tions, marked in italics. This means that Grocke’s phenomenological music descriptions represent
the integrated outcome of several open listenings by Bonny and Grocke. In these listenings of music
by Brahms, Nielsen, Beethoven, Corelli, Richard Strauss and Bach orchestrated by Stokowski,
Grocke and Bonny describe particular kinds of perceived qualities (pp. 433-458):
Feelings, moods and expressions:
haunting, plaintive, tranquil, yearning, threatening, reassuring, non-obtrusive, martial, bombastic,
pleading, insistent, caring, triumphant, unsettling, eerie, jocular.
Sensuous qualities:
bright, warm, dark, ethereal, rounded, gentle, shimmering, strident.
Movement and bodily actions:
playful, restful, steady, passing back and forth, rocking, marching, running, gathering, leaning, push-
ing, pulling, panting, interweaving, gathering, drifting, floating, surging, tumbling, pounding, slapping,
sawing, scraping.
Space:
ascending, descending, climbing up, going down into a deeper space, grounded, open, inward turn-
ing, expanding, a wide container.
Time:
building up, waiting, time stands still, anticipation, prediction, impetus, moving ahead, propelling for-
ward, steady movement, interruption. Bonny: “Changes happening very fast.”
These kinds of descriptions are related to the characteristics of music chosen for GIM programs, as
pointed out by Helen Bonny; tension and release, expectations, container function, flow and move-
ment, structure and variability, emotional substance, mood, force, dynamic changes, timbre changes,
cross-over sensory experience (pp. 418-421, 142-145).
The descriptions display similarities with Ferrara’s style of phenomenological description
(this chapter p. 20), and similarities with the experiential acts which Clifton considers constitutive of
music: feeling, time, space, motion, form, and tone quality (Clifton 1983:22).
Listening for syntactical meaning
In the next step, listening for syntactical meaning, Grocke supports her listening for musical elements
and syntax with a comprehensive study of the printed score, following Ferrara’s suggestion: ”At this
point in the analysis, traditional methods could be implemented to support and embellish the phe-
nomenological analysis of musical syntax” (1984:360). This leads to the identification of Music Mean-
ing Units (MMU) related to characteristic changes in the music, such as themes, tempo, dynamics,
texture, or orchestration. Grocke gives each MMU a distinctive heading and describes its particular
features, and draws up complete lists of all MMUs, with score excerpts for precise identification (pp.
156, 433-458). The listing provides the basis for a detailed comparison with Imagery Meaning Units
(IMU) identified in the descriptions of the clients’ sessions.
This comparison, together with information from the client interviews in the first part of the study,
results in the identification of the precise pivotal moments: David: Beethoven’s Violin concerto, slow
movement. Sarah: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, slow movement. Bernadette: Brahms’ German
Requiem, part 1. Suzanne: The very last part of the fugue by Bach, orchestrated by Stokowski (pp.
163-190).