Depth-Hermeneutical Evaluation of Group Improvisations in Psychoanalytic Music Therapy

Abstract This chapter discusses and investigates the clinical and systematic practice of evaluating improvisations in group music therapy. In my work as a psychoanalytic music therapist, I developed a method of depth-hermeneutical evaluation that aimed to help understand musical interactions and unconscious meanings of improvisations in groups. The concept of scenic understanding by Alfred Lorenzer holds a pivotal function in its theoretical framework. The evaluation procedure consists of the audio recordings of improvisations, the creation of linguistic descriptions according to defined criteria, and the subsequent analysis of these descriptive records that follows theory-based guidelines. The theoretical background as well as the development of the evaluation procedure are presented, and its application is illustrated by way of an example from my clinical practice in mental health. In addition to clinical practice, the method is suitable for qualitative research into group music therapy.