Listening visualizing feeling changing: psychocorrective opportunitiesof the guided imagination in the process of music perception

DR. MARINA V. KARASSEVA

Moscow State Conservatory

2

Subject of Investigation

This paper focuses upon an interaction between different human representative sensorysystems auditory, visual, and kinesthetic in the process of music hearing. The study willconsider that such an interaction gives people important additional opportunities forpsychological self-improvement.

This paper seeks to reflect on the roots of human emotional reaction to music patterns. Itsuggests the concrete ways how the guided listening to music may contribute to the guidedmood change.

Terms Definition

The term "Psychocorrection" is used here to refer to the improvement of a human state,as distinct from the term "psychotherapy" which holds mostly a clinical sense. There are twomain reasons to use music in psychocorrection: 1) psychological, 2) physiological.

1) Music is the most hypnotic and non-specific art where one can hear, see, and feelsomething during a time dimension. Therefore, music is very well suited for personalpsychocorrection. Listening to music serves as a means of the development of the right brainhemisphere, with its prevalent imagery and holistic thinking.

2) Music has also curative powers in aspect of physical health. It is known, for example, thatmusic has an effect on blood pressure and cardiac rhythms. This phenomenon may be activelyused though the synesthetical hearing of music.

The term of "Synesthesia" is interpreted as "the condition in which a sensory experiencenormally associated with one modality occurs when another modality is stimulated" (A. Reber,p. 779). This phenomenon has been an object of numerous investigations in the field of visualarts. In the field of music the main accent has traditionally been made on colored hearing as theexperiencing of color with auditory stimuli.

The term "Guided imagination" signifies the special approach to the listener. One of themost important condition of such an approach in my framework is the application of certainsynesthetical links in individual imagination in order to conduct the change of humane mood.

The psychocorrectional role of the guided synesthetical imagination might be especiallyimportant in the following aspects:

1) Music can produce a trance effect similar to that produced by certain drugs. It maytherefore be used as a substitute for drugs and can thus promote a drug-free lifestyle in thosewhose drug addiction is a result of a strong desire to be more creative.

2) Music may also aid in the solution of some gerontological problems because it canprovide the so-called mental age regression, transferring the listener to the world of hischildhood by means of music recollection, so called auditory anchors.

3

Problem StatementIn spite of the essential interest to the question of psychocorrection by means of music,

nowadays, there are only a few professional attempts being made in this direction. As a cause,the following key obstacles may be considered:

1. Narrow specialization: psychologists usually do not have sufficient professionalknowledge in the field of music; musicians, for their part, are unfamiliar with psychologicaltheories. In addition, practitioners are, as a rule, rather separated from theory scholars.

2. Considerable informative disconnection between the investigations in differentcountries.

It should also be noted that there are some differences in approach to the roots of theproblem of "healing music hearing". Some scientific schools, for instance in the U. S., pay muchattention is to music appreciation, cognitive musicology, and music therapy. In Russia, however,there is deep experience in the discipline of ear training, concerning not only classical but alsocontemporary music with its non-third harmony and irregular rhythmes. There is a highlyhierarchical system of musician skills development. It provides rich practical material and a welladjusted methodological base for the study of music psychocorrection.

Aims of StudyThe main aim of my research is to combine the achievements of the Russian academic

school in the field of ear training with the newest foreign achievements in the field of modernpsychotechnologies and, thus, to contribute to further development of music psychocorrectionusing professional music tools.

It is important to note that the traditional music therapy approach is usually based ondiscrimination of the music mood only as a whole, without the examination of its components. Inthis connection, the proposed approach would be the first to provide more detailed informationabout concrete components of the musical influence on human psychological state and activity.

BackgroundScientific base

The successful development of the study of music psychocorrection now is favored byachievements in practical psychology and psychotherapy and the new fields of these scienceswhich have been extensively developed for the past 15 years. In particular, my investigation isbased on guided imagery, music psychodrama (J. Moreno), and anthropomorphical hearing(P. Kivy) as well as on neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Thus, my table of associativelinks (see it below in the text) has been elaborated on the base of the theory of submodalitiesextraction developed by G. Grinder and R. Bandler (USA).

Personal experience of the author

This paper has also incorporated the author's research in professional ear training, theoryof modern harmony, and practical psychology. It is a part of large study on psychotecnics of eartraining which has been my Post Doctoral dissertation (Moscow, 1999).

4

Empirical data

The main experiment on synesthetical hearing was conducted by the author in 1992-2002. Among participants there were students of different departments at Moscow Conservatory,including foreign students, as well as non-musicians of different age and social level.

Main Contribution

The core of the author's concept

The main claim in this study is that it is quite possible to elaborate the scientificmethodology for selection of the following opportunities provided by music: basiccommunicative (rhetorical) melodic and rhythmic patterns, as well as the basic trance (meditative)elements (such as revolving melodical patterns, with "the loss" of down and up rhythmic beats,or the Messiaen's modes etc.).

Illustrative interventions

In this paper, the sensory modalities theory and the submodalities extraction methodologyhave been considered as basic for the music material demonstration. In order to illustrate thistheory, I will present some of distinctive samples of chords to show the concrete ways ofsynesthetical hearing.

Numerous experiments have shown that certain types of chords are invariably perceivedby the people in certain color (or in sector of color spectrum), geometrical figures, clearness,volume, contrast, density, temperature, taste, smell and so on. Given below, the methodologicaltable is presented which collects the main visual, auditory, and kinesthetic submodalities withinthree modalities.

