Jazz

Classical music used to be my life many years ago but I have moved on to other things, obviously: psychotherapy being one of them. But as I get older I've become more and more aware of how constrained, at least for me, that musical world was. I have come to admire the ability to improvise; to take a serious of chords and create a world from it. It's not that different from composition itself - in any genre - except it occurs in the moment and unless recorded, may never be heard again.

This experience of creating something rich from a relatively simple idea appeals to many in my profession, since it can be the best part of a psychotherapeutic experience. Psychoanalysts call it free association when they listen to a seemingly disorganized narrative and bring it together into something meaningful and perhaps transformative. 

There are many parallels between improvisation and psychotherapy, and while I am by no means the first to point this out, I think for me it has led to re-engaging with music again after all these years; re-engaging in a new way that is challenging and exciting. And humbling, since in many ways I have to start all over again. Or have a new beginning.