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Musical improvisation and health: a review

Written by Phillip Morton

Musical improvisation and health: a review
Raymond AR MacDonald & Graeme B Wilson

Source and credits

Musical improvisation and health: a review
Raymond AR MacDonald & Graeme B Wilson
Psychology of Well-Being volume 4, Article number: 20 (2014)

https://psywb.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13612-014-0020-9

There is an expanding field of research into how making or listening to music can
improve wellbeing. As a spontaneous, social, creative nonverbal process unfolding in
real time, musical improvisation between individuals is a unique psychological
phenomenon distinct from other areas of musical activity. It may therefore have an
influence on health or wellbeing distinct from other musical behaviours, and from
other components of a musical intervention. Given the psychological complexity of
this behaviour it is important to establish the parameters of improvisation, the effects
on health or wellbeing that are perceived or claimed for it, and any mechanisms
understood to bring about these effects. To establish this, literature was reviewed
that explicitly investigates or theorises about the capacity of musical improvisation to
influence health or wellbeing. Only work examining its application within music
therapy was identified. The behaviours and interactions that constitute improvisation
during music therapy are clearly defined. Improvisation in music therapy is seen to
have specific benefits for particular populations including the amelioration of
neurological damage, improvements in mental health conditions, reductions in stress
and anxiety, and improved communication and joint attention behaviours in
children with autistic spectrum disorders. Four unique characteristics of musical
improvisation are identified as underlying these effects: its potential to link conscious
with unconscious processes, the demands on attention of absorption in a creative
process, the non-verbal social and creative interaction experienced, and the capacity
for expressing difficult or repressed emotions without having to articulate these
verbally. Although improvisation is undertaken in music therapy for a purpose
distinct from that of improvisation in other contexts, its processes can be seen as
substantively similar, suggesting that improvising in itself may offer intrinsic benefits
to health or wellbeing to broader populations and outwith the therapeutic context.
Based on this review, a model is proposed for how improvisation in music can
influence the health or wellbeing of those involved.

Keywords: Improvisation; Music; Health; Wellbeing; Music therapy; Review

Introduction

the article has a long introduction. You can view it and read it here
https://psywb.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13612-014-0020-9

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https://psywb.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13612-014-0020-9

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