The Arts in Psychotherapy Music therapists’ experience of self in clinical improvisation in music therapy: A phenomenological investigation

How do music therapists experience themselves in clinical improvisation in music therapy? The aim of this inter-disciplinary study is to show how music therapists describe and experience the life-world of the self in clinical improvisation through phenomenological investigation. Informed by sociological social psychological theory proposing that the self develops in social discourses, this study explores the self within improvisation as a musical and inter-subjective space that is commonly used in music therapy practice. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of transcripts from semi-structured interviewswith twomusic therapists revealedfive central themes in relation to the life-worldof the self in improvisation. These includedmindfulmeeting of equals, importance of the fundamentals, flexibility and adaptability, personal fulfilment and, balancing the professional andmusical self. These findings support the idea of improvisation as a social discourse and suggest that this may have significant implications for clients and therapists who employ such a means of relating. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.