Thinking Through Improvisation
How Arts-based Reflexivity Can Offer New Knowing About Music Therapists’ Experiences of Humour in Music Therapy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v21i2.3104Keywords:
Humour, music therapy, improvisation, reflexivity, arts-based research, thinking through improvisationAbstract
As part of a larger research study investigating humour in music therapy with persons with dementia, this article details how music therapists perceive, embody and experience humour in their practice. Three focus groups with music therapists ( N = 9) were organised and resulting data analysed through arts-based reflexive methods.
Building on Schenstead’s (2012) articulation of arts-based reflexivity, two distinct and overlapping forms of thinking through improvisation are highlighted; self-reflexivity and collaborative-reflexivity. Finlay’s (2011) phenomenological lifeworld-oriented questions are used to explicate dimensions of experiences of humour and frame broad thematic reflections. Particular correspondence between improvisation as a way of being and humour in music therapy are explored performatively through a group improvisation involving the first author.
The findings from this synthesis offer insight into how music therapists conceive of humour in their work as supportive of relational bonding, and also experience humour as distancing and defensive behaviour. Along with the perceived risks of humour in relational therapeutic work, an intricate balance between playfulness and professionalism surfaced as part of a music therapy identity. Improvisation, while seemingly taken for granted as a part of spontaneous humour, is also problematised through the perceived seriousness of learning how to improvise as a music therapist aligning with a psychodynamic approach. The consequences of these findings are discussed in relation to music therapy pedagogy and practice along with methodological implications of thinking through improvisation.
References
Amir, Dorit. (2005). Musical humour in improvisational music therapy. Australian Journal of Music Therapy, 16, 3-24.
Ashworth, Ann, & Peter Ashworth. (2003). The lifeworld as phenomenon and as research heuristic, exemplified by a study of the lifeworld of a person suffering Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 34(2), 179–205. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916203322847137
Austin, Diane, & Michele Forinash. (2005). Arts-based research. In Barbara Wheeler (Ed.), Music therapy research (2nd ed., pp. 458–471). Barcelona Publishers.
Ayson, Carolyn. (2018). Six of the many understandings that music therapy journeys gave me. In Claire Molyneux (Ed.), Tales from the music therapy room: Creative connections (pp. 149–150). Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Barone, Tom, & Elliot W. Eisner. (2012). Arts based research. Sage Publications.
Beer, Laura. (2016). From embedded to embodied: Including music in arts-based music therapy research. Music Therapy Perspectives, 34(1), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1093/mtp/miv006
Benjamin, Jessica. (2018). Beyond doer and done to: Recognition theory, intersubjectivity and the third. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Berger, Peter L. (1997). Redeeming laughter: The comic dimension of human experience. Walter de Gruyter.
Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Carl. (2010). Graphic notation – The simple sketch and beyond. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 19(2), 162–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/08098131.2010.497227
Bollas, Christopher. (1995). Cracking up: The work of unconscious experience. Routledge.
Braun, Virginia, & Victoria Clarke. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. SAGE.
Brave-Smith, Anna. (1995). Humour and psychoanalysis: An account of the experience of the Freud museum annual conference of November 1994. Psychodynamic Counselling, 1(3), 468–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/13533339508402466
Bresler, Liora. (2018). Aesthetic-based research: The interplay of knowing and unknowing toward expanded seeing. In Patricia Leavy (Ed.), Handbook of arts-based research (pp. 649–672). The Guilford Press.
Bruscia, Kenneth E. (2015). Forms of reflexivity in music therapy: An anthology. Retrieved from http://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=4544684
Critchley, Simon. (2002). On humour. Routledge.
Evans, Sandra, Jane Garner & Rachel Darnley-Smith. (2020). Psychodynamic approaches to the experience of dementia: Perspectives from observation, theory and practice. Routledge.
Finlay, Linda. (2009). Ambiguous encounters: A relational approach to phenomenological research. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 9(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/20797222.2009.11433983
Finlay, Linda. (2011). Phenomenology for therapists: Researching the lived world. J. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119975144
Finlay, Linda, & Ken Evans. (2009). Relational-centred research for psychotherapists: Exploring meanings and experience. Wiley-Blackwell.
