Debbie Fisher ✉ (https://www.debbiefishercoaching.com/) Andrea Giraldez-Hayes (University of Cambridge)
Music has the power to affect emotions, wellbeing, and behaviour and has been used and researched extensively in medicine and therapy. Music in coaching, however, needs more research. This qualitative study explores how the coach and client experience a coaching session when listening to music preselected by the client before the session. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology. Findings indicated that clients considered music selection challenging, it strengthened their connection with the coach, that different responses can be experienced, and that, left with the choice of how to use music, coaches’ approaches varied
coaching, music, creativity, emotion, connection
Accepted for publication: 03 January 2025 Published online: 03 February 2025
© the Author(s) Published by Oxford Brookes University
Music can bring us joy, lift our spirits and energy levels, and calm and soothe us. There is strong evidence of the positive impact of music in medical, therapeutic and community settings (Fancourt & Finn, 2019; Lamont, 2022), and it is starting to be discussed in positive psychology (Lamont, 2022). So, why is it not used and researched more in the context of coaching?
Listening to music has been found to evoke and elicit specific emotions (Moore, 2013) and is fast-acting and spontaneous (Croom, 2015). In positive psychology, the broaden and build theory indicates that positive emotions can build intellectual and psychological resources (Frederickson, 2001) which may help in coaching. In a peer coaching context, listening to music prior to a coaching session has been found to positively affect the clients’ progress, energy levels and wellbeing (Klyk, Palmer & Zimmermann, 2022).
This study seeks to start filling the gap in research on using music in a one-to-one coaching relationship. It will explore the experience of the coach and client and the perception of their relationship after listening to music preselected by the client. This will inform the extent to which listening to music could add value to coaching.
An analysis of how music is used in other contexts, how it affects people, and how it could be used in coaching is included. The paper then outlines the approach taken in this study, describes the research results, draws conclusions, and recommends future studies.
As long as records exist, humans have been connected to music, using it to soothe babies, unite people, lift spirits, mourn the dead and rally the troops (Lamont, 2022). Cross, (2001) makes the case that music “is a necessary and integral dimension of human development and that music may have played a central role in the evolution of the modern human mind” (p. 28). More recently, music has been found to minimise pain and anxiety when patients undergo medical procedures (Yinger & Gooding, 2015), treat people with post-traumatic stress disorder (Windemuth, 2019), aid smoking cessation (Dingle & Carter, 2017), and bond between mothers and infants (Fancourt & Finn, 2019).
Arts therapy and music therapy are common terms in the Western World. In a psychotherapeutic context, music is used to increase clients’ wellbeing and resolve interpersonal problems (Bruscia, 2018). Bruscia (2018) emphasises how music therapy facilitates communication and the relationship between client and therapist, in addition to change within the client. This can be done mainly with verbal work, using music solely without talking in the session, including performing songs, song writing, and consciously or unconsciously remembering a song.
To focus mainly on listening to music, Guided Imagery Music (GIM) (Bonny, 1976) is a specific method where the therapist selects a specific soundtrack and guides the client through a process in an altered state of consciousness, which has been found to have long-lasting impacts on psychological and physiological outcomes treating people for conditions such as anxiety, depression and psychiatric symptoms (McKinney & Honig, 2017). However, the systematic review of the effects of GIM indicates that there is a risk of bias and that larger sample sizes are required (McKinney & Honig, 2017). It requires the therapist to have specific musical training as it can involve creating music.
Armstrong (2016) found that prompting her counselling clients to create music playlists helped them experiencing grief and trauma to resolve feelings they could not express through talking and could modify their mood in minutes.
With this reported positive impact on wellbeing, it is unsurprising that positive psychology and music are now linked. According to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000), positive psychology is “a science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions; it promises to improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that arise when life is barren and meaningless” (p. 5). Music does not feature prominently in positive psychology interventions (PPIs) defined by Sin & Lyubomirsky (2009) as, “treatment methods or intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviours, or positive cognitions” (p.468). Parks & Schueller's (2014) overview of PPIs, provides minimal reference to music other than listening to music as a control condition for a gratitude exercise or noticing music when taking a 20-minute daily walk.
One of the most well-known theories of wellbeing used in psychology is the PERMA model, which includes positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment (Seligman, 2011). This model has been used to demonstrate increases in wellbeing, for example, for older people singing and playing musical instruments in ensembles (Joseph & Human, 2020) and in nursing homes following a 10-week music-making programme (Paolantonio, Cavalli, Biasutti, Pedrazzani & Williamon, 2020).
