Resonant learning: A qualitative inquiry into music therapy students' self-experiential learning processes

The article presents a part of the authors PhD-study in music therapy about self-experiential training and the development of music therapeutic competencies. One of the purposes of the study was to explore and generate understanding and insight into the phenomena of learning through self-experience and personal therapy in training, first and foremost from the students’ perspective. The author focuses on presenting the qualitative part of her research which namely addresses the students’ experiences. Semi-structured qualitative interviews and qualitative music analyses were conducted, using a hermeneutic approach. The informants were nine music therapy students from Aalborg University, enrolled in the fifth year of their Master’s degree training programme. They were asked to bring a recording of an improvisation of their own choice to the interview. The qualitative data collection of text and music was followed by an arts-based interpretation for each of the students. The artistic level of interpretation called ‘improvisation narratives’ will be presented. Next to the vertical analysis a metatheoretical level of interpretation across data from all students was provided. Five themes were defined, and analysed with the theory of cybernetic psychology. The study as a whole showed how self-experience and practical-oriented training prepare students to go into the complex reality of clinical practice with a well-developed ability to meet clients and their special needs.