Colin Oliva

November 1st, 2015

UWRT 1103-35
Mrs. Thomas
As mentioned in my precious annotated bibliography, I am moving away from the broad scope of
music saving the world, towards the idea of music in the medical field. It is interesting to see
how music affects many different people of many different ailments and disabilities.
A Song Is Born: Discovering Meaning in Improvised Songs through a Phenomenological
Analysis of Two Music Therapy Sessions with a Traumatic Spinal-cord Injured Young
Adult is an article written by Dorit Amir, a music therapist, doctoral fellow in the Music Therapy
Program at the New York University. Amir discusses the topic of improvised song. An
improvised song, then, is a phenomenon that consists of both verbal and musical components. It
is produced in the moment according to the life force of the patient with the guidance of the
music therapist, and exists as a whole. (Page 63) The article gives its focus on the results of
music therapy sessions on a 20 year old, a victim of a car accident that caused the injury of his
spinal cord.
The sessions are described in detail, one of which involves the description of an improvised
song by the patient (page 67).
Amir, Dorit. A Song Is Born: Discovering Meaning in Improvised Songs through a
Phenomenological Analysis of Two Music Therapy Sessions with a Traumatic Spinal-cord
Injured Young Adult. 1990