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READING 13 Helen Bonny's Foundational Theories Of Guided Imagery And

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 READING 13
Helen Bonny’s Foundational Theories Of Guided Imagery And Music (GIM)
Kenneth E. Bruscia
Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) is a model of therapy and healing developed by Helen Bonny in the 1970s,
initially based on her work on a team of LSD psychotherapy researchers at the Maryland Psychiatric Institute.
There are two forms: the individual form (sometimes called the “dyad”) and the group form (sometimes called
“Music and Imagery” or “Group GIM”). Bonny (1983) defined the individual form as:
the conscious use of imagery that has been evoked by relaxation and music [listening] to effect self-
understanding and personal growth processes in the individual. Used one-to-one with a trained guide, GIM may
be a powerful uncovering process to explore levels of consciousness not usually available in normal awareness.
To facilitate the process, various elements of music—instrumental timbre, vocal color, rhythm, dynamics of pitch,
intensity, harmony—are used to contribute subtly and powerfully to mood, emotional involvement, and insight
introspection. The musical selections used are chosen on the basis of their ability to initiate and continue a
mood and/or experiential state. Programming of these selections on a cassette tape [or CD] not only involves an
understanding of matching the generalized mood state but considers musical qualities which may facilitate the
production of imagery in its many forms. (p. 235)
Bonny’s Group GIM is different from the individual form in that each client does not dialogue with the guide
during the music-imaging experience, and in that efforts are made to contain the client’s level of self-exploration.
This is done by more directive guiding, shortening the music program, and limiting the relaxation induction
(Bonny, 1994).
Bonny has been a prolific writer, and though she has never laid out an organized, complete theory, her writings
do contain many important theoretical concepts. The purpose of this chapter is to organize these writings and
theoretical concepts by theme.
Ontology
GIM is such an expansive, ineffable process that it is natural to wonder what its founder believed about the
nature of things, or what her philosophy of life was. Interestingly, the first full discussion of these topics came in
a speech that Bonny gave to the American Association of Music Therapy in 1983, titled “Cycles of Experience:
Past, Present, and Future.” This section on ontology lays out the central philosophical beliefs that Bonny had
evolved to that time (1983), as expressed in this speech, recently published for the first time (Bonny, 2002).
Bonny (1983) believed that all things in the universe are interconnected. “Each event in our lives has an effect
on every other subsequent event, on our environment, and on every other being in our environment” (p. 233).
Thus, all beings are interconnected with all other things in the universe, and as the least one of these changes,
everything else changes. Thus, life is never constant or stable, everything is constantly changing and being
changed by everything else. This gives every person the power to change him/herself and the world in a
mutually reciprocal way.
Change is therefore inherent in the universe. Taking from Prigogine’s theory, Bonny proposes that our universe
is constantly expanding and dissipating.
Ours is a self-organizing universe. Structures are formed which shed their forms as they outgrow them. As the
energy within them dissipates, new creative forms evolve as a consequence. These are more complex, with
shorter periods of stability. Wavelike, cyclical forms of growth, stability, and change are the norm. Disequilibrium
is a prelude to creative breakthrough; tension precedes satisfying relaxation. (Bonny, 1983, p. 244)
Change is not linear; rather, it is cyclic and cumulative. At every repetition through a cycle of change (growth-
dissipation-growth or tension-release-tension), more information is integrated into increasingly more complex
cycles (Bonny, 1983). Thus every growth cycle is more complex and more integrated than the previous one;
every new form is more complex and more integrated than the previous one.
One of the greatest precipitators of change is consciousness. Consciousness is a gift to humanity, a tool to
change ourselves and the universe. “By being conscious, by being here now, we can affect change. We can
change our environment” (Bonny, 1983, p. 234). And one of the greatest facilitators of consciousness is music.
Music is the medium par excellence for exploring and changing consciousness (Bonny, 1983).
Bonny (1983) links Prigogine’s theory of dissipative structures to Sheldrake’s notions of morphic resonance.
While Prigogine dealt only with energy and form (matter), Sheldrake proposed that all systems or structures are
regulated not only by energy and matter, but also by invisible organizing fields, called morphic fields. Morphic
fields are created when any event or behavior is learned and then repeated. These morphic fields are
configured as causative links that resonate throughout the universe, affecting the entire species. Thus, whatever
one person discovers creates a morphic field that others have access to through resonance. This idea reaffirms
the notion of the interconnectedness in the universe—all change is pervasive throughout the system, and all
knowledge or consciousness is shared through resonance. Human communication is beyond the senses and
beyond energy; it also takes place through morphic resonance. The collective unconscious, then, does not
consist of memories stored in the brain from generation to generation; rather, it is the cumulative experience of
the species continuing to resonate in these morphic fields. Sheldrake’s theory also explains why musical
meanings within a culture are shared by all of those in the culture.
Finally Bonny sees the universe as hologistic. Every part of a whole is part of another whole, which is part of
another whole, and so forth, so that everything exists as part of everything. Every cell of the body is enclosed in
another cell, which is enclosed in another cell, ad infinitum, so that a person’s body is enclosed in the species,
which is enclosed in the universe. In each person is all, and in all is every person.
Consciousness
Bonny (1983) believed that there are many levels of individual, collective, meditative, and spiritual
consciousness. Using a “cut log” as a metaphor, Bonny (1975) described consciousness in terms of concentric
circles moving out from the observing or directing ego in the center. The center is ordinary, alert, or a normal
state of consciousness, and the layers or circles around it are various states of consciousness that become
increasingly altered or expanded as they move outward. Those around the immediate center are preconscious
states, layers of awareness that are easily accessed by the conscious mind. These circles include mind-sets
during study, then come fantasies, daydreams, memories, dreams, and participation in the arts. At the next
levels are alpha brain waves, then imagination, prayer, fasting, mythical experiences, and creativity. Then
comes regression to childhood, orgasm, and theta waves. Moving outward toward layers that are increasingly
less accessible to the conscious mind, the next states are sensory bombardment, ecstasy, unity, satori, noetics,
anesthesia, then bliss, mystical experiences, samadhi, and the collective unconscious. These layers of
consciousness continue infinitely outward to more expanded states, approaching the Self (All-that-is).
Altered states of consciousness are essential to the GIM process. They are agent, medium, and outcome, and,
as such, not only facilitate the process, but also comprise one of its important benefits. As an agent, altered
states prepare the client to receive and absorb the music more fully (Bonny, 1983). As a medium, altered states
provide a holistic perspective from which to access and work through problems. As the person moves away
from the normal ego, through increasingly deeper states, consciousness expands outward, relating the self
(ego) to the Self (All-that-is). This gives wide access to many facets of self and Self and to the many
perspectives and resources within each, while also connecting them to one another. Finally, as outcome,
learning how to deepen, expand, and utilize one’s own consciousness more fully can enhance normal states of
awareness by providing more easy and immediate access to the richness of one’s imagination and inner life
(Bonny, 1983), to the collective unconscious, and to the values of spirituality (Bonny, 2001).
Altered or expanded states of consciousness can be achieved through high stimulation and states of
hyperarousal or through relaxation and states of hypoarousal. The methods used in BMGIM are relaxation,
concentration, and music listening; however, other means are sleep, meditation, exhaustion, drugs, hypnosis,
biofeedback, sex, and aesthetics (Bonny, 1975). Comparing music, hypnosis, and drugs, Bonny and Tansill
(1977) found that music had many advantages. In hypnosis, the therapist has foreknowledge of the problem and
its potential solution; the drawback is that it accesses a relatively small portion of total consciousness. Drugs
plummet the person into many different areas and levels of consciousness and force direct access to problem
areas of the psyche. In contrast, music can evoke many layers and areas of consciousness and access problem
areas in a powerful yet gentle way. And when supported in a nondirective and permissive way by a therapist or
guide, clients have more control and help in working through the material. Comparing music and meditation,
Bonny (1987) points out that music occurs in the auditory medium, consisting of both sound and silence, while
meditation occurs in complete silence.
