title: Verticality and containment in song and improvisation: an application of schema theory to Nordoff-Robbins music therapy.
abstract: This study illustrates the use of a new musicological method for analyzing music in music therapy. It examines two pieces of clinical music through the constructs of schema theory. It begins with an argument for enhanced musical analysis in music therapy as a means of elevating the status of explanation in music therapy. Schema theory is introduced as a means of integrating musical with clinical concerns. Some basic ideas in schema theory are explained and the schemas of VERTICALITY and CONTAINER are presented as central ones in the analysis of music. Two transcriptions-one of a composed song and one of an improvisation-are examined in detail to illustrate how decisions in the temporal, melodic, and harmonic dimensions of the music are linked to specific clinical goals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this type of musicological analysis for explanatory theory in music therapy.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aigen
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000628:therapy*; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D009147:Music Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D011582:Psychological Theory; D055815:Young Adult