specific differences could appear in the music-focused listenings, such as spatial visualization in two
dimensions versus three dimensions (Bartok no. 18).
The most important outcome of the intersubjective exchange was the progressive appearance
of new discoveries. Compared to the preparatory listenings by one participant, the investigations by
two participants resulted in much more detailed, far-reaching, and interesting descriptions.
- Explore time-consciousness
Exploration of time-consciousness was implemented by virtue of variable temporal focusing and the
description of wide, broad and narrow fields of sonorous presence. - Include the lifeworld as the prerequisite for phenomenological investigation
The lifeworld of the participants was not thematized in the sessions. However, the 11th listening of
Bartok gave rise to a long conversation about personal memories and relationships, which is not
included in the report. In the hermeneutically directed listenings, references to the participants’ mem-
ories were inevitable, such as the associations in Bartok listenings no. 3 and 4, and Webern listening
no. 16.
Investigations of the onto-historical lifeworld of the composers was not a goal of the investiga-
tion. The interpretation in listening no. 5 of the Bartok piece hinted at Bartok’s lifeworld, imagining the
situation of exiled Hungarians in Transylvania after World War I. - Regard the body as the origin and enduring basis for phenomenological investigation
A number of questions and tasks aimed directly at describing the music in the form of body-based
experiences, such as song and dance, movement, gesture and voice, mood, emotion and expres-
sion, tension and relaxation.
In addition, spontaneous bodily reactions appeared in the session reports. ”The first tone en-
ters me directly, a very fine tone, it is like a spearhead, a unicorn’s horn” (Bartok no. 1).
”I feel the basses physically as vibrations in the floor” (Bartok no. 16). ”I can feel the sound surround-
ing ny shoulders” (Bartok no. 23). ”Total well-being. Lovely, affectionate, warm, gentle, supple” (Haw-
kins no. 23).
Description of the body-based sound production in flutes included hissing and breathing (Bar-
tok no. 12). Description of the sound production in strings included touch, bow strokes, and pressure
(Webern no. 25).
A very particular bodily reaction induced by attentive listening was the sensory integration of
audition and vision. ”I feel my attention as a pressure around the eyes, as if I am observing from the
back side of my eyeballs” (Bartok no. 15). This may reveal the participant’s particular orientation to-
ward visualization of the musical experience.