Concepts of Music
One cannot find a writing wherein Bonny does not address the nature of music and its therapeutic potentials. A
synthesis of her writings reveals these general concepts of what makes music listening therapeutic, and
particularly in an altered state of consciousness while imaging:
Music acts directly upon the entire body, reaching the brain not only through the ear but through the skin, bones,
tissues, viscera, and so forth. It releases endorphins, and it evokes specific physiological responses, which in
turn stimulate emotions and images (Bonny, 1986). Music also stimulates different senses at the same time,
thereby facilitating synesthesia. It also helps to create associational links between and among the senses,
thereby providing a means of integrating one’s experiences (Bonny, 1986).
Music induces an entrainment response, where the periodicities in its rhythmic structure elicit the same
periodicities in the person’s body rhythms, mood states, emotions, and so forth. The rhythms of music are
related to the rhythms of the body, which are in turn related to the rhythms of the universe (Bonny, 1986).
Bonny (1987) subscribed to the view of Merleau-Ponty, the phenomenologist, regarding the four levels of “lived”
sound experience. They are: (1) objective sound that reverberates within its source (e.g., instrument), outside
the listener; (2) atmospheric sound that exists between the source object and the listener’s body; (3) the sound
that resonates in the listener; and (4) the after presence of sound as change in the body.
Music provides continuity to the experience when the sense of time is altered, providing an anchor or stabilizing
point of reference (Bonny & Pahnke, 1972). It encapsulates time and space and allows the simultaneous
experience of past, present, and future (Bonny, 1979).
Music holds the listener in the here-now of All-that-is. It is a language of immediacy, which helps us to stay with
the moment, the now; it facilitates a total attunement to the present and constant focusing and refocusing on the
unending nows of existence. Like meditative practice, music can open the person to all aspects of self while
also opening doors to the spiritual world (Bonny, 1987).
Music helps to focus the client’s attention on the inner world of experiences (Bonny & Pahnke, 1972) and to
attend to what is most significant to the person at the time. In its continuous alternation between tension and
release, disequilibrium and equilibrium, music works like radar, scanning to detect the “psychic imbalances of
experience and to resolve these imbalances with the full support of the conscious mind” (Bonny, 1983, p. 242).
“Further, it [music] helps to focus high energy input and so amplifies the possibility of positive fluctuations and
allows for unique integration at new levels of wellness ... In other words, music is a gift for our integration
(Bonny, 1983, p. 242).
Music has mind-expanding properties (Bonny, 1983) and is a primary tool for opening, unfolding, and changing
consciousness (Bonny, 1975). The multidimensional aspects of music reflect and activate the multidimensional
layers of consciousness, as they unfold sequentially and as they relate to one another simultaneously. As the
many layers of music unfold in time, it scans and activates the myriad layers of consciousness, which also
unfold in time (Bonny, 1975). It is the movement of music—its expectations, drives, surprises, and
resolutions—that literally sweeps over the various layers of consciousness, scanning them to gain an overview
of the person’s past, present, and future.
Music helps one to relinquish one’s usual controls and thereby allows a deeper exploration of the unconscious.
It is more successful than words in preventing resistance to self-exploration (Bonny & Pahnke, 1972).
Music evokes diverse feeling states (Bonny, 1975) and facilitates the release of intense emotions, both positive
and negative (Bonny, 1972). At the same time, music also allows the listener to establish emotional distance
(Bonny & Pahnke, 1972), through the mechanism of projection or attributing the emotion to the music rather
than to the self. The paradox of music, then, is that it can at once be close and far away from the core emotions
(Bonny & Panke, 1972). Music also influences mood (Bonny, 1979) and can carry the listeners into many
different states.
Music stimulates associations, images, memories, and fantasies (Bonny, 1986). It also induces spontaneous
regressions to important events and circumstances of childhood (Bonny, 1979). “Associative or memory recall,
facilitated by music listening, is less a photographic coding and imaging of the original scene than a holologic
representation” of all aspects of it (Bonny, 1983, p. 237). Music does not simply evoke reduced or condensed
versions of the memory, but brings back the entire memory experience.
Music directs and structures experience, even while arousing emotion (Bonny & Pahnke, 1972). The order of
music also provides the framework needed to explore conflicts and difficult aspects of the self (Bonny, 1979). It
provides a supportive sound presence to the listener and a safe container for exploring conflicts, disparities, or
inequalities in the personality (Bonny, 1989). It can also ground the person and provide a center or core that can
anchor the person’s emotions (Bonny, 1989).
Music presents ambiguity and is open to many interpretations, allowing the listener to find and build alternative
ways of perceiving and understanding oneself and the world (Bonny & Pahnke, 1972).
Music provides a nonverbal medium for establishing rapport with the client (Bonny, 1979).
Music contributes to peak, cosmic, or transcendental experiences (Bonny & Pahnke, 1972). Music fosters
positive, oceanic, and spiritual experiences that can be life-changing (Bonny, 1979).
Music facilitates spiritual growth. Both require discipline and concentration, and both suggest meditative states.
Music uncovers our depths—our memories, emotions, and struggles—all of which provide foundations for
spiritual growth. Music and spirituality are ways of working through conflicts and reaching forgiveness. Music
also reminds us that there are even deeper things to behold; there is more than we can imagine in the beyond.
Principles of Music Programming
Bonny had three main considerations in selecting music for use in BMGIM and sequencing them to create
programs. First, Bonny (2002) relied upon her own intuition, “a kind of direct and immediate knowing or learning
without the conscious use of reasoning” (p. 301). She achieved this intuition by listening to music in an altered
state, sometimes using mind-expanding drugs. Her intuitions were then evaluated according to whether other
practitioners had similar findings in their work.
Second, she considered the role of culture in responding to music. Bonny (1978b) explained:
Although musical variables may not have universal connotations, there seem to be culturally derived “meanings”
which can determine therapeutic usefulness. It was upon these meanings that we based our choices. For the
Western, American, or European white, middle- to upper-class listener, we found that certain elements in
sample music consistently stimulated generalized meanings. These musical selections served as the affective
building blocks, which in turn suggested a direction for the GIM taped programs and their corresponding
emotional responses. (Bonny, 2002, pp. 301-302)
Third, she analyzed each piece of music using standard musical techniques. From these analyses, she
determined that the musical variables that seemed to be of greatest significance in BMGIM were pitch, rhythm
and tempo, media (vocal or instrumental), melody and harmony, and timbre. Each of these was then examined
on a continuum ranging from one extreme to another—for example, pitch (high to low), rhythm (regular to
diverse), tempo (fast to slow), and so forth. From these analyses, Bonny created an intensity profile for each
piece and program.
The GIM Process
Bonny (1989) viewed BMGIM as a mode of “being with music ... literally allowing oneself to step into or to
become one with the music” (p. 133). The key to success is to let go and allow the music to take the client
wherever she or he needs to go (Bonny, 2001). In technical terms, the client’s ego needs to be receptive to
exploring all areas of the psyche, including those that are problematic (Bonny, 1979). This ability to let go is
facilitated by a relaxation induction, which leads the client into an altered state of consciousness. The altered
state of consciousness, in turn, opens the imagination, frees the person from usual patterns of consciousness,
and further encourages the ego to be receptive to whatever emerges. As this happens, the music evokes
imagery of all kinds (e.g., memories, sensory experiences, metaphors, symbols, fantasies) and, most important,
their concomitant emotions. All images are reflections of the imager and hold important messages from the
unconscious. Through the music imaging experience, the client has an opportunity to release emotions and
feelings that have been repressed or suppressed, gain new insights into problem areas, generate alternative
ways of being in the world and handling problems, and act upon the insights gained, first within the session and
then in the client’s world.
