“We All Get Found Sometimes”: an arts-based heuristic study on a queer music therapist’s expressive music journaling
Keyword
Research Subject Categories::HUMANITIES and RELIGION::Aesthetic subjects::MusicMusic -- Psychological aspects
Music therapists -- Study and teaching
Gender nonconformity
Queer
Gender identity
Psychotherapy and music
Journaling
Songs -- Texts -- Analysis, appreciation
Date Published
2020-11Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This arts-based, heuristic research documents my process as a queer and genderqueer (they/them) music therapist of creating a song cycle based on the themes gathered through lyric analysis from personal, emotional improvisational songs posted on Patreon.com between July 2018 and September 2019. The 35 songs are sorted by season, and were written based upon the major themes prevalent within each season. The result is a 5-song cycle connecting past to present, excerpts from different journals kept during the process, and the data collected from the lyric analysis. This author claims improvisational songwriting through expressive music journaling (EMJ) to get in touch with one’s deep/subconscious feelings is an effective way to: process trauma, grief, and mental illness; that it is able to bridge gaps of time; and that it will help to regard personal material one might not want to dissect without a creative outlet.Collections
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