Abstract
The foundational research on musical intimacy was conducted by Medcalf and McFerran
(2016), in which they coined the term to describe music therapist’s feelings of strong
connections through music making with clients. Using phenomenological inquiry, this study
explored how musical intimacy informs music therapy practice through the written narrative
experiences of five music therapists on their experiences of musical intimacy in their clinical
work. The participants journaled about their current experiences with musical intimacy up to two
times per week over a four-week period. Their responses were analyzed using introspective
reflexivity (Finlay, 2002) and the MAXQDA (VERBI Software, 2019) computer program to
reveal five global themes of musical intimacy in clinical work: (a) intersubjectivity, (b) means of
communication, (c) means of connection, (d) temporal relationship, and (e) therapeutic
relationship. Based on these findings the researcher posed that the experience of intimacy within
and through music introduces unique situations to the field of music therapy, which causes
differences in the therapeutic processes than those of related therapeutic fields. Additionally, the
therapeutic factors revealed in moments of musical intimacy appear to act in a reciprocal
relationship in which they also influence the process of musical intimacy in the therapeutic
environment.
