Music and Psyche

Towards a Theory of Individual and Relational Psycho-sonorous Profiling

By Patricia Pellizzari & Alfonsina Basutto [1]

Abstract

The foundations of this project were based mainly on questions about music therapeutic clinical practice, a practice whose efficacy has been demonstrated and it's expanding every day through its innovative practice-based procedures. The general goal of our study was to formulate a specific theoretical approach contributing to diagnostic evaluation in the area of mental health. The design was exploratory and descriptive. The analysis of the data was carried out with a mixed methods procedure; some variables were treated qualitatively and some quantitative procedures were carried out as well.

Through this combined procedure two analysis units were evaluated:

Sonorous Production Analysis Unit, given by the variables of dynamic organization from Individual Improvisation and the variables of connection in the relational improvisation, and
Subject Unit given by psychological variables (organization of thoughts, symbolization, affectivity, receptivity, etc...) of the verbal interview and the variable Subjective Appreciation from the interviewed about the relationship PS and psychological features given by a written questionnaire.

Because of the size of the study we have divided it into two stages. First stage objectives were:

To describe the elements and sonorous functions that structure the individual improvised sonorous productions.
To describe the modalities of sonorous connection that structure the relational sonorous improvisation.
To design a theoretical predictor of profiles or bands of individual dynamic organization according to the different dynamics of organization observed.
To design a theoretical predictor of profiles or bands of relational connection according to the different relational dynamics observed.
To describe the characteristics of the psychological variables that arises in the verbal interviews.

The objective for the second stage were:

To validate the types of the individual sonorous profiles in the sample.
To validate the types of the relational sonorous profiles in the sample.
To determine the significant relationships between profiles and psychological variables in subgroup with and without diagnoses.

After carrying out the empirical phase, defining all the variables and designing the charts of reported data, the information was processed with a SPSS Statistical package. Through quantitative and qualitative procedures we have been able to determine five individual sonorous profiles (random, germ, stable, complex and creative), five relational sonorous profiles (isolated, fused, dependent, differentiated and integrated) and significant relationships for its correlational tendencies between these profiles and the psychological variables. In this paper the results of the first stage will be developed.

Key words: Music therapy, improvisation, sonorous profiles, psyche, evaluation.

Introduction

Music Therapy is one of the emergent disciplines at the moment that is contributing new psycho-technological resources to the area of psychosocial health. The innovative approach of this scientific discipline rests on the intersection of verbal and non-verbal speech, integrating into the therapy field new discoveries in human behavior. From this perspective the expert can achieve a closer approach to the causes of illness and can also find resources and technical resources for any patient or client, with no distinction between physical or mental capacities.

This study recaptures a fundamental aspect of the Music Therapy practice, and one in which the client expresses him/herself through spontaneous improvisations with musical instruments and his/her voice. Although this procedure is constant in the setting, it is in the diagnostic evaluation when the music therapists put special emphasis on noticing indicators of health and illness to get to know the client and to design a treatment direction. Inside the theoretical borders of the discipline there are different theoretical orientations converging. The psychoanalytical perspective has helped us to understand a structural view of the client, as well as his/her speech. Our key references are: the topic of the psychic apparatus, the recognition of conflict, the mechanisms of defense, the principle of pleasure and reality, the constitutive and symptomatic repetition, and language as primary structure. Psychiatric psychodynamic semiology has helped us to understand the nosologycal indicators of the functions of the self and which ones intervene in the process of information expressed by the client from his/her inner world, as well as from external influences. We are convinced that the functions that psychiatric semiology describes are also structures that people use to build sonorous speech.

Genetic Psychology has helped us to understand the processes of cognition, as well as formation and of construction of the sonorous object. The evolutionary and constructivist perspective of empirical and symbolic knowledge has been very useful to understand phenomena such as sonorous manipulation, sonorous exploration and the sonorous creation (creative construction) linked to psychological processes. Recapturing the psycho genetic perspective of evolution of the process and assimilating it to musical activity, through the conceptualizations of Delalande (1995) provided us some interesting ideas about the different forms of making music on the fields of sensori-motor processes, symbolic and regulated.

The foundations of Aguilar, along with her conceptualizing of form and structure, advised us about the processes of musical dynamic organization. The research of Murray Shafer about the notion of noise and music for the pleasure of psychological listening reinforced our ideas about sonorous phenomena as a psychological perception.

Our main source from Music Therapy was proposed by Bruscia (1987) in his IAPs (analysis of clinical improvisations) and their interpretation from the psychodynamic perspective of the client. In this approach, the improvisations of the client are musical and music therapeutically analyzed, keeping in mind intra and inter-musical relationships, and intra and interpersonal relationships. Data from this analysis provides the music therapist with tools for the therapeutic process, not being a diagnostic protocol in and of itself.

From our perspective, the non referential spontaneous improvisation offered us the possibility to connect with the abilities of formation and empowerment of the client.

The importance of this study resides in consolidating an integrated perspective of interventional factors in the clinic. The observation of psychological parameters and relationships with the sonorous speech are invaluable for the treatment of patients. We argue that the results will clarify the use of diagnostic criteria and will provide a base for the construction of a protocol for diagnostic evaluation based on sonorous phenomenology.

Methods

Our research design was exploratory and descriptive. Social, racial, cultural, religious, and, job/skill categories were not taken into consideration in our sample, which was composed of volunteers .The sample was divided in two groups, voluntary clients with psychiatric diagnoses of psychosis (41) and volunteers without diagnoses (89).

The interviewees with diagnoses were those who voluntarily agreed to participate in the research in their residential treatment facilities with consent. All interviewees were adults from age 25 to 45. Our entire sample population was from the Federal Capital and urban center of Buenos Aires.

Instruments and Procedures

Our set of sonorous instruments included:

Diatonic Metalophone.
Indian flute.
Piston flute (two).
Sticks.
Maraca.
High tambourine.
Low Tambourine
Four tones box.

