Schema Theory: An Integration of Music Based and Psychologically Based Theory in Music Therapy
 

Author:

Dr. Kenneth Aigen

Abstract:

Schema theory is a perspective on human cognition, experience, and communication that is based on the idea that the conceptual system that guides how people think and act is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. In this view, metaphor is not merely a literary device but it is an essential part of all human thought processes.
The foundation of metaphoric thinking originates in image schemata. These are dynamic cognitive constructs that form human experience and that reflect our existence as physical beings in three-dimensional space. Some examples of image schemes relevant to music include CONTAINER, SOURCE-PATH-GOAL, and VERTICALITY (UP-DOWN). For example, in our experience in physical space we are constantly moving in and out of containers that have an inside, an outside, and a boundary. This can be a room in a building which itself is in a town. All of the entities: Broom, building, town, bare containers with designated insides, outsides and boundaries.
When we experience music, we apply the CONTAINER schema in many ways: we talk about an instrument being “in“ or ”out” of tune; we consider a certain tone to be “inside” or “outside” a particular scale; or we can experience ourselves as being “in” the groove or “out” of rhythm. Similarly, we apply the VERTICALITY schema when we talk about pitches being variously “high” or “low” and we apply the SOURCE-PATH-GOAL schema when we discuss how certain tones or chords “move towards” or “point to” other tones or chords. It is almost impossible to say anything about music without employing these metaphors as they are so deeply ingrained in our thinking that we forget that talk of musical motion and musical space is metaphoric.
Many characteristics of schema theory render it particularly applicable in music therapy. First, it is often said that musical experience and expression must be verbalized in order to relate it to the non-musical aspects of a client’s life. Schema theory demonstrates that musical experience in and of itself is already related to non-musical experience, regardless of whether or not it becomes verbalized. Second, in their descriptions of interventions, e.g., creating a container, and client goals, e.g., integrating “parts” of a personality into a “whole”, the clinical language of therapists partakes of the same metaphors that constitute musical experience. This provides a vehicle for integrating musical and verbal understanding when, for example, one can provide specific descriptions of how musical elements can establish a CONTAINER or PART-WHOLE relationship. Schema theory is able to perform this dual, integrative function because as a form of musical analysis it applies equally to the creation of music and to the experience of music. It thus integrates.

References:
-  Aigen, K. (2005). Music-centered music therapy. Gilsum, New Hampshire: Barcelona.

-  Jungaberle, H., Verres, R. & DuBois, F. (2001). New steps in musical meaning: The metaphoric process as an organizing principle. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 10(1), 4-16.

-  Saslaw, J. (1996). Forces, containers, and paths: The role of body-derived image schemas in the conceptualization of music. Journal of Music Theory, 40(2), 217-243.

Keywords:

Schema theory, metaphor theory

Biographical details:

Dr. Kenneth Aigen
Assistant Professor of Music Therapy
Temple University, Philadelphia
USA