What has Schopenhauers theory of music to contribute to an understanding if improvisional music therapy?
p35 – p43 Rachel Darnley-Smith Abstract Schopenhauer has been described as the ‘musician’s philosopher’ for the detailed attention he pays to music, assigning the medium a ‘pride of place in the arts’ (Budd 1985: 76). Whilst his theory has received ample criticism (Han 1997) on the grounds of conceptual inconsistencies, what is of significance for music therapy is the way in which Schopenhauer cites music as the inner essence of man. Unlike the other arts which form representations of the world, music is not a representation; music therefore has the capacity to say the unsayable, revealing aspects of the world that verbal language is unable to reveal (Bowie 2003). It is of further significance that Schopenhauer has frequently been cited as a precursor to Freud, in particular upon comparing Schopenhauer’s theory of man’s inner essence or Will with Freud’s theory of the unconscious. This article explores the relevance of these theoretical links to the work of some pioneering theories of