All aspects of the person are allowed to emerge in BMGIM, because all human experiences are of value and all
are interconnected. The clients are, therefore, always accepted as they are and wherever they are in their
journey toward healing and self-actualization.
For Bonny, all healing comes from within. That is, each person has an inner knowing of what he or she needs,
and each person also has the inner will and resources needed to be whole and healthy. Thus, the source of
healing is the self.
Because the healing process is self-directed, BMGIM is nondirective. The client has control and decides
whether to enter or not enter difficult and challenging imaging experiences. Thus, the client leads the
experience, and the therapist follows.
The therapist and music work in tandem as co-therapists. The music is the co-therapist, and its role is to
generate images, integrate experiences, and provide a supportive structure for difficult experiences,
The change process in GIM is akin to those described in humanistic and transpersonal theories. Rather than
referring to “therapeutic” change, Bonny described BMGIM as leading to healing, self-actualization, and growth.
The client moves through the change or growth process by achieving three important steps: (1) a release of
emotions and feelings that have been repressed or suppressed; (2) insight; and (3) action.
The process of healing moves toward self-actualization in a holistic way. It addresses all aspects of the
person—body, mind, and spirit, and both positive and problematic areas. The music acts on the body by
stimulating its entirety, activating the central nervous system, evoking sensory experiences, inducing physical
entrainment and resonance between itself and the client, and operating on its energy fields and systems
(Bonny, 1986). The music acts on the mind by continually shifting the locus and focus of consciousness,
stimulating the imagination, presenting and working through life metaphors, inducing regression and memories,
and exploring alternative ways of being. The music acts on the spirit by fostering positive transpersonal
experiences that have life-changing potentials (Bonny, 1979), by requiring discipline and concentration needed
for spiritual life, by fostering meditation skills, by providing a venue for worship and adoration, by suggesting
forgiveness, and by suggesting that there are deeper things in life (Bonny, 2001).
In addition to being holistic, the process of healing is spiraling rather than linear, moving in and out, from outside
to inside, along the same pathways, and centered in the heart. Similarly, life and growth move in nonlinear ways
from personal to transpersonal, from ego to spiritual concerns, from self to other to world to universe.
Role of the Therapist
Bonny (1978a) listed several qualities that were essential for BMGIM therapists. In relation to the client, the
therapist needs listening skills, empathy, sensitivity, trustworthiness, intuition, and a desire to serve. As
individuals, they also need to be self-confident, courageous, imaginative, and flexible. BMGIM therapists have to
be comfortable being nondirective, and they have to have experience working through their own problems
before they can serve others.
The functions of the guide are both traditional or general and specific. Traditional functions are to:
Reflect and resonate the client’s affect
Enter the emotional space of the client and be completely present
Lead the client, when ready, into new and more productive ways of being
Help the client to relax
Listen to and converse with the client and what he or she brings into the session
Observe and record all aspects of the session
Specific functions are to:
Open the client to new experiences
Help the client to recognize and work through issues that arise in the session
Provide a contact with consensus reality
Help the client to deepen the experience when needed
 Help the client to review and integrate material from each session
Closing Comments
The theoretical ideas of Helen Bonny are very much like the method she developed. Both are holistic in scope.
Bonny’s theories and GIM as a method recognize and honor the wholeness of the individual, the fullness of life,
and the vastness of the universe. In addition, both are very well-integrated, in fact, so integrated that it is difficult
to break down her theories or method into discrete topics. Every one of Bonny’s ideas are integrally related to
the others. Her notions about music are inseparable from her notions about consciousness which are
inseparable from her notions about therapy, which are inseparable from her notions about life in this universe.
Similarly, the elements of her method are integrally related if not overlapping. One cannot isolate any of the
therapeutic “agents” and analyze their role and respective efficacy, and one cannot isolate any of the
“procedures” to identify precisely when or how therapeutic change takes place. One simply cannot talk about
one aspect of Bonny’s theories or method without implicating all the others.
References
Bonny, H., & Pahnke, W. (1972). The use of music in psychedelic (LSD) psychotherapy. Journal of Music
Therapy, 9(2), 64—87.
Bonny, H., & Savary, L. (1973). Music and Your Mind: Listening With a New Consciousness. New York: Harper
& Row.
Bonny, H. (1975). Music and consciousness. Journal of Music Therapy, 72(3), 121-135.
Bonny, H., & Kellogg, J. (1977). Mandalas as a measure of change in psychotherapy. American Journal of Art
Therapy, 16, 126-130.
Bonny, H., & Tansill, R. (1977). Music Therapy: A Legal High. In G. Waldorf (Ed.), Counseling Therapies and
the Addictive Client (pp. 113-130). Baltimore, MD: University of Maryland School of Social Work and
Community Planning.
Bonny, H. (1978a). GIM Monograph #1: Facilitating GIM Sessions. Salina, KS: Bonny Foundation.
Bonny, (1978b). GIM Monograph #2: The Role of Tape Music Programs in the GIM Process. Salina, KS:
Bonny Foundation.
Bonny, (1979). GIM: Mirror of Consciousness or Avoidance of Reality: Processes and Promises in the GIM
Approach. Paper presented at the GIM symposium at the University of California, San Francisco, May, 1979.
See Bonny, 2002, pp. 93-102.
Bonny, H. (1980). GIM Monograph #3: Past, Present, and Future Implications. Savage, MD: Institute for Music
and Imagery.
Bonny, H. (1983). Cycles of experience: Past, present, and future. Keynote address presented at the national
conference of the American Association for Music Therapy, March, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Bonny, H. (1986). Music and Healing. Music Therapy: Journal of the American Association for Music Therapy,
6A(\), 3-12.
Bonny, H. (1987). Reflections: Music: The Language of Immediacy. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 12(3), 255-
262.
Bonny, H. (1989). Sound as Symbol: Guided Imagery and Music in Clinical Practice. Music Therapy
Perspectives, 6, 7-10.
Bonny, H. (1993). Body Listening: A New Way to Review the GIM Tapes. Journal of the Association for Music
and Imagery, 2, 3-13.
Bonny, H. (1994). Twenty-One Years Later: A GIM Update. Music Therapy Perspectives, 12(2), 70-74.
Bonny, H. (2001). Music and spirituality. Music Therapy Perspectives, 19(1), 59-62.
Bonny, H. (2002). Music and Consciousness: The Evolution of Guided Imagery and Music. Edited by Lisa
Summer. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
 READING 13
Taken from: Hadley, S. (Ed.) (2006). Feminist Perspectives in Music Therapy, pp. 227-244. Gilsum NH:
Barcelona Publishers.
Feminist Music Therapy: Transforming Theory, Transforming Lives
Sandra L. Curtis
It’s revolutionary for women to sing the blues, but it’s even more so to sing all the songs of life.
—Gloria Steinem, Revolution from Within
The widespread impact of feminism is undeniable, with a diverse array of fields enriched by its contributions.
Feminist therapy represents one of the most significant of these contributions in the area of women’s wellness.
Developing in response to the second wave of feminism and feminist critique of traditional therapy, feminist
therapy has now established a rich tradition of theory, practice, and research (Bricker-Jenkins, Hooyman, &
Gottlieb, 1991; Brown & Root, 1990; Burstow, 1992; Worell & Remer, 2003). This tradition has influenced those
working in such fields as psychotherapy, counseling, and social work— whether in choosing to practice feminist
therapy directly or to use it to inform their own practice. With its roots in the 1970’s, feminist therapy is still
greatly needed today: to address unique issues facing women; to provide a more complete understanding of
women in the sociopolitical context of ongoing patriarchy and institutionalized oppression; to fill gaps in current
theory and research; and to provide creative therapeutic approaches which better meet women’s needs (Worell
& Remer, 2003).
