Phenomenological investigations are concerned with unfolding the nature of a phenomenon through the process of describing and understanding subjective lived experiences. The process through which this is accomplished varies according to the underlying philosophical concepts and specific methodological strategies adopted. A common means of achieving this objective is through hours-long interviews that are recorded and later transcribed and analyzed. The present article describes an alternative method that accesses the participants' experiences of a phenomenon through encounters with a researcher, who then uses dialogical data to develop comprehensive narratives. These are written in first person in order to grasp the participant's significant meanings based on what emerged during their encounter and its impact on the researcher. A narrative synthesis is then constructed in order to enable the phenomenological process of analysis to reach the structural elements based on all participants' experiences. Exemplary excerpts are presented in order to illustrate the process.Keywords: Dialogical encounters; Narratives; Phenomenological research. Resumo Investigações fenomenológicas empenham-se em desvelar a natureza de um fenômeno por meio da descrição e compreensão de experiências vividas. Esse processo apresenta variações de acordo com os conceitos filosóficos subjacentes e as estratégias metodológicas adotadas. A forma habitual consiste na gravação de longas entrevistas

Heuristic investigation, one of the lesser-known qualitative research methods in Brazil, is presented as a phenomenological research design in an empirical study investigating the experience of singing. This article describes the six phases of the heuristic method: initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis. The method was developed by Clark Moustakas (1923-2012), an American clinical psychologist who, together with other renowned scholars such as Carl R. Rogers and Abraham H. Maslow, also contributed to the birth of Humanistic Psychology. The heuristic inquiry is a unique method in which the lived experience of the researcher becomes the main focus of the study, and it is used as an instrument in the process of understanding a given phenomenon. This method recognizes the importance of intuition and tacit knowledge as elements that enable comprehending a phenomenon and its meanings.

Singing is a complex, multifaceted activity and a multidisciplinary area of research. Although it is a ubiquitous human phenomenon, its psychological aspects are yet to be fully understood. This article presents a brief overview of the latest psychological studies on singing, with the aims of contributing to describing the subjective experience of singing, based on first-person accounts and on the researcher's self-discovery process. Results are presented of a qualitative research study where 6 in-depth interviews were conducted by the authors in Brazil. The research steps followed Clark Moustakas' heuristic method. The experience of singing is presented in the form of a composite depiction and in two categories: what singing means to us and the impact singing has on us. Singing was revealed as an activity filled with healthy aspects, like promoting integration, enabling self-awareness, serving as an impetus for personal growth, and being an important expression of creativity, a vehicle of identity, and a means of communication. A brief discussion of the implications of these results for future research is also presented.

Mothers habitually sing to their infants. Researchers in different areas of knowledge and through a variety of theoretical approaches have been more intensively investigating maternal singing since the late 1990s. The present article offers an overview of themes found in these studies about how mother-infant relationships may be mediated by maternal song, prioritizing articles that offer psychological insights into this phenomenon. These investigations assert that singing promotes intimacy between a mother and her infant, strengthening their bond and nurturing their relationship. We strive to contribute to this wealth of understanding with insights based on our research study about lived experience of mothers singing to their infants, and grounded in a humanistic perspective largely inspired by the work of Carl Rogers regarding the central role of social relationships in human development. We propose that a mother communicates genuineness and unconditional acceptance while singing, developing a musical ritual, facilitating intimacy and mutual understanding; she experiences being heard; she expresses herself, gives of herself, cultivating a healthy relationship through "hugging her child with song."