The MUSIC THERAPIST is a SHAMAN: how both use spirituality to heal
Music therapists are modern-day shamans because they bring back the original purpose of music, which is to enhance the conditions for life1. Prehistoric paintings suggest people used the creative arts (music, art, and dance) 35,000 years ago to heal, even in a group therapy dynamic through tribal healing rituals2.
In the past, shamans met the social psychological needs of their communities while informing ritual and creativity1. Modern-day shamans are more responsible for the client in front of them than they are the community at large3. The shaman has the client go into an altered state rather than travelling for the client3. Shamans are wounded healers who commune1 and mediate4 with the spiritual world and see their environment as emotionally alive while also being a part of themselves5. Rather than travelling for the client, the shaman will help the clients enter into an altered state of consciousness3, encourage them to go within, overcome fears, and learn wisdom about themselves1.
Shamans will use music to bring about nonmusical outcomes, for example using music in rituals to summon deities and purifying the space. Some shamans of South Korea use the music intentionally to bring everyone — living, dead, and gods — together in the same space7. During a grieving ritual, the shaman will embody the deceased, use falling melodic contours to mimic sighs, and use falsetto to mimic emotional crying8,9,10,11,12. Drumming would eventually change to arrhythmic patterns with frequently changing meter as a way for the bereaved to represent breaking free of the sorrow. After stabilizing, the bereaved would sing popular songs while dancing, which would bring fun back into the room. In other words, the music is used intentionally and metaphorically in the ceremony to allow the bereaved to experience the grieving process while expressing their feelings, diving deeper in to the loss, and leaving the ceremony in a better mood. The ritualists view the music’s role as invoking sorrow or joy with the overall nonmusical outcome of p’uri, which is removing negative forces7.
In another example, a shaman in Siberia is recorded as bringing people together through singing, dancing, and drumming in a call-and-response format and then a dance circle. The leader of the call-and-response switched from person to person, and the leader would determine the rhythm and stepping speeds13. This is a technique that I have done in my sessions with clients as a music therapist.
Instruments are also sacred to the shamans14. They are “bodies of the gods” used religiously and sacro-magically15. The music activates the shaman’s clothing and helping spirits, puts the shaman in an altered state of consciousness, and allows the community members to build up the psychic energy for the journey. The music then ends up mediating the shaman’s inner and outer worlds while the shaman13 — who can change his state at will6 — uses the music to express the altered state experience13.
Music therapists today also meet their communities social and psychological needs1. Speaking just about spirituality, 76% of music therapists report that spirituality is connected to their identity and their work but most won’t tell that to their patients. They will use spirituality as a source of strength for themselves but won’t equate the work to mysticism. Some believe music has a spiritual origin and is a medium, and that their spirituality informs their practice. Even 63% of the music therapists reported having a spiritual experience in session. Music therapists using the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) in particular describe these events as altered states, trances, travelling, and transpersonal experiences. These experiences have been an everyday event for some therapists, and many include spirituality as part of their assessment but are reminded of ethical and professional boundaries, while others consider it unethical to address. Moreover, 91% of the therapists reported that music therapy helps their clients’ spiritual well-being but that it wasn’t the purpose of the therapy16.
Only some music therapists are trained in addressing specific spiritual needs, such as expanded awareness, in a discipline for spirituality17, such as in Nordoff-Robbins18, or explicitly in GIM through transpersonal/spiritual competencies19. GIM is a combination of music with guided imagery, and it induces an altered state in the patients without drugs. It was even developed to replace the use of LSD in therapy. Both shamans and the GIM music therapist will use guided meditation, but GIM uses recorded tapes. The GIM music therapist will have the patients enter into the altered state, rather than the therapist20.
