The purpose of this study was to contribute an experiential understanding of everyday "music listening experiences through a text that also conveyed a pathic way of knowing. I studied the phenomenon of music listening in the particular context of women living with chronic illness (i.e., a physical condition that is managed rather than cured), and in keeping with van Manen's (1990, 2000) applied hermeneutic-phenomenological approach. Van Manen's approach to phenomenological inquiry emphasizes implementation of the reductio (the reduction), attention to the vocatio (the vocative dimension), and the use of empirical and reflective methods to generate and analyze data. The question that guided this study was: What is the lived experience and lived meaning of music listening for women living with chronic illness? Six women were interviewed in multiple conversations about their music listening experiences. All lived with chronic illness, and identified music listening as important in their lives. Following an initial analysis based on multiple readings from holistic, selective, and detailed perspectives, I used a guided existential reflection based on lived body, lived time, lived space, and lived relation to further understand, organize, and reveal the many ways in which the women listened to music. Writing and rewriting in a reflective and dialogical manner were grounding elements of analysis. Findings contribute in several ways. Most broadly, the final text was constructed to communicate an understanding that is embodied and discursive (i.e., knowledge as participation), and that leads to personal formative knowledge (i.e., knowledge as being). As a phenomenology of music listening, results suggested that to listen to music is to be in the company of music; that is, to be with a longtime companion who ultimately aids in accommodating the unanticipated arrival of chronic illness. Implications include future research to further investigate the complex, relational dynamics associated with music listening experiences, as well as the possibility of the body as a source of knowledge (i.e., mind-body), acting as a musical compass in music listening experiences. Implications for counselling practice are also described.

This study examined three areas related to attention in primary school-aged children to answer the following questions: Are there a distinct neuropsychological differences for young children referred by teachers as lacking in attention compared to those not lacking in attention? Are there advantages to using neuropsychological measures of attention over behaviour rating scales and observations in preschool or early grade school population? Can these same neuropsychological tools evaluate the effectiveness of music with children that have attention problems? / There were 24 participants in this study, 12 children rated as having attention problems by their teacher and 12 children in the control group. Participants age ranged from 5 years 0 months to 6 years 11 months. All the children were of average intelligence, and were attending an English school or preschool within the greater Montreal Area. Participants served as their own controls for the music conditions. Participants were nested within group and order for the four treatment conditions. / Findings indicated that attention difficulties not only affect behaviour, attention, and inhibition, but also influence cognitive processes in language, memory, and visual perceptual abilities especially visual motor precision. Neuropsychological tests were useful in the assessment of children's attention difficulties and could be used to differentiate attention problems that are strictly behavioural from those that are more likely the result of neuropsychological deficits. For children with attention problems environment and music had limited effects on neuropsychological variables. Rock and roll increased children's ability to sustain visual attention if they were classified as having an attention problem. It did not have this effect for children without attention problems. Gross motor inhibition is also affected by rock and roll, but only for boys who have attention problems. Higher level interactions with gender were found in overall neuropsychological functioning and with respect to music. School based interventions must be based not only on behaviour but also on cognitive deficits; early intervention is important to this process.

This thesis explores the use of familiar pre-composed music and unfamiliar improvised music in clinical music therapy with adults with acquired non- traumatic neurological illness. A detailed examination was made of six participants whose individual music therapy sessions spanned approximately six months. Clinical techniques used both songs and improvisation to explore issues pertinent to their lives. Primary data was collected in the form of focused interviews during and after music therapy sessions. Secondary sources of data included musical, behavioural and verbal material from the clinical sessions. Interview data was analysed using a modified form of Grounded Theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) to reveal emergent themes central to the participants' experiences of music therapy. Drawing from a neurobehavioural framework, analyses of the clinical material were made incorporating psychodynamic reflection through clinical supervision. This offered an alternative viewpoint and served as triangulation, in addition to checks with the multidisciplinary team. Open coding of the data established three major categories pertaining to the experience of the music, the experience of illness, and the emotional strategies to cope with illness. Three detailed case studies explored the relationships between these major categories using axial coding. The findings demonstrate that individuals living with chronic degenerative neurological illness find emotional meaning through the temporal relationship held with songs throughout their lives. Through songs which hold personal meaning, individuals are able to explore and express a wider range of emotional states than through words. Improvisation, on the other hand, possesses enhanced interactive properties pertaining specifically to the therapeutic relationship. Through playing and singing, individuals may monitor their physical selves. In this way, the therapist validates the individual's developing sense of 'self' through mutual music making, thereby shifting concepts of `self' from less able and damaged identities to identities which involved feelings of greater independence and ability.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 2006. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 190 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.) Florida State University, 2007. / Advisor: Jayne Standley, Florida State University, College of Music. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed 4-1-2008). Document formatted into pages; contains 77 pages. Includes biographical sketch. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Psy.D.)--The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1995. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Lenore Pogonowski. Dissertation Committee: Margaret Jo Shepherd. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-109).

Thesis (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of Michigan, 1943.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 192 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 164-192). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center