Divine Collaboration

In 1999, Helen Bonny was honored at the World Congress of Music Therapy for her development of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM). At that time, she addressed the assembled group in a plenary session.

This is an excerpt from that address. She speaks beautifully to the presence of music for the composer, performer, and listener...

​“Music is a creative moment-by-moment revelation which is totally dependent upon the interpreter.  When belief structures are active, open and non-compartmentalized, the artist plays within a domain beyond his small and limited access to the music.  And when the written music has issued from and through the heart of one of the world’s great composers, a direct line to inspired playing and listening is possible.  This divine collaboration awaits within great music to renew minds and to heal hearts."

"“In addition to a full knowledge of the technique required to execute the piece of music and an understanding of the dynamics, the composer’s written and implied purpose, and integration of parts within the composition, the player must add his depth of person and his unique combination of feeling and experience to playing of the music.  If the performer is able to get inside the music, to reach the heart of the composer’s intent while adding the depth of his own spirit and sensitivity, the music will speak to the listener in ways that words cannot.  Later I was to find that this deep intentionality which an individual musician or group of musicians arrives at, at the behest of a conductor, is what touches long held emotions and evokes holistic responses in  us."

​“The GIM approach is self-evocative.  It is based on the theory that the individual psyche when properly approached will respond with the most efficient and effective imagery, and that music is the central evoking agent.  The therapist and the music provide a milieu within which the widest possible choices can be made.  We call this milieu an envelope of sound, or sound presence and the element of sound presence introduced into work with imagery creates the powerful therapeutic differences between verbally produced, and music-evoked imagery. Deep conscious elements of the person are evoked through the imagery which arises in response to the music medium and the presence of the supportive guide.”

Helen Bonny