With A Song In My Psyche

"This studies the psychology of singing and teaching singing. It describes the musical brain, the singer's mind/body interaction, the crucial early musical development, the adolescent singer, gender factors, psychology of performance and the psychological basis for attaining greater artistry." --Cover.

The purpose of this book is to provide a basic understanding of Voice Movement Therapy and how it uses both spontaneous vocalization and the creation and performance of song, integrated with active body movement, to increase expressive and communicative skills and to strengthen one’s sense of self. Chapter One presents an overview of its history and core principles, and Chapters Two through Six provide articles by various practitioners to give the reader a sense of how they work, both with clients and students and for themselves, in ways that follow a basic set of principles, yet differ widely in accordance with the nature of the individual or group, the practitioner, and the cultural and socio-economic conditions of each encounter. Some of these articles reaffirm the past work of founder Paul Newham who, taking inspiration from the Alfred Wolfsohn/Roy Hart tradition of extended voicework, established a more specifically psychotherapeutically oriented vocal discipline and worked with individuals with special needs, students of voice, and performers. Other articles show how this work has been extended to new populations: those experiencing mental and physical illness and addiction and abuse, displacement and alienation, hidden disabilities, the need for formal mediation and conflict resolution, and transitioning into motherhood pre- and post-partum. Several others illustrate how the therapeutic component of the voice lesson has been broadened and deepened. In all instances, the aim of the editors has been to present a framework within which practitioners may tell their own stories in their own voices. The final chapter addresses ways in which we see this work going forward. It will be of interest, both in the United States and internationally, to professionals such as therapists, counselors, teachers of singing, teachers of speech and drama, speech-language pathologists; academic institutions that have courses in the creative arts therapies; conservatories for music and drama; and parents and parent organizations, especially those for children with both special needs and hidden disabilities.

This innovative text bridges media theory, psychology, and interpersonal communication by describing how our relationships with media emulate the relationships we develop with friends and romantic partners through their ability to replicate intimacy, regularity, and reciprocity. In research-rich, conversational chapters, the author applies psychological principles to understand how nine influential media technologies—theatrical film, recorded music, consumer market cameras, radio, network and cable television, tape cassettes, video gaming, and dial-up internet service providers—irreversibly changed the communication environment, culture, and psychological expectations that we then apply to future media technologies. With special attention to mediums absent from the traditional literature, including recorded music, cable television, and magnetic tape, this book encourages readers to critically reflect on their own past relationships with media and consider the present environment and the future of media given their own personal habits. 20th Century Media and the American Psyche is ideal for media studies, communication, and psychology students, scholars, and industry professionals, as well as anyone interested in a greater understanding of the psychological significance of media technology, usage, and adoption across the past 150 years.

‘Touching God: Hopkins and Love’ is the first book devoted to love in the writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, illuminating our understanding of him as a romantic poet. Discussions of desire in Hopkins’ poetry have focused on his unrequited attraction to men. In contrast, Duc Dau turns to Luce Irigaray and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theories of mutual touch to uncover the desire Hopkins cultivated and celebrated: his love for Christ. ‘Touching God’ demonstrates how descriptions of touching played a vital role in the poet’s vision of spiritual eroticism. Forging a new way of reading desire and the body in Hopkins’ writings, the work offers fresh interpretations of his poetry.

The 14th Congress for Analytical Psychology was held 23-28 August 1998 in the ancient city of Florence, Italy. The theme, 'Destruction and Creation: Personal and Cultural Transformations', is especially appropriate to the Italian setting, with that nation's history of destruction, both from nature and from human activity, and its tradition -- especially in Florence -- of creative individuals and institutions. The theme is fitting, also, to the context of Jungian psychology, with its emphasis on these and other pairs of opposites, with their integral role in psychic wholeness. Acknowledging, also, that destruction is indispensable to creation, some Jungians prefer the term 'creative unconscious' to the traditional 'collective unconscious'.

Unfolding the Unconscious Psyche is a study of the creative arts and depth psychology, and the threads that run between the two. Edward Applebaum begins with works of art, in media including painting, music, literature and film, and pursues aspects of each towards an understanding of the unconscious psyche of the creator. By combining a study of the artistic work with the insight of depth psychology, Applebaum opens a dialogue between studies of works of art and their creators and the individuals who form the work’s audience. Each discussion is dictated by the artwork itself and is viewed from a variety of perspectives. Throughout the book the reader is encouraged to develop their own analytical technique: to follow the clues available, link threads together and analyse what they can see. The result demonstrates the value of dialogue in blending depth psychology with the arts, through examination of work by artists including Georgia O’Keefe, Ingmar Bergman, Frida Kahlo, Gustav Mahler and Virginia Woolf. Applebaum also seeks to correct misconceptions about the arts that have filtered into the study and practice of depth psychology since the earliest writings of Freud and Jung. This uniquely creative and insightful work will be absorbing reading for analytical and depth psychologists, students of analytical psychology, academics and scholars of the arts and anyone with an interest in the application of Jungian ideas.

A tale of passion and obsession from a philosophy professor who learns to play Bach on the piano as an adult. Dan Moller grew up listening to heavy metal in teh Boston suburbs. But one day, something shifted when he dug out his mother's record of The Art of the Fugue, inexplicably wedged between ABBA's greatest hits and Kenny Rogers. Moller was fixated on Bach ever since. In The Way of Bach, he draws us into fresh and often improbably hilarious things about Bach and his music. Did you know the Goldberg Variations contain a song about his mom cooking too much cabbage? Just what is so special about Bach’s music? Why does it continue to resonate even today? What can modern Americans—steeped in pop culture—can learn from European craftsmanship? And, because it is Bach, why do some people see a connection between music and God? By turn witty and though-provoking, Moller infuses The Way of Bach with philosophical considerations about how music and art enable us to contemplate life's biggest questions.