This international collection examines the opportunities for using music-induced states of altered consciousness to promote physical and mental healing, treat substance dependence, and in spiritual and palliative care.
The contributors describe the successful use of altered states and their therapeutic potential, providing examples from different cultures and clinical, therapeutic and spiritual settings. Their observations cover a wide range of music types capable of inducing altered states, including polyrhythmic music, monotonous drumming, Western pop, and Arab musical schemata, complemented by theoretical and clinical approaches to applications in music therapy.
This book will be a useful reference for practising music therapists, musicologists, and ethnomusicologists, students and academics in the field.
The contributors describe the successful use of altered states and their therapeutic potential, providing examples from different cultures and clinical, therapeutic and spiritual settings. Their observations cover a wide range of music types capable of inducing altered states, including polyrhythmic music, monotonous drumming, Western pop, and Arab musical schemata, complemented by theoretical and clinical approaches to applications in music therapy.
This book will be a useful reference for practising music therapists, musicologists, and ethnomusicologists, students and academics in the field.
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Reviews
I welcome the book as a good starting point in a very good starting point in a very important discussion of music and ASC that needs to be unfolded from both a clinical and a research perspective.
For the specialist in music or music therapy or altered states of consciousness, this book is must reading.
Aldridge and Fachner (both qualitative research in medicine, U of Witten-Herdecke) bring together 13 chapters discussing how music is used to create altered consciousness in different cultures. Contributors from around the world in medicine, music therapy, psychology, and music fields examine music used for states of trance, medicine in the Adygh culture of North Caucasus, drug-induced states, healing with hallucinogens, in the treatment of substance abusers, with spirituality and suffering, and therapy for end-stage illnesses. Types of music studied include monotonous drumming and Western and Arab music. The book is intended for music therapists, musicologists, ethnomusicologists and students.