Guided Imagery and Music for Music Performance Dysfunction: A Case Study

Micaela Nathan - Volume: 15

This case study explores music performance dysfunction in one professional musician (Mandy) using a modified form of the method of Guided Imagery and Music. The modified form is structured into a set program of ten themed sessions regarding being a musician and music performance dysfunction. This paper focuses on the mandalas and their relationship to the themes, imagery, and Mandy’s symptoms. Repeated symbolic representations of color and form show Mandy’s experience is dependent upon her unresolved emotional responses to past trauma in significant interpersonal relationships. The program gave Mandy the courage to resolve her past and find release from the emotional restrictions that underpin her music performance dysfunction.

Key words: music performance; anxiety; dysfunction; Guided Imagery and Music; mandala

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