Where the Music Takes Me

Performing at the memorial services of a man who shot and killed two others before killing himself, the author describes an intense peak experience of becoming one with the music. Her years as a music therapist using clinical improvisation and studying the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music prepared her professionally and personally. She reflects on her intertwined identities as singer and music therapist. The music served as a therapeutic container for the entire service, and trusting where the music led was a powerful and humbling experience, similar to Helen Bonny's peak experience during a violin performance.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The author tells her experience at performing at the memorial services of a man who shot and killed two others before killing himself. She describes how her many years of working as music therapist with psychiatric patients, using clinical improvisation and through her study of the Bonny Method of Guided and Imagery prepared both professionally and personally for this experience. She also reflects on her development and as a singer and explores her identity as a singer and how it is intertwined with her identity as a music therapist. During her performance at the memorial services she has, what she describes, as an intense peak experience and describes it as similar to Helen Bonny's peak experience she had during a violin performance. She further describes her experience as becoming one with the music and recounts how the music served as a therapeutic container for the entire memorial service and how trusting where the music was leading was a powerful and humbling experience.