Step 4: Sound as souch
The sound of Sara’s breathing is crucial for the course of the session, and her gradual change from
sharp breaths to a soft, relaxed breathing exerts a strong impact on the therapists. The hum of an
oxygen machine serves as a reminder of the difference between humanity and machinery.
Step 5: Semantic
Referential meaning appears to the therapists in the form of strong images, including the image of
ocean waves evoked by Sara’s breathing.
Step 6: Ontology
Forinash senses the transition from life to death as a struggle as well as a resolution, both in Sara
and in herself.
Step 7: Metacritical evaluation
It is Forinash’s evaluation that the phenomenological approach allows for awareness and full experi-
ence of the various components of the therapy process. Summing up, the authors hope that the pre-
sented model will encourage further pursuit of alternative methods in music therapy research.
Forinash’s Dissertation: A phenomenology of music therapy with the terminally ill (1990).
In her doctoral dissertation, Forinash continues to develop the phenomenological approach. She re-
gards the 1989 article as an extremely useful first step, but feels that the method neglects important
aspects of a music therapy session, such as the therapist-client relationship and the presence of the
music as a growing and responsive force (1990:27-33).
In her study, Forinash describes ten different therapy sessions with ten terminally ill patients.
The sessions include a prominent component of singing. For analyses of the sessions, she does not
employ her seven-step adaptation of Ferrara’s progression. Instead, she develops a method based
on the phenomenological psychology of Amedeo Giorgi. This method enables her to focus on rela-
tionship, music, and process as the essential aspects of the sessions.
2.3.3. Amir (1990): A Song Is Born
Dorit Amir (1990) uses Forinash and Gonzalez’ seven-step method in her study of two successive
music therapy sessions, selected out of ten sessions with Abe, a young man who is quadriplegic as
a result of a car accident. The therapist improvises music, while Abe improvises lyrics, sitting in his
wheelchair. Abe’s issue in the first session is ”Freedom of the mind – freedom of the soul – freedom
of the body - that cannot be controlled.” In the second session, he improvises lyrics about riding in a
car, peace of mind, happy places, and a miracle road.
Patient-therapist relationship
The seven-step method serves as a useful framework for Amir, who writes insightful descriptions of
the therapy on the basis of observations during the sessions, audio and video recordings, and inter-
views with the patient and the therapist. She concludes that music therapy for Abe ”became a place
where he could allow himself to nurture his spirit through discovering his creativity and his beauty”
(p. 80). In this study, Amir overcomes Forinash’s two reservations mentioned above. She succeeds
in describing the patient-therapist relationship as well as the present force of the music.