ABSTRACT
One of the first music therapists to write about music, aesthetics, the development of the brain, and the survival value of music was E.T. Gaston (1964, 1968). As important as Gaston was to the early development of the music therapy profession, contemporary perspectives on his theoretical writings reveal contradictions in them and the present area of discussion is no exception. While Gaston understood and argued for the role of music in bringing aesthetic enrichment to human lives, seeing in it one of the primary values of music therapy, he also argued for the supremacy of a scientific, medical approach that supported the reduction of psychological phenomena to descriptions in biological terms. This can be seen in his earliest pronouncements related to neurological concerns: “The neural mechanisms are the same whether a patellar reflex is elicited, a beautiful sunset enjoyed, a symphony listened to, or the fragrance of a rose scented. In the final analysis of mentation, we have only biochemistry and physics” (Gaston, 1964, p. 4).