At the same time as feminist therapy has been developing, music therapy has been developing its own rich
tradition of theory, research, and practice. This tradition has, however, been relatively untouched by feminist
therapy. While some music therapists’ lives and practice may have felt the impact of feminist therapy, until now
this has been little reflected in music therapy writing, theory, or research (Baines, 1992; Curtis, 2000; Hadley &
Edwards, 2004). Yet each has much to offer the other. Feminist therapy brings with it an understanding of the
silencing of women’s voices in the current sociopolitical context. Music therapy brings with it a creative approach
which provides women a powerful and real counterpart to the metaphor of voice. Both recognize women’s
affinity for the creative arts, particularly music (Curtis & Harrison, 2006; Herman, 1997). Combined, they provide
a dynamic new approach for empowerment—feminist music therapy.
In this chapter I will look at the development of feminist music therapy— as both a specific practice and as a
process others may adopt should they be interested in starting their own journey towards feminist music therapy
practice. Focusing initially on feminist therapy, I will outline its definition, principles, goals, and techniques. A
process for the feminist transformation of music therapy will then follow. I will conclude the chapter with
women’s own voices, using examples from their individual experiences in feminist music therapy to illustrate its
theory and practice—to demonstrate the power of transforming theory to transform women’s lives.
Feminist Therapy
Feminist therapy is a philosophy of treatment which is based on a feminist belief system and which has as its
purpose both personal and sociopolitical transformation (Rosewater & Walker, 1985; Worell & Remer, 2003). As
such, it has many different definitions, just as feminism itself has many different definitions (Hadley & Edwards,
2004; Lerman & Porter, 1990). There are also many different types, such as liberal, womanist, cultural, and
radical feminist therapy (Brown & Root, 1990; Burstow, 1992; Johnson, 1983; Worell & Remer, 2003). Yet
despite these differences, there is a strong consensus concerning the basic principles of feminist therapy
(Brown, 1994; Rosewater & Walker, 1985). There are essentially three major and overarching principles from
which all others derive: 1) the personal is political; 2) interpersonal relationships are to be egalitarian; and 3)
women’s perspectives are to be valued (Bricker-Jenkins et al, 1991; Worell & Remer, 2003).
The principle that the personal is political is rooted in a feminist analysis of women as an oppressed group in
our culture and of the psychological effects of such oppression, as well as its interaction with other forms of
oppression such as classism, racism, ageism, ableism, and heterosexism (Laidlaw & Malmo, 1990; Ballou &
Brown, 2002). As a result, the focus of feminist therapy is both internal and external. Its purpose is not to enable
women to adjust to a dysfunctional culture, but to seek social change for all women in order to improve the
situation, while at the same time seeking personal change for individual women who have been harmed by the
current situation (Laidlaw & Malmo, 1990; Lerman & Porter, 1990; Worell & Remer, 2003). Feminist therapy
must be practiced not only as a healing art for individuals, but also as an “intentional act of radical social
change” (Brown, 1994, p.30).
The feminist therapy principle which stipulates that interpersonal relationships are to be egalitarian applies to
the client-therapist relationship, as well as to the personal relationships of both client and therapist. Thus, clients
must be empowered within therapy and within their own individual lives. Feminist therapists must not only
empower their clients, but be empowered themselves in their own lives. To be and to practice are one and the
same in feminist therapy (Bricker-Jenkins et al, 1991; Worell & Remer, 2003).
Similarly, the third overarching principle, that women’s perspectives are to be valued, applies within the client’s
life, the client-therapist relationship, and the therapist’s life. Feminist therapists are to enable their clients to
understand and value women’s perspectives; they must also enable their clients to value themselves. In order to
do so, feminist therapists must also value themselves, their clients, and other women, both in attitude and action
(Burstow, 1992).
The goals common to all feminist therapy practice stem directly from these overarching principles. As such, they
include both personal and sociopolitical transformation (Bricker-Jenkins et al, 1991). The focus of these goals is
threefold: to eliminate the oppression of women; to enable women to recover from the specific harm of
oppression; and to enable women to deal with the internalization of this oppression.
Some of the specific goals within this focus are:
1) to empower women and increase their independence, developing their personal and social power
2) to increase understanding of the sociopolitical context of women’s lives and problems; to increase
understanding of the interaction of multiple oppressions (e.g. sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, etc.)
3) to achieve optimal functioning as defined by each individual woman, rather than by the therapist or society;
and
4) to initiate necessary social change (Burstow, 1992; Worell & Remer, 2003)
To accomplish these goals, a number of feminist therapy techniques have evolved. Although small in number,
they are essential, distinguishing features of feminist practice. The core techniques include: demystification,
feminist analysis of power, and feminist gender-role analysis (Laidlaw & Malmo, 1990; Worell & Remer, 2003).
Demystification, although not unique to feminist therapy, is essential—only by providing clients with information
about therapy and in actively involving them in all its aspects, is it possible to establish the necessary egalitarian
client-therapist relationship. The feminist therapy technique of power analysis is unique and is used to increase
clients’ understanding of the relative societal powerlessness of women and the role that this plays in their lives.
This feminist analysis of power is not used to identify women as helpless victims of society or as entirely
powerless. Rather, it is used to enable women to see both the personal and societal sources of their problems,
to see both their sources of powerlessness and of power, and to see both societal and personal solutions to the
situation (Hall, 1992; Laidlaw & Malmo, 1990; Lerman & Porter, 1990). The feminist therapy technique of
gender-role analysis is used to identify and critically examine women’s and men’s socialization process—the
shared messages received by women and men (regardless of race, class, culture, etc.) and the impact these
have. These reflect institutionalized, integrated, and internalized sexism and, while shared, they intersect with
and are mediated by other societal oppressions such as racism, classism, heterosexism, etc. As with power
analysis, feminist analysis of gender-role socialization identifies the sources of strength as well as harm and
involves personal and societal change (Laidlaw & Malmo, 1990; Worell & Remer, 2003). With these core
techniques, stemming from the core goals and principles, it is clear that feminist therapy is far more than a non-
sexist approach; it involves a radical transformation of the therapy process, with feminist analysis engaged in by
client and therapist to accomplish both personal and political change.
Transforming Music Therapy
Feminist therapists generally receive training within a traditional therapeutic approach and only later undergo an
individual process of feminist transformation of their practice. It is this process, as it pertains to music therapy,
which will be outlined next. Judith Worell and Pamela Remer (2003) identify five steps in this feminist
transformation: 1) to identify sources of bias in the theory; 2) to modify or eliminate any biased components; 3)
to assess the theory’s viability; 4) to determine its compatibility with feminist criteria; and 5) to highlight its
unique contributions to feminist therapy. In developing my own practice of feminist music therapy (Curtis, 2000),
these steps were most helpful and will be briefly outlined here.
