Gro Trondalen: Sounding Relationship

Field of Study: Music Therapy

Summary

Music therapy is a creative resource-oriented form of therapy, where people have the opportunity to influence their own lives through musical practice. The dissertation sheds light on music therapy processes that arise on the basis of musical improvisation. The clinical-theoretical foundation is based on (recent) developmental psychology, while the epistemological understanding is connected to both phenomenological and hermeneutic perspectives.

The main focus is on how musical interaction can facilitate "significant moments" for young people suffering from anorexia. The topic is illuminated through Trondalen's own music therapy practice. The first example focuses on listening with a young woman (AN/R), while the second is based on active improvisation with a young man (AN/B). Through analysis of sounding music and interpersonal processes that occur in music therapy, the importance of new relational experiences is shown, where clients influence and allow themselves to be influenced through bodily-musical interaction with the music therapist. Rigid and rigid relational behaviour patterns are often prominent for people with anorexia. Musical interaction offers an arena for exploring and developing new patterns of interaction, as well as experiencing being able to regulate and control inner and outer tension.

The dissertation

The full title (translated from Norwegian): Sounding Relationship: A music therapy study of ‘significant moments’ in musical interplay with young people suffering from Anorexia Nervosa.

The dissertation is a monograph. It is available in NMH's digital archive.