Music Listening, Music Therapy, Phenomenology and Neuroscience

(^) 2.3.5.2. Grocke’s Structural Model of Music Analysis (SMMA)
Grocke’s final task is to uncover the features of music that underpin pivotal moments. For this pur-
pose, she develops the Structural Model for Music Analysis (SMMA). Upon discussing Bonny’s cate-
gories of musical elements, Grocke assesses a large number of potential musical components, and
proposes a model for the analysis of notated music, comprising 63 components within 15 fields (pp.
149-164, 214-216):

1. Style and Form. 2) Texture. 3) Time. 4) Rhythmic features. 5) Tempo. 6) Tonal features.


2. Melody. 8) Embellishments, ornamentation, and articulation. 9) Harmony. 10) Timbre and quality
   of instrumentation. 11) Volume. 12) Intensity. 13) Mood. 14) Symbolic / associational.


3. Performance.
   The SMMA is not a phenomenological model, but it touches on phenomenological aspects in the ob-
   servations of the three last fields, mood, symbols, associations, and performance.
   The phenomenological analysis had identified the music selections underpinning pivotal moments.
   The structural analysis subsequently enables Grocke to accomplish her crucial task, to identify fea-
   tures common to all four music selections underpinning pivotal moments (p. 206). She found that the
   music,

• has a formal structure in which there is repetition.


• is predominantly slow in speed, and tempos are consistent.


• is predictable in melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements.


• features dialogue between instruments.

Grocke’s dissertation is a pioneering work, providing fundamental documentation of Bonny’s Method
of Guided Imagery and Music, elaborate analyses of relationships between musical units and imag-
ery units in GIM sessions, and a model for structural analysis of music, which may serve as a tool in
other studies. Grocke has published a detailed account of the SMMA approach, presenting Sarah’s
pivotal session as a case example (2007:149-161).

2.3.6. Lee (2000): A Method of Analyzing Improvisations in Music Therapy

Colin Lee’s method of analyzing improvisations combines a phenomenological approach with oth-
er kinds of analysis, including transcription of the improvisation. He emphasizes the importance of
intersubjective evaluation, and recommends the choice of a pertinent improvisation for analysis, as
the method is time-consuming. Lee chooses an improvisation from two years of music therapy with
Eddie, a HIV positive client who died in 1995.

Lee proposes a progression in nine stages:

1. Holistic listening
   Several listenings in order to obtain a sense of the entire improvisation, including open listening, lis-
   tening for shapes and structures, description and transcription of significant musical elements, and a
   final open listening.