All the interviews were recorded with a digital recording system. We conducted the study in an isolated room free from distractions for the interviewees without diagnoses and a similar set of conditions for the institutions of the interviewees with diagnoses.

The evaluation protocol was conducted by music therapists qualified in the selected relational techniques (See instruments). Qualifications included:

Design of verbal interview (See instruments).
Design of the written questionnaire (See instruments).
Protocols.
Crossed validation inside the team.

This study considers an interview as an empirical method, divided in four sections in which four research instruments were applied. The total duration of the interview varied between a few minutes and an hour and a half. This variation of time was determined by the characteristics of each interviewee. Some interviewees were more expressive than others and therefore required more interview time.

Individual Free Improvisation (Collecting the Individual Sonorous Production)

We obtained sonorous data through free non-referential improvisations. The spontaneous sonorous production carried out by the interviewee did not have any reference to external events (as a title, an emotion, a situation). We chose this technique because of the validity of its use in diagnostic evaluation (Bruscia, 1987, 2001; Sabbatella, 2004; Pavlicevic, 1995, Priestley, 1994, among others).

We coincide with Bruscia (1987) when he postulates that improvisation can be used as a medium of assessment, treatment and evaluation.

The interviewee used the sonorous objects (musical instruments), including his voice, to express himself. The goal given by the interviewer was the stimulus that induced the interviewee to act, calling him/her to free expression, without any type of participation from the interviewer. The verbal instruction was: "for 10 minutes you can do what you freely desire with these objects and your voice." It is reported to the client that this session will be recorded.

The general criteria to describe the elements of the sonorous production had the following steps: Listening the presented variables and their dimensions, defining them, designing the corresponding protocol. The emergent and evaluated variables were:

Temporal Dynamic Organization
Melodic Dynamic Organization.
Timbral Dynamic Organization.
Density Dynamic Organization.
Intensity Dynamic Organization.

Each variable had specific dimensions for its evaluation. The emergent and evaluated sonorous functions were:

Sonorous differentiation.
Sonorous selection.
Sonorous constancy.
Sonorous repetition.
Sonorous variation.
Sonorous combination.
Multidimensional integration.

These categories were created to evaluate the sonorous capacities of organization of each participant, each one of them contemplating three possible values (Yes, No or Partiallly) according to the formation and incubation detected.

Relational Improvisation (Taking of Relational Sonorous Production)

We define this as the moment of sonorous interaction in which the interviewee and music therapist/interviewer interact. The experience was facilitated by a music therapist qualified in the selected relational techniques. Here "technique" is any action made by the therapist in order to shape the client's experience (see also Bruscia,1987). Implemented techniques were:

Resonance, which evaluates empathy and facilitates the convergence of a same sound, or a sound experienced as equal, in a relational empathic field. It implies the systematic strategy from the interviewer based on the syntonization and synchronicity with the interviewed, that can take the form of simultaneous or deferred imitation, echo and sonorous mirror as a response to the other from counter transference.

Companionship, which evaluates the necessity for supporting and holding from the other who facilitates the emergence of a sonorous field of relational disparity. It assumes a specific intervention that not only offers a complement but a structural sonorous base that guides and maintains the client in a duality of figure-background.

Dialogue, which evaluates the capacity of subjective listening and the exchange to facilitate relational sonorous parity. It corresponds to an operation guided by the interviewer whose bases are the communication and the interaction with the interviewee from both differential and equal place.

Creative integration, which evaluates and facilitates the search for identity, divergence and convergence in a field of relational creative freedom. It implies the strategy of the interviewer that embraces exploration, elaboration and development, until the interactive artistic composition of sonorous-emotional climax where the improvisation reaches its maximum expression.

In this study we use the techniques mentioned above to evaluate exclusively the position of the client and relational capacities. According to our approach, the connection axis values the grades of connection of the client. Each one of these grades constitutes a group of sonorous features which show the possibilities of subjective differentiation and object relationship of people. Through the sonorous productions we can notice connection or disconnection grades which let the person claim or not claim his/her intentions and communicative speech. These connection grades were in our study: isolated, fused, dependent, differentiated and integrated. Through their description and scientific corroboration we noticed that they pointed out with efficiency the different sonorous-relational tendencies of people.

In our procedure, we proposed to the interviewees that they create a spontaneous relational sonorous production through musical instruments pre-selected in compliance with the investigation design. Consequently, the interviewer gave the following verbal instruction: "We have 10 minutes to relate each other through these objects. Which one do you choose for yourself and which one do you choose for me?" The same recording procedures applied.

Through listening to the rising dimensions we proceeded to define the categories, to make them operative and to design a protocol of report of data. These categories were conceptualized to evaluate the sonorous relational modalities of each participant 'with the music therapists, considering each one of them in three possible values (Yes, No or Partially) according to the level of formation and incubation detected.

Sonorous disconnection.
Personal recurrent sonorous modalities.
Sonorous imitation.
Monophony.
Homophony.
Sonorous subordination.
Control over the improvisation of the interviewer.
Sonorous contrast.
Figure.
Background.
Counterpoint.
Open sonorous proposals.

Semi-structured Verbal Interview

This section of the interview had the objective of gathering data from the verbal expression of the client. Given the complexity of the analysis unit, we have selected a group of variables, some of them belonging to the psychic functions that defined our interest and other independent psychological variables:

Organization of thought.
Judgment.
Symbolization.
Affectivity.
Verbal fluidity.
Attachment modality.
Psychological plasticity.
Insight capacity.
Music and sound Receptivity.