Hargreaves, Miell & MacDonald (2012) found that music listening could be as impactful as performing, improvising and composing, as it uses the same neural structures as these other skills, supported recently by Lamont (2022). This was disputed in a review of literature on music and flourishing, where it was found that music participation and practice demonstrated increases across all PERMA aspects. However, music listening was found to contribute only to positive emotions and relationships (Croom, 2015).
To understand how music could help in a coaching context, it is helpful to understand how listening to music affects people. Listening to enjoyable music releases dopamine in the brain (Rickard, 2014). It uses the parts of the brain connected with reward and emotion, usually activated by sex, food and artificial drugs, arousing intense pleasure, indicating its importance for our health and wellbeing (Blood & Zatorre, 2001; Juslin, Barradas, Ovsiannikow, Limmo & Thompson, 2016). Irrespective of the type of music, the brain responds similarly depending on how much the song is liked (Koelsch, 2009). Similarly, if the person likes the song, emotions are not impacted by genre, tempo, etc. (Lynar, Cvejic, Schubert & Vollmer-Conna, 2017).
Music causes powerful positive emotions across all cultures and times (Rickard, 2014). Of the six basic emotions, anger, disgust, surprise, happiness, fear, and sadness, music is most effective at inducing happiness, sadness, or fear. Whilst there is some evidence that music can be used to induce anger, there is little physiological evidence to support this (Siedlecka & Denson, 2019). When people choose to listen to sad music, it can produce a combination of emotions, e.g., sadness and enjoyment (Jusline at al., 2016; Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2017). A distinction must be made between the emotions conveyed in the music itself and those felt by the listener; they will overlap but to different degrees (Lamont, 2022). People do not react in the same way to a piece of music every time they hear it, though, and similarly, every individual responds differently to music (Gabrielsson & Bradbury, 2011).
In addition to our brains and emotions, it is not surprising that music impacts our behaviour. Whether the intention is to relax, distract, focus, let off some steam, cope with a challenging situation or simply reflect, music is effective as a regulator, particularly in coping, relaxing and distracting (Goethem & Sloboda, 2011). Music is used to influence buying behaviour in shops, to make us stay longer in restaurants, to influence how kind we are and even whether we choose to volunteer (Windemuth, 2019).
One of the ways in which listening to music increases people’s wellbeing is by generating a state of flow (McManus & Giraldez-Hayes, 2021; Parks & Schueller, 2014; Rickard, 2014; Secker, Heydinrych, Kent & Keay, 2018). Csikszentmihalyi, (2000) introduced the idea of flow, where people are absorbed by the task at hand, with time and other concerns disappearing, finding it easy to focus and feeling strong and alert.
A more comprehensive analysis of the means by which music evokes emotion is summarised in the acronym BRECVEMAC (Juslin et al., 2016). This stands for “brainstem response, rhythmic entrainment, evaluative conditioning, emotional contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory, musical expectancy, aesthetic response, cognitive appraisal” (Lamont, 2022, p. 324). Lamont (2022) asserts there are links between all aspects of BRECVEMAC and PERMA. While there appear to be connections, and if Lamont (2022) is correct, these links could help explain why music engages people so well, and there is scope to explore these links further.
A podcast series (Bell, 2022) encouraged coaches to be more creative, e.g., through poetry, journaling and, in supervision, mark-making with music playing in the background (McManus & Giraldez-Hayes, 2021). However, there is little research on using music in coaching.
Linking coaching to music broadly, coaching and jazz improvisation have similarities (Megginson, 2000; Read, 2014; Turner, 2020), with Megginson (2000) asserting that the environment clients work in compares more closely to a jazz combo or music ensemble rather than the sporting metaphors usually used to illustrate performance coaching. Turner (2020) suggests that, like jazz musicians, coaches improvise in coaching sessions, responding to what the client says and does. This indicates that using music in coaching could lead to more intense reflection, stronger emotional connection, and deeper thinking. He offers the idea of having a musical interlude in a coaching session and then noticing the questions that may emerge. There is no evidence for efficacy or more detail on how to approach it.
