Habitus

Pierre Bourdieu's notion of 'habitus' (2010) explains how previous experience can act as an enabler and an inhibitor when engaging in the arts.

 “A work of art has meaning and interest only for someone who possesses the cultural competence, that is, the code, into which it is encoded” (p.xxv).

 I can’t understand what Mr Semaphore is saying because I don’t understand Semaphore. I therefore have no access to his message. 

In music therapy, this could be considered to enable or inhibit access to therapy where a client may not be interested or have the musical experience to engage in the music of the therapist . Similarly, the therapist may not recognise potential musical cues from the client.