Just because spirituality is not an explicit focus of music therapy, however, does not mean that music is an inactive means for transcendence21. Music’s transcendental power has been documented22,23. Music allows patients to access undiscovered parts of themselves as well as losses that they had not previously mourned24. Drumming does in fact induce an altered state of consciousness that can reduce addiction25,26,27. Experimental research has found that shamans do go into an altered state of consciousness through listening to drumming sounds. This trance has similar neurological changes to drug-induced states but are different enough to be distinct28. Researchers in the lab found that shamanic drumming with an untuned drum can stimulate more of the brain than less complex and single frequency sounds, that more energy can be transmitted to the brain with a drum because of the lower frequencies due to pain tolerance, and that the rhythmic drumming matched the basic rhythm of the brain’s alpha waves (about 8–13 cycles per second). Moreover, the drumming drove the participants’ alpha waves, which sent them into a trance-like state29.
These altered states of consciousness are the focus in both shamanism and GIM, which seek to balance the inner and outer worlds through the altered state while offering having the participant move back and forth. Besides the altered state of consciousness, both the shaman and the GIM music therapist use music to act as a guide as the client travels through the altered state. The biggest difference is that the shaman views the spiritual entities (guides, spirits, and animals) during the altered state as real and integral to the process. The altered state is also real to the shaman. The GIM music therapist views it only as an altered state of consciousness3,4. Both types of practitioners are necessary to the healing process to help the patients verbally express the experience and process feelings3,4,20. The deep relaxation and concentration on the music in GIM are similar to the altered state that happens in shamanism. The GIM patients will mentally travel within themselves to address issues, which is similar to the shamanic process of addressing unconscious or repressed conflicting feelings20. Kovach4 states that the techniques might differ at times between shamanism and GIM, but that the overall processes of both parallel each other: both make preparations for the experience, use techniques to facilitate an altered state of consciousness, travel within that altered state, and provide a way to return to regular consciousness
Davis3 even described using both GIM and shamanic approaches on a patient. The patient was discouraged with GIM because she couldn’t let go of her thinking. Davis did two drum journey sessions with the patient, and afterwards, the patient was ready to try GIM again. This time, the patient saw a simplified life and her inner warrior, which represented victory and responsibility. Before treatment, she was emotionally shut down. After treatment, she felt both alive and hopeful.
Even though music therapists are addressing spiritual needs in sessions, they find it difficult to talk about their own spirituality to their clients. Moreover, music therapists often find themselves in three dilemmas when it comes to spirituality: 1) being seen as unprofessional in scientific and medical environments, 2) others viewing music therapy as esoteric spiritual healing for “alternative people”, and 3) not knowing how to assess spiritual goals or how to balance official policies or laws with the client’s spiritual needs16.
If music therapists are afraid to talk about a significant portion of their work — or even a part of who we are — then we become unable to be authentic for the patient, address the patient’s needs, and provide holistic care for the patient. If our charge are music therapists is to bring back the original purpose of music, which is to enhance people’s lives1, then perhaps it’s time to drop the stigma around spirituality and discuss how as a profession we can meet those needs through our scientifically-backed magic (the music) and be the best shamans we can be.