McMahon & Archer (2010) provide 101 practical strategies to help the coach with their work, and only one includes music. The strategy suggested by McGeever in (McMahon & Archer, 2010) is to ask clients to name their ‘power song’ which they play at home to support them in goal achievement, and then follow up by asking them about their emotional connection to the song; however, there is no apparent evidence base for using this approach. Ellison (2010) described her experience as a coach, introducing one song to a client, finding that it had a profound impact, challenging the client to try something new, and this new openness was observed not only by him but also validated by his family. Again, there is no evidence to support this approach.
As an introduction to using music in coaching, rather than starting with music creation, which may feel quite a leap from more traditional coaching approaches, this study focuses on listening to music. Considering when to listen, one option is to play music continuously in the background throughout to keep the subconscious, which is easily distracted, focused (Burnett, 2016). However, this depends on the type of music and the person’s tastes, as music can result in less focus if it is not liked (Burnett, 2016). This study, therefore, only involves listening to music at the start of the session to limit adverse impact for the coach and client.
Music is very personal and people have their own tastes (Gabrielsson & Bradbury, 2011) so keeping the choice with the client keeps the focus of the coaching session on them and their agenda. This is supported by the finding of Lynar et al. (2017), in which the participant-selected music brought more joy to them than the choices prescribed by researchers. (Ellison, 2010) suggests coaches should consider why they allow their clients to select music and raises the risk of colluding with them. (Butterton, 2007) asserts that song choice reveals aspects of her clients’ inner states, so this approach does have risks, i.e. it may bring emotions to the surface that would not otherwise emerge or, if choosing a favourite song, this may invoke nostalgia rather than selecting a liked song which provides future-focus that may be more helpful in coaching (Koelsch, 2009). In this research, music selection was left to the client to learn about what they would choose naturally and their reasoning for it. The coaches were experienced, so the risk of dealing with strong client emotions was mitigated.
There are pros and cons to choosing music with lyrics versus instrumental pieces. Music with words tends to be most distracting, as the subconscious is triggered by it. Music without words can remove a layer of information to work with, e.g., the metaphor in the lyrics (Burnett, 2016). This was also purposefully left open to learn about client choice.
This research aimed, therefore, to explore, by listening to the music pre-selected by the client, how, in the coaching session:
This intention was to inform the extent to which listening to music could add value to coaching.
The research was completed using a qualitative approach and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). This approach considers the individual’s experience of an event rather than an objective statement of the event. It is interpretative on two levels, firstly from the participants’ perspective as they make sense of their experience, followed by the researcher's. IPA originated in psychology (Smith,1996), recognising the importance of the experiential in that field. (Rajasinghe, 2020) supports the use of IPA in coaching research partly due to its inherently subjective nature. IPA is appropriate for this research as it seeks to understand individuals' in-depth experience of a coaching session from the coach and client's perspective. The University of East London School of Psychology Ethics Committee granted ethics approval.
The sample included seven participants, three coaches and four clients. Smith (2022) states that whilst there is no right answer regarding sample size for an IPA study, a sample of five may be appropriate for a master’s level study. This study is consistent with similar studies using IPA. For example, Donaldson-Wright and Hefferon (2020) and McManus and Giraldez-Hayes (2021) used a sample size of three, with the latter including three coaches and three supervisors. The coaches in this study were a mixture of BBC executive coaches and an independent executive coach, all working with professional clients at senior management, director, or, in the National Health Service (NHS), consultant-level positions. Recruitment was based on availability. Six of the participants were British, and one was British Greek. Ages ranged from 44 – 60. Two coaches and one client identified as women, and the remainder as men. Pseudonyms have been used to protect the anonymity of the participants.
All coaches were qualified with at least two years’ experience in coaching and had pre-existing relationships with their clients, having had at least two coaching sessions before the one for this study. As one coach worked with two clients, it is also essential to recognise that their experience differed from other coaches. Having participated twice, what they learnt from the first experience could have influenced their second one. There is also a risk that their voice is heard more, compared to the other coaches, in the analysis. However, as the clients and music selected differed, the coach had different experiences.
Coaches were informed of the study, invited to participate, and sent briefing documents. Those who expressed interest identified clients who were sent corresponding documents. After consent was received, all participants were briefed on a short call to ensure they understood the purpose and end-to-end process; and that they were aware of the need for honesty about their experience and openness to any findings. This was to reduce the likelihood of any optimism bias, as the researcher was known to the coaches. The coaches were asked to arrange a one-hour online coaching session and, one week in advance, invite the client to select a piece of music to listen to before the session. The clients informed the coaches of their choice, and both listened to the piece of music immediately prior to the coaching session. They were asked to do so in a private space where they would be uninterrupted and do nothing else but listen to the music. This study left both music selection by the client and how to use music in the session purposefully open to participants to learn about the natural choices people make.
