“Svanen fra Tuonela”

musik og indre billeddannelse som sorgpraksis

Abstract

In our modern society, we must not be unhappy, weak, or paralyzed by grief. A clear contrast has emerged between the accelerating demands for personal performance and efficiency and the human need to be accommodated and held when losses and crises strike. This article describes a particular kind of bereavement practice that builds on the music’s potential to create space to be with, explore and share emotions and inner experiences related to different types of grief. The authors of the article are practitioners and researchers of the music therapeutic method Guided Imagery and Music (GIM). GIM is based on music listening and inner imagery using specially selected classic pieces of music. In various vignettes and two full case stories we present the importance of validating, accepting and being with grief. A GIM therapy course is a transformative journey that can open up to an expanded space with room for grief and pain. It can at the same time show the way to reorientation and hope (with reference to the Two-track model of bereave- ment). The article elaborates on how music as an art form that extends in time can mirror and embrace the grief that may otherwise be dif- ficult to express in words.