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Abstract
The thesis investigates music listening, music phenomenology and neuroscience related to music
therapy. Parts of a previous publication, The Musical Timespace, are included.
Music phenomenology
Criteria for phenomenological investigation are proposed, and the approaches of three important
authors in music phenomenology are compared. Thomas Clifton paves the way for the phenome-
nological exploration of time and space in music. Lawrence Ferrara designs a practical method for
phenomenological description. Don Ihde devises ground-breaking methods for the phenomenologi-
cal investigation of sound.
Music therapy research applies variations of the method proposed by Lawrence Ferrara, in or-
der to permit phenomenological descriptions of music and music therapy sessions.
The philosophy of Don Ihde constitutes a basis for the development of experimental listening,
a novel method for the phenomenological investigation of music.
The neurosciences and music
The outcome of four international conferences on the neurosciences and music is discussed and
validated on the basis of analyses of research procedures and results, and noteworthy studies are
highlighted.
The Musical Timespace
In consequence of findings in auditory science, parts of the text in The Musical Timespace have been
omitted, resulting in a concise version of the book. The concise version represents an investigation
of the experienced musical space and the listening dimensions in music. Five musical properties are
considered the basic listening dimensions in music; intensity, timbre, pitch, movement and pulse.
Present Moments: A new GIM program
A collaborative research project has resulted in the design of a new program for Guided Imagery and
Music Therapy, based on music from the 20th and 21th Centuries by Bartok, Corigliano, Messiaen,
Tavener, Pärt and Tormis.
Subcortical and cortical procession of music in the brain
Descriptions of the auditory system in relation to the general brain functions clarify the neural basis
for music listening. A novel experiment in neuroimaging, which documents the brain’s responses to a
complete piece of music, is reported.
Embodiment
Investigations of embodiment in different philosophical and scientific disciplines are reported, includ-
ing forms of vitality and the effects of neurotransmitters in the brain and the body.
A review of the attempts at establishing neurophenomenology as a new research paradigm
leads to the conclusion that the integration of the first-person perspective of phenomenology and the
third-person perspective of neuroscience remains an unfinished project.