Semi-structured, in-depth online interviews of up to one hour in duration were held based on the interview guides, leaving space for the conversation to follow the participants’ interest and energy. After their interviews, coaches and clients received a debrief letter, providing support agencies if required and explaining how data would be stored.
In IPA, the analysis is a joint product of the participant and the researcher. The process had several stages, sometimes iterative. Initially transcripts from MS Teams were cleaned to correct inaccuracies from the automatic transcription and remove unnecessary content. Each transcript was then subject to idiographic qualitative analysis, with initial notes made, followed by identification of experiential statements individually. Those individual statements were arranged into themes, and subsequently, patterns were identified across the group, producing group experiential themes and sub-themes. It was essential to consider the broader social context of participants’ sense-making as this can sometimes be missed in IPA research, making it more of a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021). This was done with a double hermeneutic, trying to make sense of the coaches and clients trying to make sense of their world (Smith, 2022) and taking into account Yardley's (2017) four principles for enhancing the quality of qualitative research, ‘sensitivity to context’, ‘commitment and rigour’, ‘transparency and coherence’ and ‘impact and importance’.
Three main themes and eight sub-themes were derived from the data analysis as displayed in Table 1. Each theme and sub-theme is presented and illustrated with participants’ quotations and the researcher’s interpretative commentary.
The client participants found that choosing music to listen to with their coach was quite challenging, requiring a lot of thought in some cases.
Three client participants chose music to listen to that would make them feel a certain way. Melanie chose “frivolous, uplifting and energising” music, as she finds that she needs energy for coaching. Roger chose music to help him feel “joy, peace, calm and relaxation.” Igor also chose something he thought would help him relax, which he had been familiar with since childhood but that also had a deeper meaning, containing a message of resilience and a reminder he is not alone.
In Carlos’s case, as an orchestra director, he chose a piece that his orchestra played recently, which he enjoyed and was at the forefront of his mind. He reflected that this concert went well, so it had positive associations.
The client participants were aware that music choices would convey something about them to their coach, whether consciously or not. This resulted in the selection requiring a lot of thought, needing to be “right”, and presenting a challenge. Carlos indicated that the coach’s opinion of the music did not influence his choice, but he was aware that it made a statement about him. His choice of classical music confirmed Selena’s “elevated” view of him and caused her to feel slightly intimidated because of her lack of knowledge of classical music. Melanie indicated that choosing classical music was more “acceptable” than popular music but did not on this occasion as she did not want to feel “too relaxed”. There is an implication that classical music is of higher quality and more appropriate in this context than other genres.
Sharing music with her coach influenced Melanie’s choice, partly because of his potential judgement of her musical taste and the message it could convey. If she had listened to the music without sharing it, or if her coach was female, she may have made different choices.
If it were just me […] I would have probably gone for one that was more personal to me, like “Your Song” by Elton John, […] but that's just […] too romantic […] like I'm trying to send a subliminal message or something (laugh). (Melanie)
Her curiosity about the coach’s judgement of her music choice affected her listening as she wondered what he would think. She concluded that the challenge with song choice could be eased if selecting music for coaching was a regular occurrence.
Music provided a shared experience that helped build the connection between coach and client, evoked different emotional responses, and buffered the working day from the coaching session.
Six of the seven participants indicated that listening to the music preselected by the client increased the connection between them in some way. Carlos felt Selina had a better appreciation of his work, and this could help in coaching sessions. He described how the music provided a “common experience” and “ice breaker” for the session and related this to sharing music with people typically as something you do “when you want to connect with them”. Although he has never met his coach in person he wondered if both listening to the music at the same time was synergistic.
You have the connection […] and then you come together to do the session, but you've had that little bit of shared thought […] it is kind of greater than the sum of two people doing it […] wider, more powerful than just two individuals listening to a piece of music. (Carlos)
Selina supported this sense of greater connection; however, was unaware if Carlos also shared it. Carlos suggested that choosing music for each session could help strengthen the relationship, building the client's awareness of the coach.
Paul said listening to music had no impact on the relationship but later said it provided an additional connection and a “sense of knowing” that they had a similar experience. Paul was the only coach not to explore the music choice with the client and talked about the importance of distance in the coaching relationship to “avoid collusion.”
