dimensions are melody, rhythm, harmony, and micromodulation. It is a further suggestion of the in-
vestigation that music listening integrates sensations of time and space in the experience of a virtual
timespace.
Observations reported by music phenomenologists confirm the experience of a musical
space. In addition, it can be concluded that it is possible to find support in neuroscience for the in-
vestigations of musical space and the basic listening dimensions in music.
Chapter 5. Present Moments describes a project in collaborative research. The author and a skilled
Guided Imagery and Music therapist collaborated in a process of music selection that resulted in the
design of a new program for GIM therapy. The program is based on music from the 20th and 21st
Centuries by Bartok, Corigliano, Messiaen, Tavener, Pärt and Tormis. The therapeutical potential of
this program was tested in non-clinical and clinical sessions, which confirmed that the program was
well suited for clinical work with appropriate clients.
The aim of Present Moments is to offer the traveler an experience of centered presence and
gentle bodily energy. A high degree of coherence facilitating introspection and slowly unfolding visual
imagery enhances deep body imagery and kinaesthetic sensations.
Chapter 6. Subcortical and Cortical Processing of Sound and Music in the Brain summarizes
research that is important for understanding the functions of the brain and the auditory system. The-
ories by Gerald Edelman and Antonio Damasio facilitate the understanding of brain and conscious-
ness. Brief descriptions clarify the functions of the ascending auditory pathway, which sends informa-
tion from the ear to the brain, and the descending auditory pathway, which sends information in the
opposite direction, from the cortex of the brain to the cochlea in the ear. In each pathway, auditory
information in processed on six levels.
Finally, this chapter reports studies of extended brain networks involved in the processing of
music. A recent neuroimaging study by Alluri et al. is highlighted. The study presents pioneering
research which opens new perspectives in neuroscience. It documents the brain’s responses to a
complete piece of music, a tango by Astor Piazzolla.
Chapter 7. Embodiment summarizes investigations of embodiment that are considered relevant for
the present project. Of particular interest is the latest publication by Daniel Stern, Forms of Vitality
(2010). In this book, Stern presents a definitive version of his concept of vitality in the body, and re-
lates it to scientific research of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are produced in the brain stem
and distributed to large parts of the brain. Stern suggests that the interaction of five neurotransmitter
systems constitutes the basis of the multivariable forms of vitality.
In phenomenology as well as neuroscience, embodiment is a common field of investigation.
In the 1990’s, Francisco Varela proposed a new research paradigm, aimed at the integration of phe-
nomenology and neuroscience in neurophenomenology. Ambitious research programs were pre-
pared, but only a few experiments were carried out. Varela died in 2001, and neurophenomenology
remains an unfinished project.
Chapter 8. Discussion points out three main results of the present project. One result is the de-
velopment of experimental listening, which is a phenomenological procedure that permits detailed
investigation of musical expression and music which is not notated. Another result is the design and
clinical testing of a new program for Guided Imagery and Music Therapy, Present Moments. A third
result is a concise version of The Musical Timespace, which the author published in 1996. The new
version is shorter, clearer and more tenable than the original text. Still, this version calls for further
elaboration.
It is a limitation of the present project that it was not possible to include a detailed report of the
proceedings of the latest conference on The Neurosciences and Music.