In our procedure, we first gathered the following: personal data, age, family group, profession or occupation, nationality, residence place, marital status, institutional diagnostic if the client had one, with or without musical knowledge. Our questions were:

Would you consider that this type of experience can help you to discover some aspects of yourself?
Why do you believe that this knowledge can happen?
How do you relate to others?
Do you consider that playing music with other people would help you realize how you relate to others? What connection do you think people have with music and different sounds?
How can you describe yourself?
What do you think of yourself?
Can you establish differences between expressing an emotion with words or with sounds or music?
What musical object did you feel more comfortable with? Which one did you like the most? Why is that?

A semi-structured interview allowed us to register other data, not considered while asking the structured questions Therefore the data yielded from the unstructured part of the interview was significantly useful when defining the categories of analysis and its indicators.

Written Questionnaire

The intention of using the written questionnaire was to discover specific data about the relationship between sonorous production and subjectivity, from the subjective considerations of the interviewee. We discovered the following value dimensions from the written questionnaire:

Relationship existence.
Relationship type.

Explicit correlate.
Implicit correlate.
Discordant answer.

Analysis Procedure

In this first stage the basic procedures were observation and listening. Once all data was collated, we created protocols in order to synthesize them in a general chart or matrix.

Data is the unprocessed material for the matrix. To obtain the data starting from the improvised sonorous production necessitates a rearticulation, because, as Roland Barthes (1982) says, every information is to be read as an act of the language. The listened is to be read. From another point of view, "the facts of the spontaneous experience are, to put it this way, submerged into the evidence of the day-to-day, and they don't provide a defined orientation about which features will be relevant to discover the nexuses that determine their behavior. The scientist proceeds then to a re-description, in which he guides the search in the sense of some hypotheses about the possible essential features and the possible keys of functioning" (Samaja, 1993, page 160).

We also used the SPSS 11.0 statistical package. This program of statistical analysis allowed us to visualize the data in its totality and to find the significant percentages of the variables and their stages. As we already explained, the relationship and dependence among variables will be specified in another writing concerning the second stage of the investigation (Please, contact authors to obtain second paper).

The variables studied in the individual and relational improvisation belong to the sonorous production analysis unit, and the variables from verbal interview and questionnaire belong to the subject analysis unit. Those variables to be identified from the answers were selected during the interview for both sonorous and verbal protocols.

The sonorous improvisations were analyzed keeping in mind the fields coming out from the production and the remarkable fields of listening from the expert. The fact they were recorded in a digital system helped the data to be appreciated and saved until carrying out different cross-validations inside and outside of the research team.

The verbal interview was analyzed keeping in mind the observations carried out by the interviewer and the independent analysis of a specially qualified team.

The group of selected psychological variables evaluated both positive (healthy) and negative tendencies (pathological), features taken from Psychiatric Semiology, Psychodynamic Psychology and Music Therapy, all of them considered relevant in the Music Therapy practice, and not subjected to verification because we used only general theoretical and conceptual statements.

Results

Description of the Unit of Analysis: Individual Sonorous Production

Sonorous productions arise as a result of an act of free improvisation, just like any spontaneous expressive act leaving tangible products. There is not expression without consequences, and in our field the consequence of the spontaneity of the client is a production, a play that sounds. A person who expresses herself, assumes a shaping action which produces form and structure.

Once initiated, the act of improvising, the client can create two possible results: to give open or closed dynamics, to allow the improvisation to developed or not. As Eco (1985, page 15) says: "a work is open or closed according to its capacity to generate a way full of possibilities, movement and freedom". Based on Pareyson's theory of formativity, Eco conceives a work like form, like organism, "formation of the physical character that lives an autonomous, harmoniously calibrated life and is governed by its own laws."

A person who expresses herself, produces a form, assumes a style, a particular way of forming and making. Eco's point of view gave us an indication about how to think about the product of the expression; in the first place as a living organism, and in second place, with the possibilities of being open or closed. This was our antecedent to conceive profiles for a sonorous production, a possible cluster.

We have considered the sonorous productions of different authors, strictly based on a phenomenological approach to the music. In Aguilar's elaborations (1989) about "Structure of musical syntax" we observed a categorization of the musical structures in three types: repetitive, periodic and evolutionary structures. This typology is based on the grade of similarity or difference of the internal elements (music cells, phrases, sentences, sections) and the type of relationship among them.

We can observe a similarity between the grouping criteria of Eco and Aguilar; both conceive the musical structure according to the possibilities of development of its internal elements, Eco creates two categories and Aguilar three.

It is the same for Rowell (1983) and La Rue (1993), who agree in the grouping levels and differ on the grouping conditions. La Rue designates his categorization according to the grade of change of the musical elements: stability, local activity, directional movement. Rowell organizes five categories: strophic, variation, girder, mosaic, organic.

Taking these authors and music therapeutic clinical listening, we devised the protocols. After the experience we could verify that the variables and their dimensions were represented in the sample and therefore they responded cohesively to the implementation of our study.

The sonorous production unit of analysis was conformed by five nominal variables with three values according to three states represented as: Yes (present), No (absent), and Partially (present in a fluctuating way).

Detection of the Elements Conforming the Sonorous Production

We have already mentioned that sonorous production dynamic organization was evaluated. We understood dynamics as a way the client manifests the movement and the powerful energy of certain sonorous elements. In this manner each variable has a specific meaning. The temporal dynamic evaluated the dynamic organization of time that was audible and written (measurable). The melodic dynamic evaluated the modality in which the interviewee executed pitch of sonorous production. The timbral dynamic evaluated the way in which the interviewee prepared the different qualities of sounds. Density dynamics evaluated how the superposition of sounds was set. And finally, the dynamic of intensity evaluated the way in which the subject manifested movement and intensity in his/her sonorous production that was phenomenologically audible as dB.

