ABSTRACT
Blair points out a number of different aspects of music that are relevant to music therapy. He describes one of these elements as music’s impact on ‘the affective sides of our minds’ (Blair, 1987:5). By this he means the ways music can affect mood, how it can relieve or create tension, for example. Another quality concerns music’s capacity to express ‘instincts’ and ‘complexes’ for the maker or composer, and also for the listener. Music as a form is open to the individual’s own interpretation and it can powerfully evoke ‘imagery of many kinds-realistic, fanciful or even hallucinatory-which may enable him temporarily to escape from the unacceptable world or reality’ (Blair, 1987:5). Music also can be associated with important experiences in someone’s life, including ones that may have been forgotten or repressed. Music can revive such memories, whether remembered or hidden. He refers to music’s association with community, and with its role in affecting relationships between people. In many societies music is associated with its capacity to ‘foster feelings of mysticism and reverence mak[ing] its use almost indispensable in religious rituals of all kinds’ (Blair, 1987:5). He sees it as an important ‘agent’ of non-verbal communication and interpersonal relationships. In this respect he highlights, in particular, its capacity to arouse empathy between people and to increase self-esteem and enhance social contact.
