The phenomenological approaches in the summarized studies represent different variations of Fer-
rara’s procedure, modified for use in music therapy; client background / open listening / sound as
such / structure / semantics / pragmatic interpretation / open listening / critical evaluation.
All of the procedures are different, but related. Together, they provide an array of elements for
phenomenological description that can be selected and combined in future studies.
2.4 Experimental Phenomenology: A project in experimental listening
Background and objective
Don Ihde’s book Experimental Phenomenology (1977) is an introduction to conducting investigations
in visual phenomenology, including practical exercises. His book Listening and Voice (1976) intro-
duces methodical approaches to investigations in auditory phenomenology, but provides no exer-
cises or examples. As a contribution to auditory phenomenology, the present author has conducted
practical listening experiments which combine approaches from Ihde’s two books. This idea was
suggested by Michele Forinash (Personal communication, 2010).^36
It is the aim of the project to explore the application of phenomenological variations in music
listening, in order to add a new operational procedure to the phenomenological investigation of music.
Research questions
What questions and listening tasks are relevant and fruitful for the phenomenological investigation of
music?
What kinds of progression and procedure are profitable?
What are the achievements of phenomenological investigation of music?
2.4.1. Don Ihde’s method
In Experimental Phenomenology, Ihde presents the claim that phenomenological experiments
should be conducted according to a set of controls and methods. And in order to understand phe-
nomenology, one has to do phenomenology (pp. 14-15). He describes three levels of investigation
(pp. 34-42):
First level
Specify the field of investigation by suspending ordinary belief and taken-for granted theory.
Second level
Investigate the essential features and structures belonging to the experienced object.
Third level
Reflect upon the relationship between what is experienced and the way it is experienced.
First and second levels encompass phenomenological reductions, ”methodological devices that clear
the field and specify how it is to be approached” (p. 41). It is appropriate to remember that in phe-
nomenological language, the meaning of ”reduction” is ”to lead back”, derived from the word’s latin
origin. The idea is to lead the inquiry back to ”the things themselves”, liberated from presuppositions.
36 In a seminar 25 April 2010 in Aalborg University, Forinash introduced Ihde’s Experimental Phenomenology, and sug-
gested that Ihde’s ideas could be applied in the auditory domain.