The salient contributive elements of a variable are its dimensions. Duration, pitch, timbre, texture, and intensity are attributes of the sonorous production and therefore indispensable for their analysis. Duration, pulse, motive and phrase are involved in the forming of temporary speech. Each production variable specifies not only single musical attributes but also connection modalities to the objects and the expressive speech. They suggest for many authors symbolic and analogical elements of the human development. This means that their acquisition is indicative of other sensori-motor and psychological aspects. However, not all of the variables at have been described along with a sonorous function are causal. The function shows the state of the element in question. Example: repeated rhythmic pattern, constant rhythmic pattern, varied rhythmic phrase.

These states were considered in this study as capacities possible to be acquired totally, partially or not acquired at all.

Chart 1: Revenue elements of the individual PS.

TEMPORAL DYNAMICS	Yes	No	Partially
Different duration exist
Pulse exists
Varied Pulse exists
Metric Pulse exists
Pulse Metric varied
Constant Rhythmic pattern exists
Repeated Rhythmic pattern exists
Varied Rhythmic pattern exist
Constant Rhythmic phrase exists
Repeated Rhythmic phrase exists
Varied Rhythmic phrase exists
MELODIC DYNAMICS	Yes	No	Partially
Different pitches exist
Tonal Center exists
Constant melodic pattern exists
Repeated melodic pattern exists
Varied melodic pattern exists
Constant melodic phrase exists
Repeated melodic phrase exists
Varied melodic phrase exists
Tonality exists
TIMBRAL DYNAMICS	Yes	No	Partially
Qualities of different sounds exist
Varied qualities of sounds exist
Constant sounds qualities exist
Repeated qualities of sounds exist
Combination of qualities exists
DYNAMICS OF DENSITY	Yes	No	Partially
Silence exists
Superposition of Sounds exists
Chords exist
Harmonic functions exist
Monophony exists
Homophony exists
Melody with accompaniment exists
Counterpoint exists
DYNAMICS OF INTENSITY	Yes	No	Partially
Different Intensities exist
Constant Intensity exists
Repeated Iintensity exists
Varied Iintensity exists

Partial Summary

Because our study was so extensive, we cannot describe in this writing the frequencies obtained in the two sample subgroups (population with and without diagnostic) but we can assert that:

We have been able to define and operationalize each dimension with its respective value.
All the dimensions were represented in the sample and were qualitatively evaluated.
The temporal variable was the most organized one in both sub group samples.
As the organizational complexity increases, population percentages in value Yes diminish.
The dimensions of smaller organization were correlated to people with psychiatric diagnoses and the ones more organized were correlated to people without diagnoses.

Detection of the Sonorous Functions

We defined function as the procedure that governs or regulates the improvisation granting an organizational logic (singular classification) to the sonorous structure. Activity in which two or more elements are articulated by a principle (rules that organize the expression). The functions demonstrated the subjective-expressive possibilities indicating the grade of plasticity in which the client set the sonorous elements in a simultaneous and sequential way. For that reason these functions are intimately connected to organization, expression and creativity processes (linked to the logic, fluency and originality of the sonorous speech). These intervening functions determined the mode and the level of dynamic organization of the sonorous production.

The salient functions, those that stood out for their frequency and excellence, pointed out the tendency towards an individual sonorous profile. The procedure to evaluate the incubation of each function consisted of detecting the predominant state of the function in three or more of the five of the individual sonorous production dynamics. It was marked as Partially when the notable presence of the function was in two of the five of the dynamics of the sonorous production. It was marked as Not when the notable presence of the function was in one of the five of the dynamics of the sonorous production. We found seven predominant functions that dynamically organize the sonorous production.

Differentiation (Principle = to discriminate, to distinguish, to contrast). Procedure that offers the production a high level of organization and form by appearance of contrast, alternation and/or intentional silence, in result of the capacity of discrimination and to distinguish the sonorous elements evaluated.

Selection (Principle = to choose, to opt, to decide). Procedure in which the subject chooses, opts and decides to use sonorous elements already differentiated while organizing the production.

Combination (Principle = to connect, to link, to associate, to join, to unite). Procedure in which the participant relates or connects simultaneously and/or successively the selected sonorous elements expressing them in his/her production. This signals the emergence of the simultaneity and the sonorous sequence.

Repetition (Principle = to reiterate, to copy, to imitate). Procedure in which the client repeatedly uses the same sonorous elements indicating monotony, rigidity, stagnation and stereotype in the production.

Constancy (Principle = to remain, to settle down, to identify). Procedure in which the participant settles down and maintains one or several sonorous elements, balancing repetitions and changes that offer stability, unity, coherence and identity to the production.

Variation (Principle = to change, to modify, to model, to moderate, to increase, to diminish, to diversify). Procedure where the participant changes the sonorous elements by contrast, graduation, increasing, decreasing, progression, ornamentation and/or elaboration of the product and the selective differentiation of the same expressions. This function contributes modifications in quantity (frequency of variations) and quality (grade of variations) motivating the growth and the development of the participant and subsequent research discourse.

Multidimensional Integration (Principle = to articulate; to integrate, to interrelate). Procedure in which the participant develops synchronic and diachronically all the considered sonorous functions. This function requires a bigger level of organization, promoting health and creativity during the sonorous production. Yes was marked when six or seven of this functions intervened. It was marked Partially when only four or five of the present functions intervened.

Partial Summary

We can thus assert from this analysis that:

We have been able to define and operationalize each dimension with their respective value.
All the dimensions were represented in the sample and they could be evaluated qualitatively.
The differentiation variable obtained a larger percentage in its value Yes in both sample subgroup (65.9 with Diagnoses and 98.9 without diagnoses).
As the functions became more complex, percentages of value Yes diminished.
Values No of all the dimensions, except the repetition dimension, were correlated with people with psychiatric diagnoses.
The functions with greater organization were distributed gradually among the population without diagnosis, reflecting a decrease in the number of the value Yes and an increase in the Partially value.
The functions variation and integration were shown positively among the population without diagnoses, in the values Partially and Yes.

