- Semantic step
a) Description of musical structures in relation to the client’s comments, gestures and verbal
metaphors, in order to clarify explicit referential meaning in the music.
b) Focus on codes and symbols in the music which may reveal implicit meaning in the musical
interplay between client and therapist. The music may be seen as a metaphor for being in the
world. - Pragmatic step
A search for a potential effect or outcome of the improvisation in the therapy process. - Phenomenological horizonalization
Listing of important issues, musical cues and events in step 3, 4 and 5. In the horizonalization, all
elements are assigned equal status. - Open listening
a) Listening again to the improvisation as one enduring whole, allowing every significant
element of the improvisation to emerge.
b) Body listening: The researcher moves to the music, allowing more dimensions of the improvisa-
tion to emerge. - Phenomenological matrix
A descriptive summary, synthesizing previous information from the analyses into three unit
blocks: a) the music. b) the potential meaning of the music. c) a possible effect of the
improvisation within the music therapy treatment process. - Meta-discussion
A discussion which takes into consideration the descriptive summary in the phenomenological
matrix, the client’s comments and behavior, the final interview with the client, the therapist’s
self-reflexive notes, and theoretical and philosophical aspects.
Two clinical cases
Trondalen applied this procedure in the analysis of two cases of anorexia nervosa, Julie, a young
woman, 25 years old, and Simen, a young man, 19 years old. For each client, she selected one sig-
nificant improvisation on the basis of comments by the clients and a concluding interview. She then
asked three persons, a scientific adviser, a peer therapist and herself to listen to the recordings and
indicate important moments in the music. The “significant moments” selected for description and
analysis were the moments indicated by all three listeners (2004:36-38).
Improvisations
In the selected improvisation, Julie sang and played drums, the therapist played piano. The improvi-
sation was the second out of ten, duration 2 minutes and 46 seconds, containing three rather short
significant moments, lasting for 9, 25 and 8 seconds.
In Simen’s selected improvisation, he played piano for the first time during the therapy process,
the therapist played percussion. The improvisation in question was the second improvisation in the
seventeenth out of nineteen sessions, duration 13 minutes and 43 seconds, containing three some-
what longer significant moments, lasting for 34, 49 and 44 seconds.
Application of the procedure
The nine-step procedure constituted the basis for detailed descriptions and interpretations. Step 1
described the client’s history and background. The open listenings in step 2 included the entire im-