Miriam said that she felt the session with Roger positively impacted their relationship.
He was engaged, honest, relaxed, trusting, willing to try things, and although the subject matter was difficult, the music set the tone, went to unexpected places and deepened the relationship. (Miriam)
Roger said that the relationship did not feel any different although commented that listening to music provided more connection. Both indicated the session was very positive, but it is interesting how significantly Miriam felt the change in her relationship with Roger compared to him. Miriam could be comparing this to the session with her other client, Igor, which she felt did not go so well, although, in terms of their relationship, Igor felt that because of the shared music, Miriam understood him more, his “thinking, behaviour and reactions”.
The music Igor selected was to give him strength, remind him he is not alone, and relax. Although it brought back difficult times, it gave him comfort as it reminded him how he got through them. Going back in time is a comfort to him and helps him to calm down and “slow down the engine.”
Miriam, however, had a very different response to this music. Although Igor presented it as upbeat, she perceived it as “dark”. She described herself as “shrinking”, “contracting”, and “was really uncomfortable” as she listened to the lyrics which referred to abuse. She acknowledged that the session did not start well as Igor was 30 minutes late, straight out of surgical theatre and unprepared for the music, which affected how both experienced the session. She found the music to be “harsher” than Roger's and felt that the music reflected where the clients were emotionally.
Roger’s music was intriguing to Miriam. Roger found it reminiscent of morning, “waking up slowly and building in energy” making him feel very calm and relaxed. While listening, he imagined a scene in nature with a mountain and a river running by.
Paul and Melanie both enjoyed listening to the music Melanie selected, with Paul finding it “relaxing, uplifting and nice, soothing and slightly energising”. It did not significantly impact him as he was already feeling “good and positive”. She felt it was also energising and uplifting and lightened the start of the session. Although slightly embarrassed by the song choice, it took away the dread she usually feels at the pressure of having something to work on in coaching and wondering if it is “significant enough”.
Most participants commented that listening to music was a welcome buffer between work and coaching, helping to better focus in the coaching session. However, in some cases, music was used instead of their usual preparation time to think about the session.
Carlos shared his music with Selina through YouTube, so they both watched and listened to the performance. He found that this increased focus, and when his mind started to drift to his ‘to do’ list or other work matters, the music provided a discipline to return to it. He found it difficult to stop and focus on music in the middle of a busy working day. He is usually on back-to-back Zoom calls, so if nothing else, he had a break before coaching, which made him “less frenetic”, and the focus on the music helped.
Melanie found her coaching session to be more focused than usual, and time seemed to go more quickly.
“It changed my mood […] allowed me a bit of time to go from that harassed state […] focus on what's coming rather than just sort of running from one meeting into a coaching session […] went in upbeat, felt we achieved a lot, came out quite surprised and buoyed by the session.” (Melanie)
She thought listening to music in the middle of a working day was a pleasant thing to do. Her coach, Paul, found that listening to music with the specific purpose of preparing for the coaching session was an involved experience, and he would usually do something else while listening. This made him really focus on the music. He also watched the video on YouTube but then realised that he was not “just listening” so partway through, he stopped watching.
Igor found that the music helped him separate work from the coaching session and changed how he felt.
“Usually, I am working hard all day, then you realise I have five minutes now to join my meeting with my coach, so time to breathe, relax and listen to music between sessions […] is a good thing […] and reduced the stress. (Igor)
These examples highlight how individuals’ choice of music, response to music and experience of listening to music are diverse and listening to music can change the way people feel in positive and negative ways.
With no steer on how to refer to the music there was a range of references to the music selection, from checking if it had been listened to, to weaving it into the coaching discussion.
Paul asked whether Melanie had listened to the music as it was “the elephant in the room” and did not ask anything else. He felt that if he asked about song choice, he would be asking to satisfy his personal curiosity rather than in her interest. If she had voluntarily started talking about it, he would have continued. However, Melanie perceived that Paul was not supposed to talk about the music. Her not wanting to discuss the song in the session may have been affected by her embarrassment about choice and concerns about Paul’s opinion of the music. This feeling of music being personal seemed to get in the way of discussion with neither party seeing the relevance in the coaching session.
Paul said that in the future, he would ask the client how the song made them feel. He commented that depth of knowledge and experience is needed to know when to use creativity in coaching, so perhaps lack of experience or confidence in using this type of approach may also have been a barrier.
