nature as a miracle and feels the
appropriate response of the artist to hir own gifts is one of
humility.
MICHAEL TUCKER BEYOND THE BARRIERS - SHAMANIC INTUITIONS OF THE DEEP
SONG
A leading authority on shamanism and shamanic philosophy, Michæl
Tucker explores the imagery of 'otherness' he regards as shamanic in a
variety of contemporary situations. Principal Lecturer in the Faculty
of Art, Design & Humanities at Brighton University, & author of
Dreaming With Open Eyes - a study of the shamanic spirit in 20thC art
& culture
TIM WHEATER THE SECRET POWER OF MUSIC - THE ART OF LISTENING
One of the world's foremost ambient musicians, Tim Wheater was a
flautist with the LSO and Eurhythmics before specialising in the
transformative and healing aspects of music. He takes as his starting
point the centrality of the breath to all musical performance. He has
given workshops for the British Holistic Medical Association and
appeared at many Mind, Body, Spirit Festivals here and in Australia,
His twelfth solo album, Heartland, was recently released in the US,
where he spends much of his time.
GLENN WILSON MUSIC, BRAIN & EXPERIENCE - THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL
ABILITY & APPRECIATION
Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry, Dr Wilson
considers the impact of music upon our emotions, the origins of
talent, and cybernetic processing of music including gender
differences