Free two-hour live workshop
Ways of Listening
An integrative, relational framework for understanding and applying music in therapeutic practice.
Register for freeOverview
What does it actually signify when someone likes or dislikes a piece of music?
When someone cannot relate to a track, or experiences the music as distracting or even overwhelming or threatening? Conversely, what are the factors that enable music to become therapeutically significant?
This workshop introduces Ways of Listening: an integrative, relational framework developed by Dr Mendel Kaelen for understanding how different qualities and manifestations of music-listening provide a doorway into the listener's relationship with themselves, others and the world.
Through a hybrid of theory, experiential exercises and clinical reflections, participants of this workshop will learn how to recognise different ways of listening, understand the psychological dynamics and musical variables that underlie them, and how to apply this framework to make more informed and impactful decisions in therapeutic practice.
What you'll learn
New ways of listening along a dynamic continuum
Rather than viewing listening as something that is simply "deep" or "shallow," or as something we either do or do not engage in, the Ways of Listening framework conceptualises listening as a dynamic continuum of distinct yet interconnected relational modes.
These modes emerge via an interaction between bio-psychological factors of the listener, and the musical and compositional properties of the music. Rather than assuming that therapeutic benefit depends on a single "ideal" listening state, this approach recognises that each way of listening represents a self-contained world of significance, affording unique insights and therapeutic opportunities.
For therapeutic practice, the Ways of Listening framework provides a practical map for understanding not only what music might be "doing", but how music is encountered as a relational, dynamic process of meaning-making.
By recognising this, practitioners can more intentionally respond, and work with the changing dynamics of therapeutic experience, adapting both the music and their relational positions within the dynamic triadic relationship co-created by music, therapist and client.
In this workshop you will learn:
The difference between peripheral, discrete, receptive and absorbed modes of listening.
What psychological variables modulate ways of listening.
How different self-dynamics are enacted and recognised in response to music.
What dimensions within the music-listener relationship afford meaning-making.
The consequences of the therapist, client and music co-creating a triadic intersubjective relational field.
How distinct ways of listening invite unique therapeutic opportunities.
Who is this for?
This workshop is relevant for people who want to better understand the dynamics of music-listening, how this relates to therapeutic mechanisms of music and how this informs the use of music in therapeutic practice:
No formal musical training is required.
Session details
Structure of the workshop
Lecture
An introduction to the Ways of Listening framework, exploring the different listening modes, the psychological dynamics that shape them, and their implications for your own work with music.
Experiments
One or more guided listening experiences designed to demonstrate and understand the concepts through the musical experiences of yourself and others.
Conversation
An interactive discussion to explore any of the observations, concepts and questions that come up in this session.
Framework origins
About Ways of Listening
Ways of Listening is a framework developed by Mendel Kaelen, PhD, that brings together perspectives from a range of disciplines, including cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, object relations theory, phenomenology, musicology, and related fields. It offers an integrative lens for understanding how people relate to music, and how different modes of listening can shape perception, meaning-making, and therapeutic process.
The Ways of Listening framework forms one part of a much broader ecosystem of models, methods, and practices explored in greater depth throughout the Foundations of Therapeutic Music programme, where participants learn to apply these ideas on themselves, fellow participants, and within their own professional contexts.
New cohorts start in September 2026.
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Your facilitator
Mendel Kaelen, PhD
Mendel is a neuroscientist, musician and researcher working at the crossroads of music, consciousness and therapy. He completed his PhD in neuroscience at Imperial College London, specialising in the role of music in psychedelic therapy, and has co-authored more than fifty academic papers. His platform, Wavepaths, has supported over 50,000 clinical sessions, and his therapeutic playlists have reached more than 100,000 listeners worldwide. He is the founder of the Foundations of Therapeutic Music course, a first of its kind training that integrates multiple perspectives on music and focuses on the practical applications of the therapeutic use of sound.
About this series
Making this work accessible
We offer a selection of free webinars as an introduction to the ideas and practices explored more deeply in our Foundations of Therapeutic Music programme. Our intention is for these sessions to be valuable and immediately applicable in their own right. At the same time, many of the skills and perspectives we introduce can only truly be cultivated through sustained practice, reflection, discussion, and experiential learning over time.
We still have a limited number of places available for the September 2026 cohort. If you are curious about the programme, we would be happy to answer any questions during the Q&A or by email.
Register for Ways of Listening
Thursday 30 July 2026 · 7:00pm BST · Live online · Free