Chart #2 shows the percentages obtained in the total of the sample.

Chart 2: Sonorous functions evaluated in subgroups with and without diagnoses (percentages).

Variables	With diagnostic			Without diagnostic
Variables	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.
Differentiation	65.9	4.9	29.3	98.9	0	1.1
Selection	26.8	39.0	34.1	78.7	5.6	15.7
Combination	19.5	51.2	29.3	49.9	13.5	37.1
Repetition	41.5	26.8	31.7	15.7	59.6	24.7
Constancy	12.2	61.0	26.8	47.2	10.1	42.7
Variation	4.9	82.9	12.2	25.8	40.4	33.7
Multidimensional integration	7.3	87.8	4.9	18.0	58.4	23.6

Description of Connection Dimensions Detected in the Relational Sonorous Production

As we mentioned previously, the variables of the relational sonorous production were detected through trained, operative listening through a protocol of data reporting. For definitions have been stable for both the sonorous expression itself and the interviewee's behavior toward the interviewer (intermusical and interpersonal relationships, Bruscia, 1987).

Sonorous disconnection: any sonorous expression that the client uses, without keeping in mind the production of the interviewer. This expression can be demonstrated as a preponderant silence, absence of listening and/or of interaction.

Relapsing of one's own sonorous modalities: production characterized by insistence of a rhythmic, melodic element, timbral quality, harmonic sequence, and/or other sonorous manifestations not interactive and exclusively personal of the client in a circle of hermeneutics.

Sonorous imitation: production in which the client uses temporary melodic elements, timbral qualities, dynamics of intensity and harmony, the same or similar sequences to those of the interviewer, in a instant mirroring of "alike or different."

Monophony: production where the client maintains timbral, rhythmic and / or melodic lines with the interviewer and they are heard as unison.

Homophony: production where the client maintains lines with the same rhythm or with parallel melodic movement (including the octaves) and not necessarily with the same timbre of the interviewer.

Sonorous subordination: production where the selection, the combination of elements and/or the succession of changes from the client obeys or accepts the interviewer's procedures. Client doesn't respond actively with sonorous contributions to the exchange or shows low capacity of sonorous differentiation relying on the interviewer's dynamics.

Control over the improvisation of the other one: production in which the selection, combination of elements and/ or the succession of changes of the interviewer complies with the procedures of the client. Rigidity and insistence of sonorous polarizations; excessive use of a leadership or sonorous figure, absence of silence or use of strong intensities and/or saturated densities from the client.

Sonorous contrast: production of the client with some type of contributive and dynamic element opposed to the interviewer, as it is to appeal to personal sonorous modalities opposite to the interviewer.

Figure: production with textual distribution in which the client uses a timbral, rhythmic and/or melodic line as protagonist figure, leaning on the interviewer's accompanying background.

Background: production in which the client uses a textual construction in timbral, rhythmic, melodic and/or harmony as background bases, comparing it to the sonorous figure of the interviewer.

Counterpoint: production with textual design that approaches simultaneous and/or sequential expressions of two or more timbral, rhythmic and/or melodic lines that the client and interviewer model in an interdependent way. There is an alteration of independent sonorous voices but integrated at the same time.

Realization of open sonorous proposals: production with initiative and flowing implementation on the part of the client of diverse entities and/or sonorous elements as a form of exchange with the interviewer.

We consider that such categories are representative regarding the vast field of the interpersonal behaviors, as well as in their theoretical definition in the practice Music Therapy. Chart #3 reflects how these variables change in the studied sample.

Chart 3: Relational dimensions evaluated in subgroups with and without diagnoses (percentages).

Variables	With diagnostic			Without diagnostic
Variables	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.
Sonorous disconnection	24.4	46.3	29.3	2.2	83.1	14.6
Use of own sonorous modalities	63.4	26.8	9.8	33.7	33.7	32.6
Sonorous imitation	39.0	48.8	12.2	56.2	15.7	28.1
Monophony	2.4	80.5	17.1	11.2	75.3	13.5
Homophony	17.0	61.0	22.0	46.1	28.1	25.8
Sonorous subordination	26.8	53.7	19.5	25.8	48.3	25.8
Control on the interviewer's improvisation	2.4	92.7	4.9	12.4	53.9	33.7
Sonorous contrast		90.2	9.8	4.5	58.4	37.1
Figure	4.9	70.7	24.4	47.2	24.7	28.1
Background	7.3	75.6	17.1	27.0	38.2	34.8
Counterpoint		87.8	12.2	28.1	39.3	32.6
Open sonorous proposals		73.2	26.8	21.3	39.3	39.3

Description of the Psychological Variables

We observed a notable difference of values obtained from the population with and without psychiatric diagnoses. The first group showed a clear tendency of values with a certain alteration, while the second one presented more preserved values (Chart # 4).

Chart 4: Psychological variables in subgroups with and without diagnostic.

		J	TO	S	A	RM	PP	I	R	VE
With Diagnostic	Value 1	17.1	22	4.9	17.1	12.2	4.9	0	80.5	43.9
	Value 2	65.9	48.8	48.8	17.1	46.3	36.6	85.4	4.9	41.5
	Value 3	2.4	14.6	31.7	51.2	29.3	43.9	-	0	2.4
	Lost	14.6	14.6	14.6	14.6	12.2	14.6	14.6	14.6	12.2
Without Diagnostic	Value 1	93.3	92.1	83.1	78.7	68.5	74.2	22.5	94.4	92.1
	Value 2	3.4	3.4	12.4	11.2	25.8	21.3	74.2	2.2	4.5
	Value 3	0	1.1	1.1	6.7	2.2	1.1	-	0	0
	Lost	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4

Regarding the subgroup with psychiatric diagnoses we could observe:

The variables organization of the thought, judgment and symbolization tend to be presented with a certain grade of alteration (value two).
In the Linking Modality a preponderance towards the isolation and the dependence was observed.
The affectivity was presented with qualitative and quantitative alterations (value three).
The psychological plasticity showed tendencies to be manifested with some level of confusion, vulnerability and rigidity (value two and three).
The fulfillment of the insight was not observed.
The verbal expression was manifested and distributed between the verbal fluency and the difficulty or verbal inhibition (value one and two).
Almost all the interviewees manifested themselves very receptive to the music and to the sonorous (value one).
The subgroup without diagnostic psychiatric evidenced clear tendency to maintain all of the variables in a stable state (value one).
Only few people without psychiatric diagnoses manifested possibilities to carry out the insight.
They were presented very receptive to the music and the sonorous (value one).

