You’ll Never Walk Alone – a qualitative-explorative study of music therapy with an elite athlete.
This masters thesis is a qualitative and explorative study based on a transcript of audio recordings from five music therapy sessions with an elite athlete, Anna. The goal of this masters thesis was to research which themes were experienced and expressed by the athlete in question during the sessions, as well as her statements regarding the music therapy itself and her experience of it. A phenomenological approach was used for the data and the athletes experiences and lifeworld, however a slightly more hermeneutic approach was later used for the transcript and the quotes themselves. The data was collected through the company owned by the author of this study âMusic Therapy for Elite Athletesâ.The method of analysis was a thematic coding of the transcript to highlight these themes and quotes. Seven themes were highlighted and described in detail: Challenges outside of sport, identity and characteristics, mental patterns, arousal level and regulation, music therapy, motivation and performance. Four of these themes (challenges outside of sport, arousal level and regulation, motivation and performance) were used to answer the first part of the research question. The âmusic therapyâ code was used to answer the second part of the research question. The last two themes, identity and characteristics and mental patterns, were used to give the reader a broader understanding of Anna as a person.The four themes used to answer the first part of the research question were concluded as being relatively normal challenges for an elite athlete. The second part of the research question, which was answered in two parts, determined Annas experience of the music therapy itself, which was largely positive, but wary of the increased emotional contact with her self. Further studies must be conducted in this field to be able to determine a broader sense of how music therapy can be relevant to elite athletes.
https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/334564379/speciale_christian_stenrojl.pdf
https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/333457071/musikterapi_for_eliteatleter_logo_standalone.pdf