Inter-Active Listening: Re-envisioning Receptive Music Therapy/L'écoute inter-active : la musicothérapie réceptive fait peau neuve

Headnote

Abstract

The interactions and dynamics between client and therapist in receptive music therapy as defined by Bruscia (1998) are often complex and multilayered. This paper, which is based on a phenomenological narrative inquiry that investigated the music therapy experiences of four adults diagnosed with metastatic cancer, challenges and re-envisions current notions of the practice of receptive music therapy. Inter-active listening (Black, 2013) is discussed as alternative terminology with which to speak about the interactive processes that occurred during the interventions. The results of the study are described, focusing on two participants and the dynamic and dyadic intersubjective space that was created as a result of the use of this music therapy approach. Implications for the field of music therapy are discussed.

Keywords: receptive music therapy, inter-active listening, intersubjectivity, phenomenology, palliative care

Résumé

Les interactions et les dynamiques entre le client et le thérapeute dans la musicothérapie réceptive telle que définie par Bruscia (1998) sont souvent complexes et multidimensionnelles. Cet article, basé sur une recherche narrative phénoménologique qui examine les expériences en musicothérapie de quatre adultes avec un diagnostic de cancer métastatique, défit des notions courantes de l'exercice de la musicothérapie réceptive tout en nous les faisant réenvisager. L'écoute inter-active (Black, 2013) est discutée en tant que terminologie alternative laquelle devrait être utilisée afin de parler des processus interactifs qui subviennent à l'intérieur des interventions. Les résultats de l'étude sont décrits en se concentrant sur deux participants et l'espace intersubjectif dynamique et dyadique qui a été créé par le biais de cette approche musicothérapeutique. Des implications pour le domaine de la musicothérapie sont discutées.

Mots clés : musicothérapie réceptive, écoute inter-active, intersubjectivité,

Receptive music therapy is defined as an approach during which clients in individual music therapy listen to music and respond silently, verbally, or with another modality (Bruscia, 1998). While receptive music therapy is used frequently with a wide variety of client populations (Grocke & Wigram, 2007), the complexity of the interactions and dynamics between client and therapist are not necessarily embodied in the word receptive.

In this paper, which is based on a phenomenological research study that I conducted on a palliative care unit in a cancer care hospital, I seek to re-envision and expand the term receptive music therapy in order...