Melody

A melody is a collection of musical tones that are grouped together as a single entity. Most compositions consist of multiple melodies working in conjunction with one another. In both modern and classical music, the various instrumental voices play melodies and counter-melodies, often simultaneously. Melody tends to be a dominant feature in western popular music.

”We can think of the psychoanalytic encounter… in musical terms, with its specific melodic, harmonic, and rhythmical patterns, its crescendos and diminuendos of emotional tension; the tempo ‘largo’ with some patients or a more hurried ‘allegro’ with others. Some sessions may be described as presenting an initial theme followed by variations, others in terms of their chromatic or diatonic quality, in a confident major key or in a depressive minor one, and so on ad lib”. Andrea Sabbadini, psychoanalyst, 2014.

To Sabbadini, metaphors of melody and harmony may be applied to the spoken and non-verbal interplay between patient and therapist – theirs is a kind of rhythmic and inflective improvisation. Yet there is a difference between how the psychoanalytic interaction might be described musically, and the kind of music that could be used as part of the clinical framework of psychoanalysis, for example, to engage the patient’s senses as they enter the waiting room before their session.

The music proposed as suitable for psychoanalysis is Uµ. It does not rely on melody in the traditional sense, but rather on abstract melodic and harmonic structures that interweave or are superimposed to create texture and atmosphere. In Uµ, there is no requirement for the music to lead the lyrical or emotional narrative. Without strong melody or driving rhythm, the patient is free to move to an awareness of inner melodies, associations and dreams.