Aesthetics

Different musics have different ideas of what is beautiful.

Many recognise Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’ as a masterpiece. However some prefer Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Munro. Others may engage more with this Lego parody of the Mona Lisa. 

Accepting there may be more than one view of what is beautiful opens up the possibility that others may prefer a different way of playing. Or may use different music for different purposes. For example, while heavy Metal often considered angry and aggressive, some find it peaceful and relaxing.

Having appreciation of the aesthetic parameters of a range of musical styles can help us notice and respond to musical cues. Towards the end of my music therapy training, a tutor shared her observations of me in a music & movement workshop in the early weeks of my training. The tutor thought I had a rhythm delay as I was walking on beats 2 & 4 of a song when everyone else was walking on 1 & 3. I was drawn to the prominent backbeat of the song.

Within music therapy globally, the prominence of aesthetics is often considered a key delineating factor between music and music therapy (AMTA, n.d.; Bruscia, 2014; Pavlicevic, 2000; Wigram, 2004). Music therapists generally differentiate a successful performance from a successful session expecting the former to contain beautiful music, at least within the parameters of that idiom. The purpose of the music in a music therapy session on the other hand is to facilitate a “musical experience” (Bruscia, 2014, p. xxiv) that will lead to a clinically significant event.  Less observance is paid to ‘conventional standards’ (p. 8) or emphasis on the perceived beauty of the clinical music.

Others (Ansdell, 2005; Lee 2003; Aigen, 2002) observe the clinical relationship to have its own aesthetic  drivers which play a significant role in shaping the music as it develops within the session where “beauty is a quality that can happen between people, not just a quality of a musical object” (Ansdell, 2005 p.216). The aesthetic qualities of the therapeutic relationship guide the music therapist’s application of music, acting as an intermediary between the musical identities of the therapist and the client within the clinical setting.