Fischlin, Daniel, & Eric Porter. (Eds.). (2020). Playing for keeps: Improvisation in the aftermath. Duke University Press.
Freud, Sigmund. (1928). Humour. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 9, 1–6.
Freud, Sigmund. (1976). Jokes and their relation to the unconscious (New ed.). Penguin.
Gadsby, Hannah. (2019, April). Three ideas. Three contradictions. Or not [video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_gadsby_three_ideas_three_contradictions_or_not?language=en
Gerge, Anna, Margareta Wärja, & Inge Nygaard Pedersen. (2017a). Using aesthetic response - a poetic inquiry to expand knowing, part I: The rx6-method. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v17i1.890
Gerge, Anna, Margareta Wärja, & Inge Nygaard Pedersen. (2017b). Using aesthetic response - A poetic inquiry to expand knowing, Part II: Theoretical perspectives on arts-based research. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v17i1.913
Goodenough, Belinda, Lee-Fay Low, Anne-Nicole Casey, Lynne Chenoweth, Richard Fleming, Peter Spitzer, Jean-Paul Bell, & Henry Brodaty. (2012). Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of humor therapy in residential care: The Sydney multisite intervention of LaughterBosses and ElderClowns (SMILE). International Psychogeriatrics, 24(12), 2037–2044. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610212000683
Grant, Barbara M., & Lynne S. Giddings. (2002). Making sense of methodologies: A paradigm framework for the novice researcher. Contemporary Nurse, 13(1), 10–28. https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.13.1.10
Grinberg, Zohar, Susana Pendzik, Ronen Kowalsky, & Yaron Goshen. “Sancho”. (2012). Drama therapy role theory as a context for understanding medical clowning. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 39(1), 42–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2011.11.006
Haire, Nicky, & Raymond MacDonald. (2019). Humour in music therapy: A narrative literature review. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/08098131.2019.1577288
Haire, Nicky, & Raymond MacDonald. (2021). Understanding how humour enables contact in music therapy relationships with persons living with dementia: A phenomenological arts-based reflexive study. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 74, 101784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2021.101784
Haire, Nicky, & Amelia Oldfield. (2009). Adding humour to the music therapist’s tool-kit: Reflections on its role in child psychiatry. British Journal of Music Therapy, 23(1), 27–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/135945750902300104
Hiller, James. (2016). Epistemological foundations of objectivist and interpretivist research. In Barbara L. Wheeler & Kathleen M. Murphy (Eds.), Music Therapy Research (3rd ed., pp. 99–117). Barcelona Publishers.
Kontos, Pia, Karen-Lee Miller, Gayle Joyce Mitchell, & Jan Stirling-Twist. (2017). Presence redefined: The reciprocal nature of engagement between elder-clowns and persons with dementia. Dementia, 16(1), 46–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301215580895
Kopytin, Alexander, & Alexey Lebedev. (2013). Humor, self-attitude, emotions, and cognitions in group art therapy with war veterans. Art Therapy, 30(1), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2013.757758
Kopytin, Alexander, & Alexey Lebedev. (2015). Therapeutic functions of humour in group art therapy with war veterans. International Journal of Art Therapy, 20(2), 40–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2014.1000348
Liamputtong, Pranee, & Jean Rumbold. (Eds.). (2008). Knowing differently: Arts-based and collaborative research methods. Nova Science Publishers.
Low, Lee-Fay, Henry Brodaty, Belinda Goodenough, Peter Spitzer, Jean-Paul Bell, Richard Fleming, Anne-Nicole Casey, Zhixin Liu, & Lynn Chenoweth. (2013). The Sydney multisite intervention of LaughterBosses and ElderClowns (SMILE) study: Cluster randomised trial of humour therapy in nursing homes. BMJ Open, 3(1), e002072–e002072. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002072
Martin, Rod A. (2001). Humor, laughter, and physical health: Methodological issues and research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 127(4), 504–519. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.4.504
McCaffrey, Tríona, & Jane Edwards. (2015). Meeting art with art: Arts-based methods enhance researcher reflexivity in research with mental health service users. Journal of Music Therapy, 52(4), 515–532. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/thv016
McCormack, Brendan, & Tanya McCance. (Eds.). (2017). Person-centred practice in nursing and health care: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons Inc.