A search for specific sources of bias reveals music therapy’s history to be a source of strength. Music therapy
has been informed by a variety of other theories concerning such issues as personality development, source of
client problems, and the client-therapist relationship. If we strip away these other theories, their inherent biases
can be eliminated, leaving a generally neutral music therapy theory about the human response to music. The
focus of this neutral theory is on the capacity of music to evoke physiological, affective, and cognitive
responses, making it a unique and effective treatment medium. By stimulating brain functions involved in
memory, in learning, in motivation, and in emotional states, music has considerable potential for use in therapy
to influence human personality and behavior, and to activate healthy thinking (Thaut, 1990; Thaut & Smeltekop,
1990). This potential to elicit change is put into action by means of the unique relationship established between
client, therapist, and music
In light of this neutral focus, music therapy proves to be especially available for feminist transformation (Curtis,
2000). Music therapy meets, or can be readily adapted to meet, feminist criteria. There is nothing specific in this
neutral music therapy theory which precludes it from being: gender-balanced (as opposed to androcentric or
gendercentric), multicultural (as opposed to ethnocentric or heterosexist), interactionist (as opposed to
intrapsychic), and life-span oriented (as opposed to deterministic). While music therapy theory has not
traditionally included a specific focus on women in general or on women of diverse races, cultures, classes,
abilities, and sexual orientation, it is certainly sufficiently flexible to be modified to include these. The neutral
music therapy theory does not address the issue of the source of the individual’s problems and so, while it is not
specifically interactionist or life-span oriented, it too can be modified to become so. Finally, while this music
therapy theory does not necessarily or specifically adhere to feminist principles, neither does it contradict them.
To go further and embrace feminist criteria fully in the development of a truly feminist music therapy requires
transformation of the client-therapist relationship, of the music therapist’s personal life, and of music therapy
principles, goals, and techniques.
The neutral music therapy theory, while acknowledging the importance of the client-therapist relationship within
the framework of music experience, makes no specific stipulations concerning the nature of that relationship.
Thus, it must be transformed to incorporate the very important and specific stipulations of feminist therapy for an
egalitarian relationship—as much as is possible given the inherent power differential in any therapeutic
relationship. This issue of power has been problematic for feminist therapists who increasingly accept that
power exists in all interpersonal relationships and that the eradication of all power differentials, even in feminist
therapy, is impossible (Lerman & Porter, 1990; Smith & Dutton, 1990). Feminist therapists, however, see the
power inequity in therapy as temporary—it is their task to make the therapeutic relationship as egalitarian as
possible and at least equal in respect and value, if not in actual power. They must strive continually towards a
greater balance of power through their work with their clients within the therapeutic process and through
simultaneously working for social change (Lerman & Rigby, 1990; Smith & Dutton, 1990)
To place such importance on the nature of the client-therapist relationship highlights the importance of therapist
attitudes. As a result, personal transformation is required such that the personal relationships of feminist music
therapists themselves are characterized by equality and ongoing feminist analysis. Furthermore, they must
spend a portion of their personal lives in actively advocating for social change in order to better the external
world for all women.
In the area of principles and goals, music therapy’s transformation is readily accomplished through the
straightforward adoption of all feminist therapy principles and goals. This is not unreasonable to assume given
music therapy’s long tradition of adopting those of other theories. Feminist transformation of music therapy
techniques involves the integration of feminist techniques within a music therapy context. The techniques of
feminist analysis of gender-role socialization and power are hallmarks of feminist therapy used to accomplish a
number of its major goals. Two music therapy techniques which involve a combination of music and verbal
processing are particularly well suited for this: lyric analysis and songwriting. Music performance, composition,
and recording can also be used to accomplish the feminist goals of empowerment and of reclaiming voices
which have been silenced in patriarchy. As well, the valuing of women and of women’s self-nurturance can be
accomplished through the music therapy techniques of music-centered relaxation, music and meditation, and
music and imagery.
The final step in feminist transformation is the identification of the unique contributions music therapy can make
to feminist therapy. These lie in the dramatic power of music to change lives, in the unique medium music
therapy offers with its particular appeal to women, and in the rich resource of women’s music well suited for
feminist analysis of women’s lives in the current sociopolitical context. Perhaps the greatest contribution lies in
the opportunity it provides for women to write and record their own songs. In listening to and singing the words
of women songwriters, women can explore the subversion of the patriarchal message. In writing and singing
their own songs, they can tell their own stories and lay claim to their own unique voices.
Personal Contexts
In discussing the development of a new practice of feminist music therapy, it is important to understand that this
practice will reflect great diversity. While each therapist will strive to incorporate an understanding of the
complex interaction of oppressions in our lives, we all view the world through our own lenses. Our clinical
practice and our writings are informed by our personal frame of reference. Therefore, I would like to be
transparent about my own perspective by sharing a little about my personal background.
My personal context is characterized by the contrast of experiences of privilege and of oppression. I am a white,
middle-class, educated, able-bodied, heterosexual woman born in the mid 1950’s. As such, I have experienced
certain privileges of dominant group membership, such as access to privileged places, people and resources,
including higher education. As a heterosexual woman, I have been free to love whom I choose without fear of
discrimination or hatred. I have also, however, had the experience of being the “other,” of living on the margins,
and of being oppressed as a woman living in a patriarchal culture. The nature and extent of such
marginalization has been the topic of considerable feminist literature (Anzaldua, 1990; Brown & Gilligan, 1992;
Chesler, 1990; Gilligan, 1982; hooks, 2000). For me, it has run the gamut from feeling constrained by gendered
career stereotypes to being unable to find myself in any of my readings which only made reference to men and
mankind. Indeed it was these readings which led to my initial interest in feminist literature during my teenage
years. It is, however, my personal experience of violence which has been the most profound.
Violence in Women’s Lives
Violence is central to the lives of women living in a patriarchal culture (Burstow, 1992). This violence can be
both emotional and physical: Women are violently reduced to bodies, bodies for men as seen in the widespread
objectification of women; these bodies themselves can then be violated. This violence can be either actual
violence itself or simply the fear of violence which shapes our lives in a myriad of ways—from the way we dress
and talk to the times and places in which we walk. In whatever shape it takes, violence is integral to women’s
lives regardless of any differences such as race, class, etc. (Curtis, 2000 & 1994).
In addition to the general experiences of any woman living in a patriarchal culture, my personal experiences of
violence have also played a part in creating the lens through which I view the world. I have an on-going struggle
with issues of weight, body-image, and self-esteem; I believe this struggle to be partly a direct result of a culture
which violently reduces women to bodies and then enforces increasingly unrealistic standards of beauty for
those bodies. As well, I have had personal childhood experiences of emotional and sexual abuse. The insidious
nature of some of the emotional abuse was such that it served to leave me questioning the actual existence of
the sexual abuse: Was it really “that bad” that it should be called sexual abuse? It is only as an adult that I
have come to see it for what it truly was—sexual abuse prefaced by the ultimate betrayal by a male adult
authority figure.
Transforming Lives
Having examined the feminist transformation of music therapy and having outlined my personal contexts, I will
turn next to the actual experiences of women in feminist music therapy. From the large number of women with
whom I have had the honor of working, I have chosen to focus on two here so that their stories can be fully
heard in all their contextualized richness and complexity. While unique, the stories of these two women—Julie
and Roslyn1—are representative of the many women I have worked with in Canada and the United States. Their
experiences truly reflect the marvelous transformation I have witnessed.
Julie and Roslyn participated in a feminist music therapy group with me at a battered women’s shelter. Prior to
working with these women, I had to do some preparatory work—to ensure I had an in-depth feminist
understanding of the nature of male violence against women and to develop cultural competence for working
with diverse women. Feminist analysis of woman abuse within intimate relationships identifies it as a gendered
phenomenon deeply rooted in a patriarchal culture which not only perpetuates the violence, but is in turn
perpetuated by it. This abuse is related to all types of male violence against women (e.g. rape, incest, sexual
harassment, etc.), each one being a manifestation of male control of women and each one being condoned and
encouraged by patriarchy (Curtis, 2000; Marshall & Vaillancourt, 1993). While women abuse survivors share
much in common, their experiences also differ because of the diversity of their backgrounds (Burstow, 1992).
Subsequently, I began a self-directed process of developing cultural competence for working with the diverse
women in my practice. This is a life-long process recommended for any therapist working with clients of differing
sex, race, class, sexual orientation, etc. It involves an examination of one’s own cultural background and
attitudes, followed by the development of cultural literacy and skills (Curtis, 2004).2
Julie
Julie’s Story
Julie, an African American woman, was 25 years old when she joined the music therapy group. She was single,
with a 6-month-old daughter. She came to the women’s shelter seeking safety from an abusive boyfriend.