SUBMODALITIES OF SENSORY PERCEPTION

VISUAL

how we see

AUDIAL

how we hear

KINESTHETIC

how we move and feel

Color

(kind or a part of spectrum- war/cold shade)

Pitch

(high, middle, low)

Movement and its direction(ascending, descending,horizontal)

Brightness

(bright, pale, fade, dark)

Timbre Weight

(light, heavy)

Shape

(round, angular)

Tempo

(fast, slow)

Texture

(smooth, rough, sticky,elastic, foamy)

Distance

(near, far)

Mono/Stereo Temperature

(hot, mild, chilly)

Contrast degree

(high/ low contrast)

Duration

(prolonged, discrete)

Muscle feelings

(strained, relaxed, torpid)

Size of mental "picture"

(large, small )

Dynamics

(loud, low)

Pain feelings

(acute, aching, dull)

Clearness degree

(clear, slurred)

Resonance

(sonorous, dull)

Smell

(fragrant, perfumed, floral,fresh, pungent, strong,

5

acrid, smoky, chemical,poison)

Movement in your "film"

(is it static or not)

Distance from the soundsource

(near, remote)

Pressure

(knocked down, floating,fluttering)

Framing

(with frame or panoramic)

Articulation

(conjunct, disjunct)

Taste

(sweet, bitter, sour, salty,insipid, spicy, hot)

Necessary explanations

Using this table, listeners have being got an access to their own potentialities. In this way,different types of chords - in classical and modern structure - were given for synestheticalanalyzing. Thus, Webern-style chords (such as "g-es-fis", etc.) were permanently associatedwith cold colors, crystal in texture, chemical smell, pain feelings (NB: all of these componentsmay influence the decrease of blood pressure and pulse). Chords with pentatonic base ("f-b-d-g-c", etc.) were linked in perception with somewhat natural, warm, sweet/fresh, relaxing etc. Chordsin Spanish style (like "d-a-fis-c-es-f") were perceived in red spectrum as aggressive, spicy, andhot ones. (NB: these type of imagination may conduct the increase of blood pressure and pulse.)

Essential results

On the base of practical investigations, the special classification of chords and theirtypical influence has been made (Karasseva, 1999). One of the additional psychological andpedagogical results has been the fact that listeners have always changed their believes. They usedto think that synesthetical hearing is an attribute of only a few eminent musicians likeA. Skryabin or N. Rimsky-Korsakov who were known to have a colored hearing. During severalmusic sessions, listeners began to discover that they could to hear not only in color, but also intouch, taste etc. This "amazing discovery" has raised their creative feelings and has strengthenedtheir interest to music.

After having focused on a chord perception, I should say a few words about creation of positivestates of mind by means of music listening.

There are two main types of music resources: external and internal.

External resources are on the level of environment and behavior. This is mostly march, dancingmusic.

Internal resources are as usual connected with the human belief level. It is possible to mark twomain types of the positive resource access:

1) by means of so called age regression,

2) through the music guided regulation of the scale of human emotional states.

The first type may be realized when a composer wish to play with different musical styles withinone composition. In such a polystylistics (often in A. Snittke's compositions) there are "Mozartstyle" fragments implanted in the modern hard-sounded music.

It is interesting to mention that during the traditional psyhotherapeutic session a client issearching for positive stimulus as a rule only in his individual memory. The power of musicgives people the opportunity to spiritually attach to earlier period of history, to the golden age ofmankind by means of applying to the eternal values and cultural wealth. Also for purposes of thegenetic memory arousal, the modal scale of pentatonic as one of the most ancient mode system issuccessfully used.

6

Within the second type of access to resources we can mark two groups: toning up (like thebeginning of the First concerto by P. Tchaikovsky) and relaxing resources (like "Swan" by C.Saint-Sans) with quiet still sounds.

Therefore, it would be practically efficient to analyze and systematize, from presented point ofview, music literature with the regard for different historical and national music styles.

Major Outcomes to be AchievedThe significance of the presented approach consists of the possibility of the wide

interdisciplinary outcome of its basic ideas. This possibility is based on the expectation that manylaws of the perception of musical language to be discovered during my investigation, will turn outto be important for other communicative structures too.

Presented approach gives opportunity for a wide music-psychological correction. Itshows that music may be effectively applied not only for clinic purposes (as it used in the frameof music therapy) but also for a social psychocorrection based on creative imaginary and holisticthinking. One possible application is the establishment of "music self-improvement" seminars inhigh schools and colleges.

DiscussionIt seems that the further practical exploration of my ideas may be of helpful use both for

psychologists and for educators. The results of this study provide them with a new theoreticalmethodology of submodalities extraction on the base of music patterns.

Potentialities of music psychocorrection may be extended if we are able to get aneffective selection and application of music elements and forms. The act of listening to the musicin concert halls is actually a kind of unique session of psychocorrection because all the peoplecan perceive the same music form while filling it with their personal sense.

7

Address for correspondence:

25-1-159, ulitsa Isakovskogo, Moscow, 123181, Russia

Telephone: (+7 095) 757 0629

Fax: (+7 095) 290 2273

E-mail: marinola@mtu-net.ru

Website: www.mosconsv.ru/pers/karas

8

References

1. Reber, A. S. The Penguin dictionary of psychology, London; New York:Penguin Putnam, 1995.

2. O'Connor, J., Seymour, J. Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming," London:Thorsons, 1995.

3. Karasseva, M. Solfeggio Psychotechnique of Ear Training, MoscowConservatory Press, Moscow, 1999.