The first issue of this monograph series includes four qualitative studies that have been reviewed, revised, and/or approved by an outstanding panel of reviewers, each an expert in qualitative research. Reviewers for this issue included: Drs. Dorit Amir, Darlene Brooks, Kenneth Bruscia, Michele Forinash, Susan Hadley, Anthony Meadows, Brynjulf Stige, and Barbara Wheeler. The chief editor was Dr. Brian Abrams.

Each study in the monograph series is unique in its purpose and in its methodology; and, in its own way, represents a meaningful and valuable contribution to the music therapy field. Kathryn Racette’s A Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of Listening to Music When Upset (a revised version of her original 1989 manuscript) represents one of the first qualitative music therapy research studies of its kind. The phenomenological method she employed was essentially unknown to the music therapy field at the time of the study. As such, Racette primarily emphasized the need for, and the appraisal of, the phenomenological approach in music therapy research, as illustrated by an application of the approach in an inquiry into the research phenomenon (listening to music when upset). Likewise, her review of related literature reflects the uniqueness of the phenomenological approach at the time in her suggestion that her research formulation and methodology is unique; therefore, the reader should consider the context of the time period in which the piece was originally conceived. For the purposes of inclusion in the present volume, however, the author has made some minor modifications in her characterization of the literature, as well as in other sections, based on the present state of the field and her current views on her own research.

Pascal Comeau’s A Phenomenological Investigation of Being Effective as a Music Therapist (a revision of his 1991 manuscript) represents another “classic” among qualitative music therapy studies. Like Racette, Comeau utilized phenomenological inquiry as his primary methodology, but because the idea of utilizing phenomenology in music therapy research had already been introduced in the literature, he placed his emphasis upon inquiring into the phenomenon itself (being effective as a music therapist) versus the methodology. Moreover, in Comeau’s approach, participants were asked not only to describe experiences of being effective, but also of being ineffective, so that the nature and boundaries of the phenomenon could be revealed through the polar contrast between these two types of experiences.

About a decade and a half following the Comeau and Racette studies, Maya Marom completed research entitled Spiritual Moments in Music Therapy: A Qualitative Study of the Music Therapist's Experience. Using a methodology representing a variation of classic phenomenology, Marom explored the many dimensions of spiritual experiences in music therapy, as expressed from the perspective of music therapists. Through her analysis of interview transcripts, she was able to identify a unique category scheme of experiences shedding light on the nature and significance of the wide array of experiences considered to be spiritual in various ways.

Finally, around the same time that Marom completed her study, Susan Gardstrom completed An Investigation of Meaning in Clinical Music Improvisation With Troubled Adolescents (originally Gardstrom’s Ph.D. dissertation). Gardstrom, utilized a combination of phenomenological and hermeneutic inquiry to analyzing the verbal transcripts of study participant interviews, as well as an Bruscia’s Improvisational Assessment Profiles (IAPs) in her analysis of the music. This unique methodology has resulted in a poignant understanding of meaning in the improvisation experiences and products of the research participants. Several improvisations from the study can be heard online at this website, and the reader is encouraged to read the analyses of these improvisations that accompany the audiofiles.

The reader will note that, although all four studies in the present volume happen to utilize some form of phenomenology (alone or in combination with other methodological approaches), the Monograph Series is not limited to this approach. The series is in fact open to all cultures of inquiry relevant to music therapy, and part of its purpose is to present the wide array of these cultures to the public. Brian Abrams, Editor.

Reviews By:

Review by: Douglas Keith in Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Online Book Reviews, June 13, 2006