References
1. Aigen (1991). The Voice of the Forest: A Conception of Music for Music Therapy. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-28512-001
2. Moreno (2016). The Music Therapist: Creative Arts Therapist and Contemporary Shaman. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1989-26727-001
3. Davis (2012). The Bonny Method and Shamanic Journeying Pathways to Living with higher Consciousness. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=10988009&AN=82106669&h=o8iqsu4mUvvbG33ZFX0NhZTvKHOuen7sYah01LM2bkE1H%2bjAzCDd195ek6HnhDZMcUFtF3MfDKIShTmAEWuHww%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d10988009%26AN%3d82106669
4. Kovach (1985). Shamanism and Guided imagery and Music: A Comparison. https://academic.oup.com/jmt/article-abstract/22/3/154/940678?redirectedFrom=fulltext
5. Halifax (1982). Shaman: The wounded healer. https://www.amazon.com/Shaman-Wounded-Healer-Joan-Halifax/dp/050081029X
6. Baghramian (2007). The magic of shamanism: The healing power of the shamanic journey. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-magic-of-shamanism-the-healing-power-of-the-shamanic-journey_arvick-baghramian/32028607/item/47496643/#isbn=1846241405&idiq=47496643
7. Mills (2012). Sounds to soothe the soul: music and bereavement in a traditional South Korean death ritual. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13576275.2012.675231
8. Tolbert (1990). Women cry with words: Symbolization of affect in the Karelian lament. https://www.jstor.org/stable/767933
9. Caraveli-Chaves (1980). Bridge between worlds: The Greek women’s lament as communicative event. https://www.jstor.org/stable/541009
10. Feld (1982). Sound and sentiment: Birds, weeping, poetics, and song in Kaluli expression. https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Sentiment-Weeping-Expression-Communication/dp/0812212991
11. McLaren & Chen Qinjian (2000). The oral and ritual culture of Chinese women: Bridal lamentations of Nanhui. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1178916
12. Urban (1988). Ritual wailing in Amerindian Brazil https://www.jstor.org/stable/677959
13. Walker (2003). Music as Knowledge in Shamanism and Other Healing Traditions of Siberia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21774142/
14. Eliade (1959). The sacred and the profane: The nature religion. https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Profane-Nature-Religion/dp/015679201X
15. Rudhyar (1982). The magic of tone and the art of music. https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Tone-Art-Music/dp/0394708873
16. Tsiris (2016). Music therapy and spirituality: an international survey of music therapists’ perceptions. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08098131.2016.1239647
17. Turry (2001). Supervision in the Nordoff-Robbins music therapy training program. In M. Forinash (Ed.), Music therapy supervision (pp. 351–377). https://www.amazon.com/Therapy-Supervision-Michele-Forinash-editor/dp/1945411422
18. Aigen (1998). The voice of the forest: A conception of music for music therapy. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-28512-001
19. Association for Music & Imagery (2022). COMPETENCIES FOR THE PRACTICE OF THE BONNY METHOD OF GUIDED IMAGERY AND MUSIC
https://ami-bonnymethod.org/images/uploads/Competencies_2017.pdf
20. Moreno (2016). The music therapist: Creative Arts Therapists and Contemporary Shaman. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1989-26727-001
21. Aigen (2008). The religious dimensions of popular music and their implications for music therapy. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/135945750802200104
22. Aldridge & Fachner (2006). Music and altered states: Consciousness, transcendence, therapy and addictions. https://www.amazon.com/Music-Altered-States-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1843103737
23. Ansdell (2005). Music for life: Aspects of creative music therapy and adult clients. https://www.amazon.com/Music-Life-Aspects-Creative-Therapy/dp/1853022993/ref=asc_df_1853022993/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=366384068636&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4455403327968469785&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008150&hvtargid=pla-539810106211&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=79033900071&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=366384068636&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4455403327968469785&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008150&hvtargid=pla-539810106211
24. Lijmaer (2020). Music Beyond Sounds and its Magic in the Clinical Process. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33219321/
25. Winkelman (2001). Complementary Therapy for Addiction: “Drumming Out Drugs”. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447805/
26. O’Connell & Alexander (1994). Self-Recovery: Treating Addictions Using Transcendental. Meditation and Maharishi Ayur-Veda. https://www.amazon.com/Self-Recovery-Addictions-Transcendental-Meditation-Maharishi/dp/B00ZLW1KOM
27. Walton & Levinsky (1994). A neuroendocrine mechanism for the reduction of drug use and addictions by transcendental meditation. In: 0 Connell D, Alexander C eds. Self-Recovery: Treating Addictions Using Transcendental. Meditation and Maharishi Ayur-Veda . https://www.amazon.com/Self-Recovery-Addictions-Transcendental-Meditation-Maharishi/dp/B00ZLW1KOM
28. Huels et al. (2021). Neural Correlates of the Shamanic State of Consciousness. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8012721/
29. Neher (1962). A physiological explanation of unusual behavior in ceremonies involving drums.