In describing her experience of abuse, Julie indicated that the abuse had started in the first year of her 4-year
relationship, escalating as time passed, becoming particularly bad at the time she became pregnant. This is not
uncommon for abused women. Julie mentioned that the abuse included all types, with control being an
important part of it all:
“He would come home and he would bad-mouth me, call me fat, urn, bitch … and other words, you know, I’d
rather not say … But you know he controlled me so much to the point where I was really scared to leave. He
would threaten me, tell me that he would kill me if I left him. And I really thought he would, so I wouldn’t.”
Julie’s Songs
Julie was involved in a feminist music therapy group with me twice weekly for 10 sessions. Because of the
demands of infants present in the group on their mothers, Julie was not able to do any relaxation to music. Her
time in therapy was spent doing feminist analysis of power and gender role socialization through lyric analysis,
singing, and songwriting. For purposes of lyric analysis, Julie received a songbook and recording of a wide
variety of songs written and performed by women on a great diversity of themes such as love, romance,
violence, gender role socialization, healing, and empowerment. From Alanis Morissette to the Dixie Chicks, from
Tracy Chapman to Alisha Keyes, women singer-songwriters are singing eloquently about women’s lives.3 Julie
was very articulate and participated enthusiastically in the discussions during lyric analysis. She readily drew
connections between issues addressed in other women’s songs and her own experience. She also suggested
some song titles— R&B—which she thought would be good for the group to listen to and discuss. These songs
by Jody Watley, Mary J. Blige, and Chantay Savage, as well as songs from the “Waiting to Exhale” movie
soundtrack (1995), were particularly effective for Julie and the other women in the group—they mirrored their
experiences as women of color.
In songwriting, Julie was much more hesitant initially. Her first song was a genuine struggle for her. Yet by the
next song, her progress in recovering from the abuse began to become apparent. Written with the piggy-back
technique to the melody of “Hand in My Pocket” by Alanis Morissette (1995), it sings of hope and resistance:
“And what it all comes down to is I’ve finally got peace of mind / I’ve got one hand in my pocket and the other’s
thanking the Lord … / What it all comes down to is the road’s not so rough anymore / I got one hand in my
pocket and the other’s shooting the bird.” Julie’s final song—her first with original lyrics and music—clearly
illustrates the changes in her thinking about women’s and men’s relationships in general, and about her own
relationship in particular. “Not Anymore” provides a strong message of resistance and of self-valuing.
Not Anymore
There comes a time in a woman’s life when she doesn’t want to be alone
She wants that peace of mind, the need to be touched
By a strong man with strong hands, the kind that turns her on
But not anymore
I thought I found that man of my dreams
But roses turned blue and milk got sour, the grass wasn’t green
Not anymore
Who do you think you’re calling bitch?
I was good to you from day one, and never stopped
I should have recognized the signs, but I was blinded by love, you see
But guess what baby?
Not anymore
You see I realized the day I left you That roses are red, only
violets are blue So you can kiss my ass and the baby’s too
I don’t have to take your shit
I am Black, I am beautiful, I am strong, I am proud
And we don’t need you
No, not anymore.
Julie chose to do this song in the style of Jody Watley’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” (1996)—spoken, with
background music. Julie also chose to perform it herself for the final recording—a very self-affirming experience
for her.
Julie’s Transformation
Julie’s progress in feminist music therapy was notable. This was reflected both in standardized measures and in
Julie’s own words. Her self-esteem increased from the 60th to the 80th percentile on the Tennessee Self
Concept Scale (Roid & Fitts, 1991). When asked in an exit interview about her efforts to recover from the harm
of abuse, Julie replied:
“You were one of them. Yeah. Because I love music and it helps for me to get it out because [in a whisper] I
never talked to anybody about my problems ... So I kept everything inside and it was killing me … Just being
here, talking to the girls, talking with you ... It really helped me out.”
Julie described her experience in music therapy saying:
“It was, uh, more emotional therapy, you know, because some part was putting your feelings into music. It was
just, it was the way I expressed myself that made it good. And that really helped me out emotionally. Made me
sit down every Monday and every Wednesday and just think a little more. You know, and uh, and [she starts
clapping as she sings:] “I don’t have to take this shit.” You know, you know [laughter].”
In summarizing what she would take with her from her experiences in music therapy, Julie commented:
“I won’t leave here and get involved with a man and go through the same changes I been through before. It will
never happen again. And I know a lot of women say that and don’t follow up behind it. But I think even if I didn’t
have a child to live for … It’s not just because of her, but it’s because of me ... so I meant, “No. Not Anymore.”
Roslyn
Roslyn’s Story
Roslyn, a European American woman, was 45 years old when she started music therapy. She was single, with
grown children no longer living at home. Roslyn came to the shelter seeking safely from an abusive boyfriend.
In describing her experiences of abuse, Roslyn indicated that her last two relationships had been abusive.
Roslyn described the abuse in her most recent relationship as involving both physical and emotional abuse:
“It was 2 weeks ago he took me with a rope ... I was asleep ... I woke up with a noose around my neck. And he
was hollering, “Say you want to live.” And he said, “If you want to die, I’ll kill you.” And what’s sad is I never did
ask him to stop … because he had me convinced I was just an idiot, just totally stupid.”
Roslyn’s Songs
Roslyn was involved in feminist music therapy with me twice weekly for 8 sessions. Being in the same group as
Julie, Roslyn’s time in music therapy was spent doing lyric analysis and songwriting using the same collection of
women’s songs.
Although she was somewhat quieter than the other women in the group (particularly in the earlier sessions),
Roslyn listened attentively and then later participated eagerly in the discussions during lyric analysis. For
Roslyn, it seemed that hearing women songwriters sing about abuse and hearing the other women in the
therapy group discuss their experiences helped break the isolation and gave her permission to discuss her
experiences. Initially she expressed her feelings of fear and shame. When faced with a song which had
women’s righteous anger as a theme, Roslyn stated simply that she was not at a point where she could express
anger at her abusers, nor could she visualize herself ever reaching such a point. Yet 2 weeks later, she eagerly
and with much laughter recounted to me in therapy how she had puzzled her counselor earlier that day; to his
question about what she hoped to become, she had replied, “a bitch with a bad attitude,” making reference to
the song of that title (Adegabalola, n.d.). Roslyn finally felt that she had the right to be angry, to express that
anger, and to refuse to be abused or to be blamed for the abuse any longer. As in one of her favorite lines from
that song, “If s better to be pissed off than pissed on.”
This remarkable progress for Roslyn from victim to strong survivor is clearly evidenced in the songs she wrote in
music therapy. Roslyn took to songwriting immediately. For her, the written word seemed a safe way to express
herself. In songwriting, Roslyn had no difficulty finding the right words and those words clearly reflected her
progress.
In a song with original lyrics written to the melody of “Hand in My Pocket” (Morissette, 1995), Roslyn expressed
some of her conflicting emotions at that time—the harm she suffered, yet her hope for a new life, one with
peace of mind and serenity. Roslyn felt strongly about her repeated line, “I’ve closed my mouth and opened up
my ears,” commenting that it reflected her desire to listen and learn from her mistakes. I believe it also reflects
the stage Roslyn was at during the time she wrote it—a time when she still felt considerable self-blame for the
abuse and a time when her voice was still silenced. This was also reflected in one of her song’s lines—“And
what it all comes down to is I’m looking for me.” Her final song reflects a remarkable difference. In “Here Comes
Roslyn,” with its original music, no longer is Roslyn a silenced woman. In good-humored fashion, Roslyn gives
voice to her anger, holding the abuser responsible for the violence. But “Here Comes Roslyn” is not just a song
of anger and resistance. It is a song celebrating her new found life and her new found ability to value
herself—“Watch out world ‘cause here comes Roslyn / I’m claiming my spot, gonna have me some fun.”
