Humour in music therapy: A narrative literature review

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Humour is a highly prevalent but little understood phenomenon. In music therapy, experiences of humour are not well documented yet anecdotally widespread.

Method: A narrative literature review was conducted to identify, critically analyse and synthesise literature related to humour in music therapy. Literature was limited to accessible publications in the English language and sourced from multiple music therapy journals, bibliographic databases, electronic databases and books from the earliest available date until June 2018 using the key terms of humour/humor.

Results: Two empirical research studies that focussed on humour in music therapy were identified and references to humour were found in over 130 articles. Humour in music therapy was evidently taken for granted as a phenomenon with relationship-building effects. In addition, references to humour came overwhelmingly from music therapists’ point of view. Despite one comprehensive research study exploring humour in music therapy, a lack of investigation into reciprocal experiences of humour and how this is “played out” through improvisation was identified.

Discussion: This review surfaces a phenomenon that is ubiquitous yet under-researched in music therapy. In general, a kind of insider knowledge appears necessary for humour to be shared; yet the ambiguity inherent in humour means that music therapists can encounter risk in using or engaging with it in their work. These findings have led directly to further research into reciprocal embodied experiences of humour and improvisation in music therapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Humour
• improvisation
• music therapy
• incongruity
• intersubjectivity
• relationship

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgments

Nicky Haire would like to acknowledge Edinburgh College of Art at The University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) UK, for their financial support. She would also like to thank Dr. Rachel Darnley-Smith for her invaluable advice, as well as Dr. Philippa Derrington and Dr. Daphne Rickson for their generous and constructive feedback on early drafts of this article.

Notes

¹ The word humour/humor comes from Latin humor liquid; related to Latin ūmēre to be wet, Old Norse vökr moist, Greek hugros wet. In Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved from: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english.

² For a detailed history of how these theories evolved, see Billig (2005) and Wickberg (1998).

³ See improvisers, Anne Benning, Alan Tomlinson, Hugh Metcalf, Eugene Chadbourne and Derek Bailey for examples of humour and free improvisation.

⁴ Although both spellings humour/humor were included in the search, the UK English spelling of humour is used throughout this article.

⁵ See Bunt and Hoskyns (2002), Bunt and Stige (2014); Kirkland (2013); Wheeler (2015) .

⁶ Improvisational music therapy is a term used by Wigram (2004) and Bruscia (1987) to describe music therapy practice where improvisation is a central feature of the clinical work.

⁷ One art therapist, two music therapists and one play therapist.

⁸ Billig (2005) explores in depth the polarization of the consequences of humour in social experiences in his critique of the social function of ridicule in society. In addition, see Berger (1997, p. 57) for descriptions of humour as inviting “socio-positive” and “socio-negative” consequences in social interactions.

⁹ At least one comprehensive study in Norwegian could also be included: Hermundstad (2008), and there will undoubtedly be many more references to humour in music therapy in other languages which would invite broader discussions about experiences of humour in music therapy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicky Haire

Nicky Haire is a doctoral researcher affiliated with the Institute for Music in Human and Social Development at the Reid School of Music, and the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Her research focuses on experiences of humour in music therapy, specifically with people who have dementia or an acquired brain injury. In addition to practising as a music therapist, she is a dynamic performer and has a particular interest in free improvisation, the process of empathic improvisation in music therapy, and an empathic participatory research approach.

Raymond MacDonald

Raymond MacDonald is Professor of Music Psychology and Improvisation at Edinburgh University. His ongoing research focuses on issues relating to improvisation, musical communication, music health and wellbeing, music education and musical identities and has a particular interest in collaborative creativity. His work is informed by a view of improvisation as a social, collaborative and uniquely creative process that provides opportunities to develop new ways of working musically. He published over 70 peer reviewed papers and has co-edited five texts. He was editor of the journal Psychology of Music between 2006 and 2012 and was Head of The School of Music at Edinburgh University between 2013 and 2016. He is also a saxophonist and composer has released over 60 CDs and toured and broadcast worldwide.