E. Thayer Gaston

“Father of American Music Therapy”

Gaston

• ANTHROPOLOGY: The scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans. )

MAN AND HIS MUSIC (E. Thayer Gaston, 1968)

• “Music is human behavior”

• Believed that the study of Music Therapy was best performed through methods used in Behavioral Sciences.

• Gaston believed in a multidisciplinary approach to gaining knowledge toward the understanding of people and their needs and in the application of music interventions.

DEVELOPMENT OF MAN

• “We live in a universe, not a diverse situation.”

• Man has evolved into a primarily social being first and an individual second.

• An individual’s SELF-ACTUALIZATION functions to promote him/her into more significant group relationships.

• The development of more complex social behaviors occurred concurrently with the increase in the size and complexity of mans brain, which makes possible speech, communication, and abstract thinking.

MAN AND HIS SENSES—MUSIC

• “Basically and completely, it is man’s sensory experience of hearing that makes possible his music.”

• “The greater the sensory development of an organism, the richer the outside world of that organism.”

• i.e., Music functions to enrich man’s life.

MAN AND HIS SENSES—MUSIC

• “Our senses provide us with the basic material of what is to be our intelligence…”

• Without music, we can never develop to our full human potential.

• Experiments performed re: sensory deprivation—led to brain damage and loss of potential to learn.

• Experience of organization and orderliness are essential for effective, meaningful human living.

-There is a universal demand for organization, for through organization we can learn, understand, and grow further.

Need for Aesthetic Experiences

• “Man cannot escape the formation of aesthetic constructs.”

• Our nervous systems demand not only sensory input, but novelty and variation of such input.

• “Aesthetic experience may be one of the best devices to help man adjust and adapt to his environment.”

• Man would be less complete without aesthetic experience. • “The most effective attention is that wherein novelty

comes from variations on the familiar, from dependency to some extent on what has already been programmed in the memory system.” (Re-creative methods?)

Need for Aesthetic Experiences

• Repetition leads to monotony and disinterest. • Too much novelty (i.e., not enough repetition)

leads to decrease in attention.

• Organized variation—as through music—is important for maximum attention of the nervous system.

RHYTHM: THE ORGANIZER AND ENERGIZER

• “It is rhythm alone that makes possible the temporal order of music.”

• Rhythm is the most influential factor of music.

• If rhythmic order cannot be established, then melody and harmony lose their potency.

• Historically, Rhythm has brought people together to dance, to work, etc… without the need for words.

RHYTHM: THE ORGANIZER AND ENERGIZER

• “It is the amount of rhythm and the manner in which the rhythm is indicated that determine, in large part, the amount of energy invested in the physical response to

music.”

• Rhythm is the primitive, driving factor of music. Active muscle potentials are initiated as a response to rhythm (as compared to melody or harmony).

MAN’S BEHAVIOR WITH HIS MUSIC

• “Music is non-verbal communication.”

• Group music functions to bring people into membership and acceptance.

GASTON’S CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE USE OF

MUSIC IN THERAPY (8)

1. ALL MANKIND HAS NEED FOR AESTHETIC EXPRESSION AND EXPERIENCE

2. THE CULTURAL MATRIX DETERMINES THE MODE OF EXPRESSION

– Client must be exposed to music that they can understand/comprehend; i.e., from their “culture.”

GASTON’S CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE USE OF

MUSIC IN THERAPY

3. MUSIC AND RELIGION ARE INTEGRALLY RELATED– Music and religion (supposedly) function to

draw people together.

4. MUSIC IS COMMUNICATION– “It is the wordless meaning of music that provides its

potency and value.”– “There would be no music and no need for it if it were

possible to communicate verbally that which is communicated musically.”

GASTON’S CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE USE OF

MUSIC IN THERAPY

5. MUSIC IS STRUCTURED REALITY– “All the senses bring to us aspects of

reality.”– All the musical elements require astounding

preciseness, and thus attention to detail brought about through conscious use of them.

6. MUSIC IS DERIVED FROM THE TENDER EMOTIONS

– …and thus leads to more intense/significant group (social) participation.

GASTON’S CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE USE OF

MUSIC IN THERAPY

7. MUSIC IS A SOURCE OF GRATIFICATION– “Music permits and encourages each

person to participate dynamically in his/her own growth and change.”

8. THE POTENCY OF MUSIC IS GREATEST IN THE GROUP

– “The chief aim of therapy is to enable the individual to function at his best in society.”

– “Music, by its very nature, draws people together for the purpose of intimate, yet ordered, function.”