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What does ‘invited by Music’ mean? How can music invite? Who does it invite? What happens if you accept the invitation?
The conversations that surrounded the making of the film “Invited by Music” were full of nuggets that answered these questions. The context for many of these conversations is The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music which is described on my web site. And yet, there is a sense in these conversations that Music invited these persons to more than their imagination or their therapeutic growth through the Bonny Method. In this excerpt from a larger interview, you will get the sense of what I mean.
Lindsey Beaven, Marriage and Family Therapist, living in California, and working on her Ph.D. from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
“I took an early interest in classical music. I don’t come from a household that was interested at all in classical music, but somehow I found it. I participated in a modern dance class at the age of 12 or 13 and the teacher always used classical music. I really connected to the music. We would listen to a crackly record of a classical piece, imagine what it suggested and then dance those images – a bee, a bush, a wolf, the earth are some that come to mind. I learned that music is filled with images. The one constant from about that time in my life was how classical music just kept coming into my life. It was always very powerful. Now I recognize it as something that I was connecting with at a deep level even then. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But it did something with me and to me that other things didn’t. It has been a friend throughout my life. With all the ups and downs, there was always music to go back to.
“In one of my very early experiences with The Bonny Method, I experienced myself in a very different way. Right at the point when I was feeling not so great about myself, I felt as if I experienced something very core that was very alive. It was as if a lot of myself had died, and yet I found a very, very alive part. It was extremely exciting to discover it was there. This experience with music had an amazingly strong effect on me that I didn’t understand. And over two or three or four months, I suddenly realized there is something deeply spiritual in music. Now I think this was something I picked up in music all along, but I could never quite put my finger on. You know, when I listen to music, that’s the part of me that I feel. And so, it sort of all fell into place. And also my relationship with music was not this sort of sudden, quirky thing. It was really a part of me. My respect for music and my interest in it just got broader and broader. Music had enabled me to grasp that there is a gigantic universe inside of me that I had no idea existed before. I mean, I sort of thought I knew myself, but suddenly there was this huge thing that I would now call the unconscious, a whole new world, that I had never begun to look at. That was very exciting to discover!”
Music evokes an imaginative response. This fact is foundational to the Bonny Method. Have you ever noted the ways that music actually becomes a part of your imagery? Music assists and even causes imagery to occur and movement within an image sequence to start, change, shift or stop. Music can become personified or can take on an interesting form. It can become a carrier like wind or water. It can become the voice talking to the listener/ music traveler. It can become the embodiment of a dilemma. There are many different ways in which music can interact with the imagery process. Let's take a look at some examples of music coming directly into the image process and furthering inner work.
* Music can relieve tension and help alleviate pain. While listening to music, a woman with a back injury reported: I'm a fingerboard of a stringed instrument. My body is stiff and hard. When fingers move over the board, it eases the pain. They touch the front side, but it goes through to the back. It's as though I'm a violin. My head is the chin rest. Fingers are on the trunk of my body. My back is the box of the violin. As fingers move on the board, vibrations go to the sound box which is my back. This is happening where the pain is most intense. This part of my back looks relaxed. The music makes it stretch out even more.
* Music can intensify a dilemma. The Bonny Method session began with a path image which forked, a metaphor for the domestic conflict this listener was facing. "One path leads up the side of a steep grassy hill. The other goes along the edge of a rocky cliff. The tension part of the music goes along the rocks: the other part of the music is the other path. The difference in the music is really pulling on me. The upper path is more exciting. Part of it is covered. The other is safer. I prefer the upper."
* Music helps to move through resistance. This person moved from fear of loss of control to calm.
"Now I am physically going down. I don't like it. I don't have control. I can stop it if I want to. If I stop it, I won't know what to do. The music suggests just being. I don't know what I'm supposed to be . .. I'm listening to the music. . . There's a French horn in this music which is bringing me hope, longing, strength. It's a powerful instrument. I'm imaging myself playing this."
* Music supports resolution and reconciliation. This woman was struggling with bringing her children and their stepfather, her husband, into a closer, more settled relationship.
"There is a bird singing. I'm telling the bird how much I need it right now. The whole stream is filling with birds ... and singing. The music is pouring into me. The music lifts everyone out of the water. We float along with the birds. The children fall asleep on this bed of music. My husband is happy. I feel peace."
* Music can encourage opening up to new possibilities. A man considering a career change is restless to get on with finding a new job.
"There is a pure, white light. It has a prism effect. The light diffuses through the building. It was constructed to bring the light into focus. I stand there appreciating the beauty. I can touch the light. I feel purified. 1 put my hand in it. It gets hot. A voice inside says, 'Take it out!' The music says. 'Let it flow'. I feel the energy from the light being transmitted through my body. I'm overcome with awe . . . that I can feel this light."
Have you noticed how you use music in your own listening experiences? Or how you are in a relationship with the music? There are moments in a listening session when the music's support can bring a shift in imagery, leading to a long sought after resolution. Don't expect music to be the rescuer in to a difficult situation. Rather, aim at deepening the mutual bond of trust among the three of you - your inner landscape, your self and music.