Here Comes Roslyn
I prayed to God and got away
Now son of a bitch you’re gonna pay
I’m signing your card and
      purling it in the mail
Happy Mother’s Day babe,
      I hope you rot in jail
I’ve got your name on the sole of my shoe
Watch out now,
      you don’t know what I’ll do
Chorus:
Watch out world ‘cause here comes Roslyn
I’m claiming my spot,
      gonna have me some fun
Watch out world ‘cause here comes Roslyn
I’m claiming my spot,
      gonna have me some fun
Home, family, & friends are back so far
Hopefully soon I’ll come up with a car
My psyche is strong,
      another human won’t break
The burden on my heart is
      no longer an ache
You controlled my life
      like a cancerous mole
Now I have my life,
      but you’re still an asshole
I’m happy, happy, having fun
I’m happy, happy, having fun
You say you teach tough love
      with every hit
I learned loser you’re full of shit
I’m out on my own and lovin’ Roslyn
If I were a big man
      you’d be totin’ a bruisin’
Your bridges you are burning out fast
I pray for all victims
      that I was your last
Chorus
I’m happy, happy, having fun
I’m happy, happy, having fun
In discussing the recording of her song, Roslyn had been adamant that I record it for her, saying that she had no
voice for it. At the very last minute, having heard Julie record her own song, Roslyn asked if she might also
record hers. Although she had thought she would recite it as Julie had done with her song, I suggested she try
singing it in the blues style in which it had originally been composed. With microphone in hand and with some
initial trepidation, Roslyn started to sing her song, surprising both of us with her deep and strong voice. Roslyn
had truly found her own genuine voice.
Roslyn’s Transformation
As remarkable as Julie’s progress was, Roslyn’s eclipsed it—both on the standardized self-esteem test (with an
increase from the 8th to the 46th percentile) and as reflected in her final interview. In response to a request to
describe herself, she commented:
“Like I told you, I’m fixin’ to be [a moment of silence]. What the, the [Interviewer: You can say it on tape], the
bitch with an attitude. I’m talking about ... I, I have found so much of myself that I like and I have found out that I
have a lot of good in me.”
Discussing the experience of songwriting, Roslyn stated:
“Oh, you saw me glowing in there like a light bulb! I’m still lit up now. I’m so excited I can’t stand it and it looks
so professional. I think if people heard it, they’d love my song! I do. Now you can see I’m well… I’m strong.”
Finally in summing up what she would take with her from the music therapy experience, Roslyn said:
“I really do feel nobody will ever be able to break my spirit again … I’ve gotten it back a lot through this music.”
Conclusion
In this chapter, the transformation of theory has been examined, with an opportunity to hear the voices of
individual women and their own particular experiences in feminist music therapy. In working with these women, I
have learned much—about their experiences, about the fragility of the human spirit on the one hand and its
resilience, when nurtured, on the other hand, and about the transformative powers of music. I have seen women
move from unfamiliarity with feminist music therapy, uncertainty as to what it might offer them, and even, for
some, initial reluctance to participate in such a thing when they were hurting so much, to eager anticipation and
surprised delight in themselves and their music. There were times when they were no more surprised than I was
at this transformation and at the power of music in their lives.
In exploring this new thing called feminist music therapy, the importance of group work should not be
overlooked. Some have argued that women do not need therapy; they simply need to talk with other women
friends about their experiences. One therapist, Laura Brown (1994), agrees but goes further to say that women
of today rarely have the opportunity just to chat with other women and so, rather than supplanting woman talk,
feminist music therapy provides a much-needed opportunity for it. Thus, it was when the women in my feminist
music therapy sessions perceived their experiences as simply time spent chatting with good friends, that I
believe they were most empowered. In feminist music therapy, the women were able to participate as members
in group song discussions, as individuals within a group in writing and recording their individual songs, and as a
group in listening to each other’s original compositions—providing both validation and inspiration to each other
in finding their own voices.
When looking back at the women’s experiences in feminist music therapy—their self-esteem, their songs, and
their voices in interview, the transformational power of music becomes clear. The testimony of these women is
compelling. They have moved in feminist music therapy from finding their own voices and stories in the songs of
other women, to finding the value of their own voices such that they were able to write and record songs
themselves. Their experience has genuinely been one of finding their own true spirit. Since such a great debt is
owed to these women for their lessons to us about the power of music to transform lives, it is only fitting that the
final words belong to their voices of subversion and of soul.
“My soul wasn’t gone, but my spirit was totally crushed. And I’ve gotten a lot back through this music … I’m fixin’
to be a bitch with an attitude … And nobody’s gonna take my spirit from me.”
—Roslyn
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Smith, Adrienne J. & Dutton, Mary A. (1990) Empowerment as an ethical imperative. In Hannah Lerman &
Natalie Porter (eds.), Feminist Ethics in Psychotherapy. New York: Springer.
Steinem, Gloria (1992) Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-esteem. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
Thaut, Michael H. (1990) Neuropsychological processes in music perception and their relevance in music
therapy. In Robert K. Unkefer (ed.), Music Therapy in the Treatment of Adults with Mental Disorders:
Theoretical Bases and Clinical Intervention. New York: MacMillan.
Thaut, Michael H. & Smeltekopf, Roger A. (1990) Psychosocial and neurophysiological aspects of music
therapy interventions. In Robert K. Unkefer (ed.), Music Therapy in the Treatment of Adults with Mental
Disorders: Theoretical Bases and Clinical Intervention. New York: MacMillan.
Waiting to Exhale [CD] (1995) New York: Arista Records.
Watley, Jody & Campbell, Larry (1996) When a than loves a woman [Recorded by Jody Watley]. On Jody
Watley: Greatest Hits [CD]. Universal City, CA: MCA Records.
Worell, Judith & Remer, Pamela (2003) Feminist Perspectives in Therapy: Empowering Diverse Women. New
York: Wiley.
 READING 15
Taken from: Hadley, S. (Ed.) (2006). Feminist Perspectives in Music Therapy, pp. 367-392. Gilsum NH:
Barcelona Publishers.
Consideration Of Potential Informants From Feminist Theory For Music Therapy Practice
Jane Edwards
Introduction
Elucidating aspects of feminist theory could be useful in developing some deeper theoretical constructs to
support the practice of music therapy. Since many feminist theorists have contributed to debates about various
forms of representation within society, I would suggest that discussions of clinical and community-based
practices with music therapy clients benefit from reflection on these views. I hope that music therapy students
and practitioners seeking a broader frame of reference by which to approach complex situations in their own
lives or in therapy work with their clients can be stimulated and encouraged by reflection upon and reference to
the ideas presented here.
I am a feminist. Since I am also an academic, I feel it necessary to ensure that it is clear to the reader that I do
not present myself here as a feminist scholar. I have not undertaken any in-depth study of feminism in the way I
have studied music therapy. I use the term feminism to refer to a tradition of theory and practice or even a way
of perceiving the world that acknowledges that injustices occur against individuals and groups because of
systemic problems that are broadly socially determined. My experience of contact with the varied theoretical
discourse that constitutes contemporary feminism has led me to understand that feminists work to think about,
deconstruct, disrupt, and interrogate existing values that operate in the construction of social values with the
goal of emancipation and positive social change through encouraging and valuing the human agency of all
citizens. These existing “relations of power” (Foucault, 1995) act to include and exclude, value and
disenfranchise, privilege and disengage, and can prohibit agency and self-determination. Inherent in this view is
the idea that all members of society participate in upholding or maintaining these values whether they are
considered to be members of oppressing or oppressed groups.
