ABSTRACT
The notion of a Musical Field is put forward extending psychoanalytic field theories into the realm of affect-laden audition where animated relationships between sounds and musical qualities become an intricately sensitized web of intersubjectivity within which a symbiotic musical ecosystem is proposed. A technique for processing the musical field is illustrated involving recording the analysand’s spontaneous music, made in session, and then listening to the recording together as an art therapist might circumambulate the patient’s painting in session. The relationship of the field to specific musical locations is discussed regarding tension and release within the exchange. The various levels of these musical zones of activation and their accompanying transferential content are explored on the thematic level through Schenkerian analysis and on deeper levels through the amplification of a Buddhist colloquialism.
