Beyond the Personal Self

Using music to create connection, enhance community cohesion, and increase social health

In the last article we discussed transformation, the third feature of music that aims for peak experiences. We connected it to certain principles of music psychology, developed from ritual initiations, and which symbolically represent states of consciousnesses.

 In this article we explore musical improvisation, and how it enables us to move beyond our personal sense of self to envision a holistic musical experience. Using this understanding, music can be of service to create connection, enhance community cohesion, and increase social health.

 According to Becker, the beneficial effects that result from peak experiences of trance and altered states include: freedom from mind chatter, emotional catharsis, feelings of oneness and connection with the group, heightened experiences of transcendence, and perceived connection with a higher source. A key element in this process is improvisation, not how it is typically understood as a type of  ‘free creativity’, but rather as a type of ‘intuitive receptivity’. This approach to improvisation can help us use music to benefit ourselves and the community. 

What is improvisation ? And what is its relationship to other elements discussed in previous articles: intensity, transitions, and transformation ?

Improvisation is a key feature of music used to create heightened states, seen in both religious music rituals and electronic dance music. Yet, the way it is approached has some key differences from the types of improvisation we may think of in experimental music such as free jazz. We can split these two types of thinking around improvisation into two types: free creativity and intuitive receptivity. 

Free creativity is insular, has no bounds, and is concerned with the musical ability of the musician and how they impress their knowledge and technique through themselves (primary), and on an audience (secondary). This approach pushes the boundaries of the musician’s personal skill in a public arena and produces all types of virtuosity. Its prime focus is on what’s happening on-stage, within oneself and among musicians. It can be quite cerebral and self-aware, with players in a state of heightened awareness of themselves and their instrument, time slows down, as every detail, every strum, is observed and pushed to the limit, experimentation is key. The objective is to serve the musical self, followed by the other performers, music, and lastly the audience.

Figure 1.1 Free creativity Improvisation

On the other hand, intuitive receptivity flips this dynamic around, the audience becomes primary, and the self is secondary. It does not take an insular approach to improvisation, but an open communal approach. In this approach, the self is not bounded by the boundaries of the body, but extended to include the body, band, audience, and context simultaneously. The musician’s prime concerns are the reactions of the audience, with improvisation used in service of this audience. The embodiment of this approach is seen in religious ritual music, Latin bands, and also some DJs who use their particular musical tools to manipulate the space, adapting their performance according to the energy of the audience. 

These types are extremely audience-aware, making in-the-moment decisions that alter the course of music choices and trajectories. This approach revels in a space of uncertainty, but unlike free creativity that has a wide musical palette to choose from, intuitive receptivity limits itself to using only those elements that serve the audience. It is limited by service to the greater good. What is this greater good? Fundamentally, to make people dance, uplift them, so they lose themselves in the music, and ultimately to evoke transcendent experiences. These are it’s highest goals. 

Intuitive receptivity requires the ability to detach from one’s sense of self, to stand above oneself, and view the performance as if watching from above. For musicians, this requires a high degree of experience so that the body can play without one’s conscious attention. Once the body is comfortable in automatic mode, it is then free to explore new types of awareness and expand it’s vision towards the whole. 

With a wider awareness, the self can perceive itself in motion while also expanding to include the other band members, audience, and context. From this vantage point it can adapt to the audience responses, it can witness it’s musical parts in relation to other band members, and can make adjustments on the fly to enhance audience experience. It can choose to feel and intuit the mood of the audience and alter its performance. For example, if the audience is in a low emotional state, the self may choose certain songs or passages that mimic this mood to create rapport, and eventually transport them somewhere else. Or it may limit the tempo of the song to ensure it doesn’t overwhelm the audience, gradually altering it when necessary. Or it may decide to lengthen a passage of music because they are intuitively aware that the audience is not yet ready to progress to the next section, and so it suspends the musical tempo to build anticipation. 

For the DJ, the requirement of detaching from self is not so pronounced, for while a song is playing, they are free to observe the crowd and determine the next song, a keystone of successful DJing. A DJ is generally very aware of the arcs and troughs that accompany a dancefloor because they have had the opportunity to observe audiences for long periods of time. Playing continuous sets that last multiple hours is common for both the DJ and ritual musician. This behaviour provides knowledge of the flow and dynamics of an audience over longer time periods, and produces different skills for understanding the flow of long-form energy. During religious rituals and initiations, music may be continuous and performed for long periods of 3 hours or more, with new musicians interjecting to ensure the energy is maintained without stopping the music. The music entrains, and once entrained, has the capacity to lead people on journeys which are the responsibility of the musicians in service of their audience.  

Improvisation using this approach is intuitive because it attunes to the energy of the audience. It is receptive because it opens up to receive input from its surroundings, which includes audience, but also context such as other performers, bystanders, venue space, ritual or event obligations, etc. It is a profound skill and meditation that requires more than learning to play really well and showcasing those skills, it requires the ability to step outside oneself, expanding awareness and personal limitations, slowing the breath, and observing from a higher vantage point. This type of improvisation seeks to enrich and enhance its audiences rather than the needs of the personal self, and thus, places the audience above its personal wants and idiosyncrasies. It is an improvisation that increases connection with community, collaboration with musicians and audience, and is multi-dimensional, meaning it encapsulates self, the band/performers/space/context, and the audience as an alive and holistic entity. 

Figure 1.2 Intuitive receptive improvisation

This type of improvisation is critical for creating intensity, developing transitions, and creating musical transformation because it prioritises audience above the needs of the personal self. From a music psychology standpoint, musical intensity is reflected in the effects to an audience, hence it requires relationship between musician, music, and listener, thus, to be self-absorbed is contrary to this principle.  To create intensity in a space, awareness must lie in both the self, performers, audience, and context. Similarly, to create powerful transitions between sections that have an effect on the audience, knowing when to suspend anticipation and increased momentum to lead to a high point that produces a powerful transition is an art that requires total expanded awareness. Similarly, establishing transformations in audiences necessitates a rich knowledge of the state of the music is correspondence with the audience it is serving, without this, it only serves the music and players, and doesn’t achieve a communal state, a holism that is the nature of intuitive and receptive improvisation. 

 This type of improvisation is a core requirement for intensity, transitions, and transformation to be achieved effectively, because we cannot produce an effect in audiences without a superb awareness of them, oneself, and music simultaneously. Music performance becomes a type of meditation where the body and breath slow down, time slows, and awareness expands to encompass the whole. The holistic nature of this approach is inclusive, it seeks communion with others, and is content only when a state of oneness is achieved in the whole space. It follows the contours of nature, meaning it seeks to abide in the natural processes of the human beings desire for transformation, and the ability of the music to fulfill that desire. It is also an act of service, for the musician hones their skills to be of service to the greater community, rather than being focused on self-aggrandisement and service to self. This approach contradicts what many people are taught about music performance, that it is attention seeking and about me/I/self, and moves the focus to community and an experiential holism and unity. 

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