Music as a Cultural and Therapeutic Tool

Music is widely recognized as a tool of culture.  Music represents the unique behaviors, beliefs, and practices of a group.  We have a relationship with our preferred styles of music which is based on our experiences with that music.  Music is a powerful vessel of ideas. 

When we examine the relationships that other people have with their preferred music, we can only really do our best to guess why people connect with that music.  Imagine the parent who wonders how on earth his or her adolescent child can “listen to that stuff”. 

In a 1996 article, Robert Walker posed the question, “Can We Understand the Music of Another Culture?” (Psychology of Music).  Walker stated that “the medium and content of musical activity become important to our understanding of how minds work in musical behavior” (p. 106).  The way that an individual engages with the music makes a difference.  Additionally, our brains have learned to respond to specific elements of music based on our context.   For example, we become adapted to recognize certain tonal structures.  When we attempt to understand the cultural behavior of behavior of another, we are viewing that behavior through our own contextual lens.  Our lens is informed by our own experiences, but also the physical way we have been taught to respond to music. 

Walker’s article demonstrates the idea of insider vs. outsider knowledge.   An insider will naturally have a different level of meaning of the experience based on experience and context.  As an outsider, we can develop empathy or appreciation, but we may never have the same felt sense of meaning as the insider. 

In music therapy, music becomes an incredible point of access to foster awareness and understanding.  The music allows the experience to move to deep levels of meaning and transformation.  A few years ago, I was treating a client who had a traumatic brain injury.  The client was non-verbal with significant limitations in motor skills.  We explored her preferred music through recordings and videos.  She selected music that reflected the complexities of her emotions, desire for friendships, and wanting to impact the world around her.  This client’s musical experiences were different from mine. We were about the same age, but she had a much greater knowledge of the music that was popular during our early adulthood years. That music was an incredibly powerful tool to represent her beliefs and desired behaviors. 

Although we may never experience another’s music at the same level of meaning as that person or group, there is so much we can learn if we just listen.