These power values can operate consciously and unconsciously. Indeed, oppressive mechanisms are more
powerful if they operate unconsciously under the guise of a neutral system, free of values or stratification. This
determination can be read or experienced in various forms such as in ones interpersonal relationships, the
media,1 scholarly writing, the law, and so on. Oppression can occur against any group through preventing or
limiting access to opportunities for choice and power or even through negotiation in professional work, personal
life, division of labour in the home, in relation to identity, the body, and other constructs concerning the self.
Feminist theory often concerns itself with these issues in relation to women, but it should be remembered that
feminist theorising usually gives consideration to a range of human experiences, with critical appraisal of social
norms that can be informed or even re-formed from feminist principles.
My motivation to write this chapter comes from the view I hold that most societies can and should “do better” in
terms of their treatment of others. Frequently fielding the accusation (or perhaps I mistake people’s admiration)
that I am a Utopian, or even more recently a “Pollyanna,” I find myself constantly asking “what’s wrong with this
picture?” and even “how did this picture come to be painted or photographed in this way?” How is it possible, for
example, that at the time I am writing this, it is a fact that in the history of the albeit relatively new university
where I currently work, not one woman has ever been promoted from my level to the next level? This cannot
help but shape something of the energy I bring to the topic of feminism, and the ideas around power that inform
this chapter.
The current circumstances for many of our clients, and those citizens we feel concern for but do not necessarily
work with, are unacceptable to my value system. I consider that feminism offers one way to identify and
question these discourses, and believe that these ideas can be used to collectively re-view our world of work, of
power, of personal experience. Perhaps, like therapy, engagement with feminist theory offers a way to “catch
sight of ourselves,” since our perceptions are complexly influenced from preexisting values, terrains of
knowledge, and ideas. We can hardly have a thought that should not be held up to some kind of scrutiny as
problematic or “biased.” Or to put it another way, “We always ‘see’ from points of view that are invested with our
social, political, and personal interests, inescapably -centric in one way or another, even in the desire to do
justice to heterogeneity” (Bordo, 2003, p.223).
As an example, I rarely have the experience of realising how many “givens” are in unconscious operation for
me, but recently I watched the film Buena Vista Social Club (Wim Wenders, 1999). In the part of the film where
the Cuban musicians come to New York City, I was struck by the way that US iconography was not etched on
their mental landscapes. For example, they saw a lineup of doll mannequins of US Presidents in a shop window
and decided that the characters must all be famous people. Since the Clinton doll was holding a saxophone
they concluded he might have been a visiting musician they performed with in Cuba. They pointed to Marilyn
Monroe’s image nearby and wondered aloud if she was famous but they had no name or context for her.
In reflecting upon and exploring existing and potential feminist informants for music therapy, it is important to
suggest and claim that I, like most of you who will read this, have been brought up in an environment that has
given heed to feminist issues and has incorporated, even unconsciously internalised, a value system that has
an awareness of feminism in the same way that I, as an Australian citizen who lives and works in Ireland and
has only visited the US five times can recognise images of Clinton, Nixon, Reagan, and Carter as well as Bush
Sr., and Bush Jr., among others. I suggest that feminism is present in many points of view or debates for us
even if it is not always called that; perhaps sometimes instead it is just referred to as “rights” or “women’s
issues.” It is not possible then to reflect on the “inclusion” of feminist theory in this chapter as an addition to
thinking about ways of working in music therapy, since for someone like myself feminism has been a surround
or even a backdrop for all parts of my life—particularly those which are political or professional, as well as, of
course, the personal. As I have suggested elsewhere:
I would argue that music therapy is always a socio-political work—in simple terms, what we do with our clients
and their families in turn effects our society simply by being part of the warp and weft of the fabric of our
community behaviour .... Since the civil rights movement and the movements that followed, including the many
strands of feminist theory and feminism, I think it is impossible to live without consciousness of the ways in
which our society and community shape our perspective to “other” whether we understand that in Marxist terms
or perhaps even with reference to Kristeva’s useful notion of abjection.2
It seems to me that it has not been possible to be a citizen of the first world over the past forty years without
being aware of terminology related to feminist thought such as “patriarchy,” “subordination,” “oppression,”
“minority,” “identity” or “consciousness.” These words have been actively discussed and used in writings about
feminist theory; however, it is important to note their origins and use in the struggle and achievements of the
Civil and Human Rights movements in the USA and beyond. I have elsewhere suggested that there is an
emerging consciousness of these ideas in music therapy, even if they do not always take the shape and name
of “feminism” and, as Susan Hadley and I have argued, a book like this one in which these ideas are developed
and acknowledged is long overdue for our field (Hadley & Edwards, 2004).
In many of the feminist traditions which I find influential and interesting, the oppression of women by a social
construct described as patriarchy is a primary arena for consideration of the revolutionary change needed in
order for all citizens to have self-determining lives. The concept underpinning reference to patriarchal structures
is that patriarchy is an inherited set of patterns that become internalised “frames” of reference, collectively and
individually. Like any ideology,3 patriarchy’s mechanisms operate unconsciously and are difficult to extricate as
“givens” since they are presented as normal and “correct.”
A final introductory thought is that I understand, and use here, the term feminism to refer to many different
traditions and theories, with a range of points of agreement and disagreement, solidarity and conflict. It is almost
impossible for me to imagine a contemporary feminist perspective that is only prepared to accept one true way
of knowing, living, and experiencing a feminist identity, or purports to hold one “correct” feminist theoretical
stance. I agree with Susan Bordo’s observation that “contemporary feminism remains a diverse and pluralist
enterprise.” (Bordo, 2003, p.216). It is important to me that every feminist can think about the potential as well
as the limitations of a feminist perspective in any critical scrutiny of public or private life. It would be a
misreading of this stance to consider that I find a personal and professional life informed from feminist ideals a
hopeless enterprise. I suggest that the multi-faceted nature of feminism is no more problematic than what we
think we mean by terms such as democracy, psychoanalysis, or quantum physics. I especially reject the use of
“feminist” as a monolithic term, or “feminism” used as a descriptor to identify a theory that is supposedly
obvious, with the assumption that we all know what is meant by the employment of the term, and I dislike its
frequent use as a synonym for misandry.
An Overview Of Some Arenas Of Feminist Thought
It is beyond the scope of this chapter, this book, our profession, and human capacity to ever be able to provide
comprehensive representation of any one idea, approach, or experience. Rather, I wish to discuss and
represent my own view about a panoply of feminist theoretical arenas with which I have come into contact and
the way these are useful or at least interesting to the situation of the work of therapy, offering the possibility to
view interaction with clients in a wider context than either a medical or wellness model. Many of these are
contested sites of dialogue and exchange and it is important to point out that in a great number of cases
theorists writing on the same topics do not agree with each other. In fact there are some theorists, such as
psychoanalyst and philosopher Julia Kristeva (1984), often quoted in the feminist literature, who do not identify
themselves as feminist and find the term feminist problematic and incongruent with their theoretical
propositions.
Representation
The issue of representation has been a preoccupation of the various waves of feminism, especially when
looking at arenas where achievements of men have been prized and acclaimed. In my daily life the question
“Where are the women?” can be asked in almost every glance at the newspaper (especially the obituary section
of the Irish Times newspaper where one is grateful for being female since so very few of them ever seem to
die in this country), every board and committee meeting, and every government decision made on behalf of the
electorate. One must be careful however not to only focus on gender balance and representation in engaging
with feminist ideas. I am taken by Naomi Klein’s observation that while her generation of student activists stood
against the wall challenging their professors over the poor representation of minority groups in texts for course
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