McCreaddie, May. (2010). Harsh humour: A therapeutic discourse: Harsh humour: A therapeutic discourse. Health & Social Care in the Community, 18(6), 633–642. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00936.x
McCreaddie, May, & Sheila Payne. (2012). Humour in health-care interactions: A risk worth taking. Health Expectations, 17(3), 332–344. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1369-7625.2011.00758.x
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. (2012). Phenomenology of perception (D. A. Landes, Trans.). Routledge.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Catalyst. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved August 11, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catalyst
Milner, Marion. (2011). A life of one’s own. Routledge.
Mott, Carrie, & Daniel Cockayne. (2017). Citation matters: Mobilizing the politics of citation toward a practice of ‘conscientious engagement’. Gender, Place & Culture, 24(7), 954–973. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2017.1339022
Nelson, Robin. (2006). Practice-as-research and the problem of knowledge. Performance Research, 11(4), 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528160701363556
Oldfield, Amelia. (2006). Interactive music therapy in child and family psychiatry clinical practice, research, and teaching. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Pendzik, Susana, & Amnon Raviv. (2011). Therapeutic clowning and drama therapy: A family resemblance. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38(4), 267–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2011.08.005
Phillips, Adam. (2013). Missing out: In praise of the unlived life. Penguin Books.
Pillow, Wanda. (2003). Confession, catharsis, or cure? Rethinking the uses of reflexivity as methodological power in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 16(2), 175–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839032000060635
Ridder, Hanne-Mette, & Julie Ø. Bøtker. (2020). Music therapy and skill sharing to meet psychosocial needs for persons with advanced dementia. In Aimee Baird, Sandra Garrido, & Jeanette Tamplin, (Eds.), Music and Dementia: From cognition to therapy (pp. 225–241). Oxford University Press.
Ruud, Even. (1998). Music therapy: Improvisation, communication, and culture. Barcelona Publishers.
Schenstead, Amanda Rose. (2012). The timelessness of arts-based research: Looking back upon a heuristic self-study and the arts-based reflexivity data analysis method. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 12 (1). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v12i1.589
Schneider, Rebecca. (2001). Performance remains. Performance Research, 6(2), 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2001.10871792
Seabrook, Deborah. (2017). Performing wellness: Playing in the spaces between music therapy and music performance improvisation practices. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 17(3). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v17i3.936
Shearer, Ann. (2016). Why don’t psychotherapists laugh? Enjoyment and the consulting room. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315707730
Smith, Julie-Dawn. (2001). Diva dogs: Sounding women improvising [The University of British Columbia]. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0076916
Stensaeth, Karette. (2017). Responsiveness in music therapy improvisation: A perspective inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin. Barcelona Publishers.
Stern, Daniel N. (2004). The Present moment in psychotherapy and everyday life. W.W. Norton.
Stige, Brynjulf. (2006). The problem of pleasure in music therapy. British Journal of Music Therapy, 20(1), 39–51.
Trondalen, Gro. (2016). Relational music therapy: An intersubjective perspective. Barcelona Publishers.
van Manen, Max. (2014). Phenomenology of practice: Meaning-giving methods in phenomenological research and writing. Left Coast Press.
van Manen, Max. (2016). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. State University of New York Press.
Wheeler, Barbara. (1999). Experiencing pleasure in working with severely disabled children. Journal of Music Therapy, 34(1), 56–80.
White, Kate, Angela Cotter, & Hazel Leventhal. (Eds.). (2018). Dementia: An attachment approach. Routledge.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Nicky Haire
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Articles published prior to 2019 are subject to the following license, see: https://voices.no/index.php/voices/copyright
