Joseph J. Moreno

The therapeutic role of the blues singer and considerations for the clinical applications of the blues form

Blues singers express themselves through the fusion of music and poetry that is the traditional blues form. This form has its origin in the expression of problems and was created out of the suffering of African blacks brought to the United States as a result of the institution of slavery. Through vocal music that later evolved into the traditional blues form, the slaves found one permissible outlet for personal and group expression of pain in a highly stressful situation, a form of cathartic music therapy. The blues form continued to be developed by post-slavery blacks and was established by the end of the 19th century. The most traditional blues form is the classic 12 measure. The following is an example of a typical 12 measure blues lyric, with the bar lines dividing the measures.

Music play therapy: An integrated approach☆

Abstract The concept of integrating some of the basic principles of nondirective play therapy and music therapy provides a basis for a new combined therapy modality best called nondirective music play therapy. Nondirective music play therapy takes place in a playroom supplied with musical instruments instead of toys and other traditional play therapy materials. As in nondirective play therapy, a child is free to play out his feelings. Musical instruments are both structured and unstructured. The unstructured aspect of musical instruments allows for exploration of feelings, as do traditional play therapy materials. However, musical instruments, and music itself (by virtue of the implied association), also have a strong inherent structure. A child typically soon tires of random exploration and seeks to play a specific melody or rhythmic pattern, or becomes involved in a shared musical relationship with the therapist. At this point, a child voluntarily commits himself to a structure, which can then be manipulated for his benefit. This combination of freedom and structure can be of great value for many types of children. A case study of a moderately retarded boy in a music play therapy setting is presented in detail and the clinical possibilities of this approach are demonstrated.

Musical psychodrama in Naples

Musical psychodrama is the product of the integration of music improvisation and other music therapy techniques with traditional verbal psychodrama to realize an expanded approach that transcends the possibilities of either discipline used separately (Moreno, 1980, 1984). Developed by this writer in the late 1970s (Bruscia, 1987), musical psychodrama can extend the range of the dramatic and therapeutic potentials of the traditional verbal psychodrama created by Jacob Moreno (1946). Far more than a superficial addition of music therapy techniques to psychodrama techniques, this integrated approach leads to a variety of combined possibilities unique to the musical psychodramatic process. In musical psychodrama, the musical and psychodramatic elements become inseparably combined and serve to reinforce each other in many ways. Musical psychodrama techniques-such as a variety of approaches to music warmups, musical dialogue, musical-mirroring, musical modeling, improvised music to support or direct the protagonist, music and imagery leading to dramatic enactment of the music-induced imagery and the use of improvised music to provide an audible and nonintrusive form of group empathy for the protagonist during a verbal soliloquy-substantially blur the boundaries between music and drama. Musical psychodrama follows the model of the shamanic traditions in which music, art, dance, and drama are all holistically integrated into the healing process. In July 1989, this writer directed a five-day experiential workshop in musical psychodrama in Naples, Italy for the Centro Ricerche di Musicoterapia. That the group interactions were so dynamic and spontaneous was a tribute to the power of the psychodramatic process in helping to overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers of language: the director was entirely non-Italian speaking and the group participants were non-English speaking. Psychodrama is largely dependent on verbal communication and is strongly oriented toward the spontaneous and immediate response to verbal cues and to the finest nuances of verbal meaning. Even with the addition of music expression as an element of nonverbal communication, the musical dialogues alone could not entirely replace the need for verbal communication between the director and the participants. A translator was provided for the group, but there remained a serious question of just how the sessions could be carried out with any levels of real spontaneity and continuity in light of the linguistic barriers. The translator for this course, Antoinette de Vivo, did an outstanding job and played a critical role in enabling the group to function so positively. She was able to translate the essential points of interaction in all the various levels of psychodramatic exchange, and after the sessions began and took on their own momentum the translation quickly became an automatic process that was not a distraction.