Selina went further with Carlos, inquiring about his music choice. She was very curious as she finds him “inscrutable” and thought it might reveal more about him. She found his response honest and “did not indicate further depth to explore”. Similar to Paul, Selina commented that referencing the music in the session was not “appropriate” as “the focus needed to be on the client”. Although the participants see music as personal and make a statement about the person choosing it, it was deemed irrelevant to the coaching session, which provides an interesting perspective on how coaches view what is appropriate for coaching.
Although not explored in the coaching session, Carlos reflected that there could be a relationship between the music and the subject of coaching.
I'm talking about […] deep and personal stuff, and I chose a fairly deep and personal romantic piece of music so I suppose there may be a relationship in the feelings created by the music and the depths. It wasn't a superficial piece, and they weren't superficial conversations […] there might be a relationship. (Carlos)
Selina said that she might refer to music if she were to use it in a subsequent session and that it had not occurred to her before but she could use it as a metaphor that might help the client interpret what was going on in work, that it could be a device for future sessions but she would want to use it with clients who are “music oriented”.
Miriam used the music as a key part of the coaching session. She and Roger discussed his music choice, and he opened up about his childhood, which had never happened before. As someone undergoing training in using systemic coaching and constellations, Miriam discussed with Roger how the three instruments in the music related to three aspects of his life that Roger wanted to think about, exploring them individually and then having a conversation between the elements. Miriam felt that the music “was a bridge to a conversation that might not have come up” and helped the conversation to go deeper “to places you couldn’t get to cognitively”. They also used the image Roger identified when listening to the countryside scene and mountain and river music, providing a vision of what Roger aims for.
Miriam used a similar approach with Igor but did not feel it went well. Again, this could have been affected by the lateness and lack of preparedness by Igor, although Miriam also stated that because of her reaction to his music selection, she was more “directive” and on reflection “should have just listened more”. When Miriam asked him about the music, Igor was surprised that there was a deeper meaning to the song he selected. Again, the conversation returned to the past, and he shared some difficult things he had experienced. This was then related to his current situation and how to move forward. He intended to use the session to talk about networking, but after listening to the music and exploring its relevance to him today, he discussed a relationship he is finding challenging. Igor concluded there was a subconscious link to his current situation, and the music instigated a conversation he probably would not have had otherwise.
This study aimed to understand the experience of coaches and clients listening to music preselected by the client before a coaching session. The findings indicate that some coaching clients found selecting music to listen to at the start of the coaching session challenging because it makes a statement about them, the vastness of choice, and they had concerns about the potential judgement of the coach. This is consistent with findings on the power of songs to help understand the past and present and project towards the future, revealing beliefs, values, feelings and identity (Bruscia, 2018). Something that may seem relatively innocuous, choosing a song to listen to, can have more depth when sharing it with someone. Concerns about the coach's judgement may reflect the degree of psychological safety in the relationship or the client's perception about how much of them is appropriate to reveal in coaching as opposed to other contexts, for example, in a therapeutic relationship.
The findings show that a client sharing music with a coach can increase connection, insight, and common experience and increase the coach’s awareness of the client, although this was stronger in some relationships than others. This supports the findings that listening to music can positively impact relationships (Bruscia, 2018), cohesion and social relatedness contributing to wellbeing by increasing the positive relationships element of PERMA, as stated in Croom (2015), which could enhance a coaching relationship. The degree to which people experienced this could have been impacted by how the coach used music in the session.
The response to listening to music varied in individuals but had some commonality between coach and client, for example, feeling positive, energised, calm and relaxed with variations in intensity. In one coaching relationship, the experience was very different, with the coach having a strong adverse reaction, whilst the client thought the piece was relaxing, providing a positive message of resilience. This supports the understanding that listening to music can change how people feel to varying degrees, in negative and positive ways and works quickly (Croom, 2015; Moore, 2013). McMahon & Archer (2010) advise that caution should be exercised when using music with a client as it may bring up strong emotions for them. This study suggests that caution should also be advised on behalf of the coach, as they were the only person in this study to experience a strong adverse reaction. One client was surprised by where working with the music took the conversation, resulting in a change of topic and revealing insights about his current situation. This supports the findings that listening to music can help reveal people’s inner world (Butterton, 2007).