Description of the Variables: Subjective Appreciation of the Relationship between Sonorous Production and Features of Subjectivity and Type of Relationship

The analysis of the data gathered in the questionnaire instrument is synthesized in Chart # 5, in which we can observe that the subjective appreciation of the correlate didn't depend on the diagnosis. Both populations presented similar percentages of answers both affirmative as negative. The notable difference appeared in the second analyzed variable, therefore the correlated types the subject has to describe and argue his affirmative answer. We observed that the incongruent answer was presented with a majority in the subgroup with diagnoses. This might be related to the difficulties that people present with psychiatric dysfunctions to be able to be explicit and express themselves through language and possible relationships between personal features and sonorous production. In the second part of our study we will analyze how he/she related the incongruent answer with alterations of the psychic functions. (Contact authors for second paper)

Linked to the previous paragraph, we notice that the explicit answer was preponderant in the subgroup without diagnoses. This can be related to the capacity of association and imagination of the normal psyche and also belongs together with the conservation of the psychic functions. Therefore, the correlate appeared in both populations of interviewees (with and without diagnoses) although the participant was not always able to realize this.

Chart 5: Subjective appreciation of the Interviewees with and without diagnostic regarding their sonorous production.

		Diagnosis
		With psychiatric diagnosis	Without diagnosis
Subjective appreciation	Lost	7.3 %	3.4 %
	Yes	82.9 %	89.9 %
	No	9.8 %	4.5 %
	NS/NC		2.2 %
	Total	100 %	100 %
Type of Correlate	Lost	9.8 %	6.7 %
	Explicit	9.8 %	30.3 %
	Implicit	46.3 %	52.8 %
	Discordant answer	34.1 %	10.1 %
	Total	100 %	100 %

Design of the Charts Predictable of Profiles

Predictor Chart of the Individual Profiles

The need for a psycho-technical construction called Individual and Relational Psycho-sonorous Profiles arises, as we already explained, from upgrading the approaches of diagnostic evaluation in Music Therapy. As we have seen, the sonorous productions are accessible to the analysis, phenomenologically as symbolic or analogical. This net of meanings is attributed by the client herself and for the analytic capacity of the music therapist and the theories that sustain music therapy practice.

More specifically we know that the dynamics of organization of the sonorous production is given by the relationship of the elements that compose a structure, because of a function that ties elements (in this investigation the sonorous elements contained in categories are called "sonorous variables"). Denis Vasse (1974) considers that in order to generate a structure it is necessary to apply one or more sonorous functions over at least two sonorous elements. When dynamics of particular organization are generated, this creates a profile. It is essential that there is an application of one or several sonorous functions. There must be more than enough sonorous elements (that are any of this variables: temporal, melodic, dynamic, etc.), so we can see that a function brings cohesion and dynamic to a structure. The sonorous function is one of the initial elements that influences any dynamics over the sonorous elements.

The possible fragmentation of the musical syntax observed in five profiles of dynamic organization, is given by the phenomenological observation of qualitative increasing in the syntax of a sonorous production; This observation is about how, in a sonorous production, the syntax can be organized from the undifferentiated towards minimum units of expression, as it appears through interjection, the generation of a pattern or its development in a phrase. The units of expression in the musical syntax, become possible thanks to the application of a formal sonorous function. For example, there would not be a generation of interjection if formally the sonorous function of differentiation and selection were not applied; progressively it would not be possible for the production of a pattern if the function of constancy is not present. The different formal phenomenological levels of musical sense happen along with a sonorous function. Let's remember that a structure is the result of the application of a function to at least two elements, generating a dynamic.

During the design phase of the investigation and also during the data gathering phase, we studied and listened to these formal levels of organization of the musical expression. Therefore, we have indicated, according to the data charts from the singular sonorous production, that five formal levels of dynamic organization existed that could have taken place in different sonorous productions.

Following the grouping criteria, we made a predictive chart of singular sonorous profiles. This chart defines the sonorous functions that are necessary to determine each profile, and according to three states they can be presented this way: Yes (present), Partially (present in a fluctuating way), No (absent). The construction of this chart was based on the assumption that certain functions of the self are presented in the development of psyche, functions that the subject also applies at the moment of expressing him/herself with sounds organizing a sonorous production. These functions go from the capacity of basic relational differentiation linked to the function of identity of perception or permanence of an object. Then, the following function is selection, related to the identification capacity and primary projection in a subject.

The function of partial or completely present differentiation can also take into account the function of rigid repetition or constancy. In the operational definitions of these functions we observed that both are an indication from the psyche to maintain a present stimulus for consciousness. The function of constancy is associated with the cognitive capacity of the self of initial conservation of the matter at a pre-operative level, coded by Piaget, as the stages of intelligence.

In the construction of the psychic apparatus we can observe that these functions consequently keep integrating. In terms of the presence of the functions above (with the exception of repetition that implies a rigid modality of constancy), the function of combination, then the one of variation and integration will be expressed. These functions imply the development of the full capacity of perception and constancy of matter (or a stimulus, in this sonorous case) applying possibilities of reversibility, abstraction and synthesis.

