Appendix 3.08 Music in music therapy dissertations 2002- 2008
MT 10. Jinah Kim (2006) The effects of improvisational music therapy on joint attention
behaviours in children with autistic spectrum disorder
Jinah Kim has investigated the effects of music therapy in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder
by comparing two different conditions, improvisational music therapy and free play.
The sessions included a period of free play with a large array of toys, and a period of
improvised musical interaction between child and therapist.
The following instruments were available (pp. 66-67):
An upright piano, a standing cymbal, a 20 inch timpani drum, a diatonic alto xylophone,
a chroma harp.
A pair of paddle drums, four different colored toy handbells, three different color tone bars,
a small guiro, a pair of egg shakers, a pair of finger cymbals.
A pair of Nordoff-Robbins horns, a pair of whistles and bird call, two pairs of beaters.
MT 11. Inge Nygaard Pedersen (2006, Defense 2007) Counter transference in music therapy.
A phenomenological study on counter transference used as a clinical concept by music
therapists working with musical improvisation in adult psychiatry.
In her interview-based study of counter transference in music therapy, Inge Nygaard Pedersen
reports different kinds of improvised interplay between client and therapist using piano,
metallophone, xylophone, percussion and voice.
Some notable features of the improvisations reported in interviews are the following:
A wall of sound, fragmented sounds (p. 74)
Tiny movements or impulses of feelings and sensations (p. 79)
Chaos and structure, good and bad energies, automatic and intentional playing (pp. 82-84)
One-note improvisation on the piano (p. 148)