Joel Kroeker is a Jungian analyst and music-centered psychotherapist in private practice in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Mr. Kroeker began studying music composition and guitar performance at the University of Manitoba and then went on to complete the graduate program in music-centered psychotherapy at Wilfrid Laurier University near Toronto, earning a master’s degree in music therapy. He later received a second master’s degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Alberta.
An award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist, he spent ten years traveling the world as an international recording artist releasing albums on Universal/True North Records. He has won awards for Pop Album of the Year and Film Score of the Year, and was nominated for Songwriter of the Year along with Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado, and Ian Tyson.
He studied Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with the pioneer of mindfulness-based CBT, Zindel Segal, through the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine, and later spent five years training as a Jungian analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich where he earned his Diploma in Analytical Psychology.
Mr. Kroeker has served as a board member of the C.G. Jung Society of Vancouver, and lectures regularly at the Jung societies of both Vancouver and Victoria. He is the founding international workshop facilitator of a new psychotherapeutic method called Archetypal Music Psychotherapy which integrates core Jungian principles within a clinical improvisation framework.
His new book, Jungian Music Psychotherapy: When Psyche Sings, published by Routledge in 2019, was 25 years in the making. It was the Shambhala Online Book of the Month for April 2020, and it is the subject of our talk today.
This interview was recorded on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. It’s 01:19:55 long and 73.4 MB. You can listen to it right here in your browser or download it directly to your computer. It’s also available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, Spotify, and iHeartRadio. This episode is now available on our YouTube channel.
You can also listen to this episode on your Amazon Echo device. Simply say, “Alexa, play Speaking of Jung on Apple Podcasts (or on TuneIn).” Just be sure to pronounce Jung with a hard J.
TOPICS
Topics include: what music is, music vs. sound, sound as symbol, how the psyche metabolizes sound, Jung’s grandson Dieter Baumann, the overgrowth of bone inside Jung’s own ear, the McGurk Effect, how music can both heal and harm, Jung’s map of the psyche, perception as a creative act, the BTS song “Persona,” Logos vs. Eros, lyrics in a foreign language, melodic automatism, grocery store music, dissonance, the iso-principle, music as an intrapsychic metaphor, intrapsychic deaf spots, and how music can be a metaphor for the map of the soul.
SHOW NOTES
John Cage Official website; composer of 4’33”
Luciano Berio Official website
Mark Winborn, Ph.D. He wrote the Foreword to Mr. Kroeker’s book and has appeared on episodes 6 and 36
C.G. Jung Institute of Colorado Training institute in Denver, Colorado
C.G. Jung Institute Zürich Training institute in Küsnacht, Switzerland
The International Society for Sandplay Therapy Co-founded by Martin Kalff
Dieter Baumann, M.D. Jung’s grandson
Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C.G. Jung and Aniela Jaffé
C.G. Jung Letters, Vol. 2 Letter to Dr. S., 8 August 1951, p. 20
Neurolinguistic Programming “NLP”
What is the McGurk Effect Frontiers in Psychology (full text)
Workshops & Courses with Joel Kroeker
Jung’s Map of the Soul: An Introduction by Murray Stein, Ph.D.
Intro : Persona by RM of BTS (music video)
Speaking of Jung’s BTS page All the links in one place
Musicophilia: Tales of Music & the Brain by Oliver Sacks, M.D.
Answer to Job by C.G. Jung (Extract from Vol. 11 of the Collected Works of C.G. Jung)
Evelyn Glennie Official website
ONLINE COURSES
NEW: Soul at Play’s online video course When Psyche Sings: Jungian Music Psychotherapy with Joel Kroeker. Early bird special: $75 through Feb. 1, 2022 (includes a live webinar on Mar. 26, 2022).
Mr. Kroeker offers a range of music-centred psychotherapy courses that are available online to the general public:
Archetypal Music Psychotherapy: A Depth Approach to the Creative Expressive Arts
Music Therapy for Chronic Pain Management
The Art of Improvisation for Musicians and Therapists
Music Therapy in Special Education
Verbal Counselling and Psychotherapy Techniques for Music Therapists
ADDITIONAL LINKS
Shambhala Online Book of the Month Jungian Music Psychotherapy by Joel Kroeker, April 2020
TEDxTalk “Reinventing Perception as a Creative Act” by Joel Kroeker, TEDxRoyalRoadsU
Déja Vu Sung by Dany Bédar & Joel Kroeker (music video)