An individual sonorous profile is therefore determined for:

A specific modality to create connection with the sonorous objects.
At least two sonorous variables that are under a process of dynamic organization.
The presence of one or several sonorous functions that activate the dynamics among the sonorous dimensions.

Chart 6: Predictor of singular profiles sonorous (PSI).

	Random			Germ			Stable			Complex			Creative
	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.
Differentiation		x	X	x			x			x			x
Selection		x	X		x	x	x			x			x
Combination		x			x	x	x			x			x
Repetition	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x		x			x
Constancy		x			x	x	x		x	x		x	x
Variation		x			x			x	x	x			x
Integration		x			x			x	x			x	x

Predictor Chart of the Relational Profiles

The evaluation of the relational position of the interviewee was not reduced to the description and definition of categories of connection. After the investigation about the processes that regulate the human bonds and the road from the lack of differentiation to individualization from the psychological perspective, we focused interest in specific sources of our own Music Therapy discipline. The work of Bruscia (1987, 2001) on profiles that evaluate the inter-musical and interpersonal relationships, especially the profiles integration and autonomy, were the motivating antecedents from our own conceptualization of relational profiles.

The sonorous profile to link is a group of audible sonorous features that points out a tendency towards a level of connection of the interaction of a subject with another. It constitutes a range of spontaneous sonorous behaviors that allude to a subjective position opposite to another subjective person and to the relational capacities of each one of them. It is an epistemic construction and an empirical categorization of significant sonorous-relational tendencies that reveal the possibilities of subjective differentiation and of object meaning in assessing connection and reportable listening, from a person to another.

For this construction, we considered the connection categories detected in the relational improvisations, as well as the theoretical report mentioned before. The textual dynamic was the former conceptual foundation for the selection of categories and states since we thought that different lines could be assimilated into diverse roles. When thinking that the textual elements are those that materialize the inter-sonorous bonds, we were also investigating the movements of the sonorous lines from states less secure to others more consolidated.

Observing how these movements conform with the diverse textures, we were able to design the predictor charts that allowed us to verify the presence of the profiles in the sample. These theoretical predicting indicators define the sonorous variables that characterize each one of the profiles, combining the different possibilities given by the dimensions of relational connection.

We considered three fundamental aspects in our predicting base:

The precedent hypotheses, product of the clinical experience of the team.
The obtained data regarding the presence and frequency of the appearance of audible relational sonorous dimensions in the sample (See objective of the study).
The cross validation of the team when detecting each sonorous dimension and their indicators.

The five designed relational sonorous profiles were isolated, fused, dependent, differentiated and integrated. Chart # 7 sample the conformation of the variables for each one of them.

Chart 7: Predictor of profiles sonorous relational.

	Isolated			Fused			Dependent			Differentiated			Integrated
	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.	Yes	No	Part.
Sonorous disconnection	x		x			x		x			x	x		x
Recurrence	x		x		x		x	x	x	x		x		x	X
Imitation		x		x			x		x		x	x	X	x	X
Monophony		x		x			x	x	x		x	x	X	x	X
Homophony		x		x			x	x	x		x	x	X	x	X
Subordination		x		x		x	x		x		x			x
Control		x		x		x		x	x	x		x		x
Contrast		x			x			x		x		x		x	X
Figure		x			x	x	x	x	x	x		x	X		X
Background		x		x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x		X
Counterpoint		x			x			x		x		x	x
Open S.Proposals		x			x			x	x		x	x	x

The Isolated Relational Sonorous Profile is characterized by a marked tendency towards the sonorous disconnection and the recurrence of one's own sonorous modalities. The client does not consider the production of the other subject, being unable to respond to the open sonorous phrases from others. In many cases there is a tendency for silence or paradoxically absence of it; this is due to the difficulty of listening. The influence of low perception of the elements contributed by another participant, the subject responds meagerly or does not have clear communicative intentions. Participants express, in these situations, a notorious insistence of rhythmic and melodic elements, timbral quality, harmonic sequence, etc. as indicated from a more or less closed structure in which he/she is not aware. The quality of closed is based on the repetition of circular, hermeneutic or stereotyped sonorous behaviors that do not include contributions or elements of exchange with the interviewer.

One can observe in the predictor that: monophony, homophony, sonorous subordination, control over the improvisation of the other subject, sonorous contrast, even figure-background and counterpoint are basically absent and therefore there are not sonorous proposals directed to others.

We find theoretical antecedents for the Isolated Relational Sonorous Profile in Mahler (Bleger, 1984): "normal autistic phase"; Bruscia (1987): "Isolated"; Pavlicevic (1995): "without communication" and "contact from one side."

The Fused Relational Sonorous Profile is characterized by a marked tendency to indiscriminate subordination to the other and to the absence of one's own sonorous differentiated modalities. Monophony, homophony and imitation can be shown. There is not a clear intention of parity or discrimination since the differentiation capacity has not been attained. For this reason, the sonorous imitation usually manifests simultaneously and not in successive or differentiated ways. It is overwhelming the need of fusion. This is demonstrated in the absence of contrast, counterpoint and open sonorous proposals.

The theoretical records of the fused Relational Sonorous Profile have been Mahler (Bleger, 1984): "normal symbiotic phase" and Bruscia (1987), "Fused."

The Dependent Relational Sonorous Profile is characterized by a marked tendency to sonorous imitation, complementary background role and sonorous subordination to the dynamics of the other participant. The other categories such as recurrence of own sonorous modalities, monophony, homophony and polyphony for figure-background can be indifferently given in an affirmative, negative or partial way. The counterpoint and the open sonorous proposals are absent or present partially. Texturally, melody with accompaniment appears where it does not concern if the client locates himself as figure or background but we are concerned about the need to be subordinated or to be supported on the interviewer's sonorous movements.

