Songwriting Sunday: Looking at the Musical Elements

It is time to bring back a chart that I have used many times over the years to illustrate how I use music while songwriting and while working with clients. This is a way of thinking that I really defined for myself when I was working as a Teaching Assistant many years ago, and it has stuck with me. If you have ever studied the Therapeutic Function of Music as defined by Deanna Hanson-Abromeit, then you have an idea of where I am going with all of this, but I take a little different view on what the Therapeutic Function of Music is for music therapists and music therapy clients.

The picture below is of the graphic organizer I use when I am thinking about the Therapeutic Function of Music. Now, I use this chart when I am composing as well as when I am using the music composed by others. I do not usually start with this chart, but I always end up using it at the end. This is the best way for me to think about the musical options that are available to me as musician and music therapist. The example above is for someone else's song, but it transfers quite well to my own compositions.

So, how does it work?

Well, this is where my music theory and knowledge of the psychology and physiological responses of music and the body come in handy. It is important to understand the medium that we use in our clinical practice in ways that other musicians and non-musicians do not. We have to figure out what we are doing with our music in order to assist our clients in meeting their goals. We cannot force clients to match the music, so we often change the music to meet our clients where they are in their lives. This knowledge has been the basis for most of my advocacy efforts over the year. When I can explain what I am doing to change the music to support my clients' goals and objectives, people understand why it is important to have a music therapist do my job rather than just any singer sitting in front of my groups. Knowing more about music and its effect on the human body has kept my interest in this profession growing. 

When I am songwriting, I just let the music happen. When the song is finished enough that I can replicate it easily, it is time to start the therapeutic function analysis. I do not root my analysis in research articles. I root my analysis in music theory and physiology, neurology, and psychology. I think about ways that I can adapt the music to affect various human systems.

Pitch can be adapted to fit either client singing ranges or auditory preferences. Some people do not like low pitches and others do not like high pitches. I can take a song and transpose it easily if I know my clients' preferences for pitch. They don't need to know that different pitches can stimulate various parts of the brain or parts of the ear to have preferences, but I know the underlying mechanisms of the human system to understand the ways pitch can affect us all.

This process can be used for all of the elements that I have listed here. Does anyone have others that I have missed?

I go through each of the elements and list the original information and my thoughts on how I can change the music in the music therapy session. This is a dynamic system - it changes based on how my clients act during the session and how we both respond to our mutual musicking. I often go back and change things up based on real-life examples and situations for each piece of music that I bring into the session environment.

This is an important part of how I understand music. I hope that this writing helps others understand things as well - I know it doesn't match how everyone thinks about our medium, but there might be a couple of you out there that will get this and use it for your own music therapy practices.

As always, I am interested in your thoughts, questions, concerns...