This study also indicates listening to music provides a buffer from the working day and enables a switch in focus to the coaching session, which supports findings that listening to music you like increases focus (Burnett, 2016). This could indicate an element of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), with participants experiencing greater focus, less conscious of the impending ‘to-do list’, and one commenting that, unusually, time flew in the session. However, unliked music can impede focus (Burnett, 2016), and coaches have no control over the music the client selects or their own reaction to it. The potential for adverse reactions and loss of focus suggests that consideration could be given to when coaches listen, strategies to manage those reactions and how to increase focus that has been lost.
The findings indicate that, without a steer on selecting music other than to listen to it before the session, most participants focussed on how they wanted to feel in the session, with only one also consciously considering the message in the music. Two participants talked about their childhoods in the coaching session, which had not happened previously, which is consistent with the findings that listening to a favourite song is likely to retrieve memories (Koelsch, 2009). In these cases, there was a brief reference to the past, and the focus shifted to their future.
Findings further suggest that left open to work with the music in the way they wanted, coaches took quite different approaches, from simply checking the client had listened to the music, inquiring about the music choice to using the music as a metaphor, working systemically, and relating it to their current situation. McMahon & Archer (2010) suggest questions that could be asked about a client’s experience of listening to music on their own, for example, how they feel listening to the music and what in the lyrics helps them feel this way. One of the coaches based on their coaching experience and knowledge, did this intuitively, proactively contracting with the clients about how they would listen to the music and asking about the relationship between the music and current experience or coaching subject. The effect on the clients’ experience seemed more significant in these cases. The other coaches reflected after the coaching sessions they would like to have done more with the music in their sessions but had concerns about whether it was in the client’s interest, one expressing that using creative methods in coaching required a depth of knowledge and experience. As music in coaching research is limited, this study provides some new perspectives that can be useful for using music in coaching going forward.
The researchers acknowledge their interest in music and coaching could affect their interpretation and analysis of the data. Whilst it is inherent in IPA that there is an interpretation from the researcher, this could have affected the findings, although care was taken to minimise the likelihood of this. One of the researchers knew all the coach participants, which may have resulted in a positive response bias; however, briefings were designed to mitigate this risk. There is also a potential that client participants felt pressure to join the study at their coach's request.
The participants were limited in terms of age range and nationality, working in professional roles, so they should not be seen as representative of a wider population.
Clients and coaches were asked to listen to music and do nothing else simultaneously. However, three of the four clients shared music through YouTube, which resulted in some coaches watching videos in one case fully and in two for part of the time. This resulted in them having a different experience than their clients and being affected by the visuals as well as the music. It may be helpful to specify if sharing the music via YouTube or other video-sharing platforms, not to watch the video or both doing this as a choice, in which case the purpose of the study would change.
The researchers suggest two main areas for further research on listening to music in coaching: music selection and preparing coaches to use music in the session.
Deciding before the session what the music is being used for could help the client choose music and prepare the coach to approach it. For example: they could listen individually to their own music to reset before coaching; listen to music together to help focus; to create a particular feeling in the session and connection between them; or to represent the coaching topic, or current situation, or state of the client.
Further studies could provide preparation for coaches on how to listen to music to avoid the mismatch of video and audio, how to use music in the session providing a range of options, how to contract around using music and how to deal with the potential for strong emotional responses from themselves or the client.
There is scope to explore the frequency of using music in coaching to make it familiar and reduce the song choice pressure. There is also a question of who this could be helpful for; not every approach works for every client. Similar to the notion of person-fit in Positive Psychology Interventions (Fritz & Lyubomirsky, 2018) consideration should be given to how listening to music suits the client.
Research into using music in coaching sessions is limited. This study indicates that listening to music could help change the way coaches and clients feel in a short space of time. It can build connection, providing greater insight to the coach about the client and a potentially rich source to work with in the session, using it as a metaphor for the client’s experience. It can provide an effective buffer from the work preceding the coaching session. As everyone responds differently to music, there is a risk that there is an adverse reaction which might impact the coach and, therefore, the efficacy of the coaching. It could help coaches to be prepared in how to use music in the session, how to contract around it and how to work with it during the session. Despite the limitations, the results indicate that music could be a powerful addition to the art of coaching and, with appropriate consideration, contracting and application, could help clients go to places in the coaching conversation that they would not otherwise have gone.
Debbie Fisher is a leadership coach and facilitator specialising in leading change, career transitions and reflection with a passion for music and singing.
Dr Andrea Giraldez-Hayes is a chartered psychologist, coaching psychologist, psychotherapist, and supervisor and the Course Director of the Master of Studies (MSt) in Coaching at the University of Cambridge.