The tendency that stands out in this relational modality is the declared dependence to the subordination or sonorous analogue in the follow up of the interviewee regarding the production of the interviewer. The imitation is an example of this relational capacity, reached in the use by the interviewee of elements (rhythmic, melodic, timbral qualities, harmonic sequences) alike or similar to those of the client and preferably in a consecutive form. And although this behavior can arise in a brief way, we never heard intentions to control or to contrast the sonorous line offered by the interviewer.

We found as theoretical antecedents of this profile, the homonymous concept in Bruscia (1987) and the levels of "delicate musical Answer of the P" and "managed Answer musically sustained of the P", in Pavlicevic (1995).

The Differentiated Relational Sonorous Profile is characterized by a marked tendency to express one's own sonorous modalities as figure, control of the improvisation of the other, along with the use of the counterpoint. Certain sonorous disconnection can also appear. This way of linking constitutes the antithesis of the previous since it is distinguishes the client's insistence on appealing to personal sonorous forms although without being necessarily disconnected from the production of the other. Therefore we listened for control in a production where the selection, the combination of elements and the succession of changes the interviewee seeks to manage and to direct in the interviewer's procedures. This approach has arisen in musicians and Music Therapists from our sample. The participant uses an excessive style as the leader or sonorous figure and he does not allow silence.

Many times the densities appear saturated and the intensities appear strong, pointing out a presence imposed by sonorous parameters. These characteristics imprint him, often creating a certain rigidity to the sonorous speech, but other times, a certain confusion and disconnection.

In conclusion, in this profile the contrasting sonorous relationship can be effective or be expressed partially. The appearance of the sonorous contrast, the counterpoint and the figure role are typical ways of manifesting the profile, being the exchange proposals at a very controlled and not very open sonorous level.

The theoretical antecedents of this profile have been the "separation phase-individuation" of Mahler (Bleger, 1984), the "Differentiated" of Bruscia (1987) and the level of "self-directed Answer of the P" of Pavlicevic (1995).

The Integrated Relational Sonorous Profile is characterized by a marked tendency to the open sonorous proposals, the counterpoint and the interaction among figure-background. They can be included totally or partially through imitation, monophony and/or homophony, as well as the sonorous disconnection and control, which are excluded over the improvisation of the other.

In this profile the client expresses with clarity and flexibility, his communicative intention. The same is detected sonorously with key indicators: the capacity of the interviewee to offer active and fluid diverse entities and/or sonorous elements as interrelation form with the other; the open, simultaneous and/or successive casting of timbral lines, rhythmic and/or melodic together with the interviewer plus enjoyment of the sonorous interdependence, the presence of open sonorous proposals and counterpoint respectively suppose. Subsequently, this Relational Sonorous Profile becomes audible in the sonorous dialogues, in the use of the silence, in differentiated rhythms and in the alternation of sonorous expressions. For example, some sonorous expressions could be antecedent and consequent, canon, etc. These interactions can be given intermittently or as exploration. The dynamics of interrelation of the couple Figure - Background also takes a privileged place in this profile. Monophony, the homophony as well as imitation can be heard or not, as another variation more in the range of sonorous resources of this relational modality.

As theoretical antecedents of the Integrated Relational Sonorous Profile we can name the homonymous grading in Bruscia (1987) and the levels of "Settling down and Extending the mutual contact" and "musical Association" of Pavlicevic (1995).

Synthesizing what we have described up to now, we conclude that the relationships between the textural dynamics of the relational improvisations and the resulting Relational Sonorous Profile of this study. We find correspondences between the Isolated Relational Sonorous Profile and the monophony; between Fused Relational Sonorous Profile and the monophony textures and homophony. The Dependent Relational Sonorous Profile was characterized by dynamic of homophony, figure and background; while the essential feature of the Differentiated Relational Sonorous Profile is the counterpoint. The Integrated Relational Sonorous Profile didn't have a predominant texture, it rather evidenced counterpoint, figure, background, homophony and monophony, since this relational positioning implied the flowing articulation in diverse connection ways.

General Conclusions

We presented the summary of a work that began in 1998 and concluded in 2006. We hope that our study has elaborated specific aspects of Music Therapy that will give importance to the concrete field that it concerns. We acknowledge that this study only partially addresses issues of Music Therapy procedures for diagnostic evaluation, but we consider it relevant to advance the phenomenological analysis of sonorous improvisations in order to build a specific epistemological foundation in Music Therapy.

Regarding the sample we acknowledge that it presents a restricted number of participants for general validations but enough to visualize recurrences, tendencies and descriptions of these ones. Regarding the utilized instruments, we choose the ones that music therapists use with more frequency. We put special emphasis on recognizable instruments validated by our scientific community.

This first stage of the Project has allowed us to describe sonorous and psychological variables fulfilling the purpose of this paper. These variables are representative. In the sample, and the behavior in the two subgroups (with and without diagnostic) we facilitated the design of the individual and relational theoretical predictor chart of profiles. Our findings have had informal recognition among our colleagues in Music Therapy, which allows us to sense the wealth of the contributions to this study.

In the second stage of the Project [2] we have tested the profiles in the sample, based on the following hypotheses:

It is possible to contain the sonorous productions in Individual and Relational Sonorous Profiles.
Significant relationships among Individual Sonorous Profiles, Relational Sonorous Profiles and relevant Psychological Variables exist, manifested through verbal and written productions.

Notes

[1] The authors have worked in a research team together with the following group of researchers: Romina Bernardini, María Fernanda Barbaresco, Lilia Caberta, Marina Frigerio, Claudia Mendoza, María Fernanda Rodríguez, Juan Ignacio Vaccaneo, and Leandro Versace.

[2] Please contact authors for second stage paper. Final report will be published in the book "Music and Psyche," ICMus Editors. icmusargentina@yahoo.com.ar

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