About Mary
Early Years
For as long as I can remember, I have always had a special connection to music.
At the age of four, a violin was placed in my hands and as I played my first scale, I was suffused by a feeling of great happiness.
I initially studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Work soon followed playing with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, the latter in which I became Concertmaster.
A scholarship allowed me to study in Rome and Siena, with further study following in New York under Ivan Galamian. Soon afterward, I was working with orchestras in America, (including as Concertmaster for the Rockdale Symphony Orchestra, New York), then in England, Holland, and Australia, giving solo performances in New York and London.
Music & Healing
Despite musical success, I had a growing sense of something missing. I was finding that people often turned to me when they had problems, and I wanted to continue helping them.
And so my search began, which led first to New York and then to London where I eventually found a way to marry my two passions of music and helping others. It was during this time that I became aware of the power of individual tones - of their ability to touch spiritual depths.
Music Therapy & Psychotherapy Training
I completed a post-graduate Diploma in Music Therapy (at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London), followed by a Certificate in Psychodynamic Counselling at Westminster Pastoral Therapy, London, (of which Dr Carl Jung was the first patron).
My studies strengthened my conviction that music has the ability to tap into deep pools of emotion that often cannot be reached by other therapeutic methods.
I vividly recall one of my first sessions as a music therapist, where I felt the thrill of watching a client experience a moment of catharsis. I had explained that the tones might awaken something unexpected in him, and as I played the tone test, I could see him settling into a reflective space. As I reached the tone F, he began weeping. The young man said later that he saw himself as a boy of about seven, walking hand in hand with his father over a hill. After years of repressing his feelings, he was finally shedding tears over the death of his father.
Jungian Analysis & Study
At this stage, I felt the need to do personal in-depth work, and chose to work with the Jungian analyst Joel Ryce-Menuhin who, before becoming an analyst had a career as a concert pianist doing both solo work and duos with his wife Yaltah Menuhin. I was fortunate to work concurrently with Aniela Jaffé who had trained with and was a colleague of Jung.
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My sessions with Joel (1985-89) were rewarding on many levels; I was impressed with his integrity, sensitivity and his understanding of my need to develop my own method. He encouraged me to continue experimenting with the tones and offered helpful suggestions about the book I had begun to write (published as Music the Healer.) It was during the course of this personal analysis work that my healing ability was discovered and nurtured.
From 1987 to 1991, I made periodic trips to Zürich where I undertook personal analysis and rigorous psychotherapy work with Aniela Jaffé. The sessions with Aniela were full of the profoundest wisdom and compassion. It was she who warmly urged me to ‘bring my music to a dark world’ and who saw my Seven Tone Healing Method as both therapeutic and diagnostic.
Joel Ryce-Menuhin did his Jungian training in Zürich and London. He studied with Dora Kalff and subsequently became the leading exponent of sandplay in Britain. His published writings include The Self in Early Childhood and Jungian Sandplay: The Wonderful Therapy.
Aniela Jaffé, Jungian analyst and author, was Jung’s personal secretary from 1955-1961 and collaborator on his autobiographical work Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Her published works include Symbolism in the Visual Arts in Man and His Symbols; The Myth of Meaning and Was C.G.Jung a Mystic?
In a personal reference regarding my work, Aniela Jaffé wrote:
“With her musical background she combines a deep understanding of Jungian psychology and its application in music therapy and has created a unique workshop, which she has been giving for several years called ‘The Archetypal Power of Musical Tones’, in which the individual's responses are interpreted as to their symbolic content."
“I have personally found it a stimulating experience and consider her contribution to the field of therapy most valuable. I recommend Mary Masselos as an extraordinary violinist in concert and teaching.”
Then came another significant insight. Through my music therapy work and studies, I noticed that people often had similar responses to the tones. Each tone seemed to provoke a specific response, for example, the tone F often evoked a sense of comfort, love and aspects of the feminine principle; while the tone C evoked solemnity, a feeling of being grounded and seriousness. Careful observation of these response patterns, and more research, resulted in further development of the Seven Tone Healing Method.
For many years my time was divided between New York, London and Sydney but currently I practise full time in Sydney, where I hold workshops and seminars aimed at helping people open themselves to the therapeutic energy embedded in the spectrum of sound.
Seven Tone Healing Method™
“Eventually, musical therapists will compose prescriptions after the manner of pharmacists…”
DR IRA ALTSHULER (Psychiatrist and pioneer music therapist)