Abstract
There has been much interest in studying the psychological aspects of music training and musical experiences throughout the history of psychology, which has increased during recent decades (Hallam et al., 2016). Studies have explored the various intrapersonal and interpersonal functions of music (Schäfer et al., 2013), its communicative characteristics (Cross, 2008), the role of musicality in early development (Trevarthen, 1999), and its experiential characteristics, especially regarding peak experiences (Whaley et al., 2012). Musical improvisation, the practice of spontaneous music creation and performance (Alperson, 1984), is not an exception, although studies of musical improvisation have focused on cognitive processes (Biasutti & Frezza, 2009; Pressing, 1988) or even neurological aspects (Beaty, 2015). In our theoretical overview, we highlight the most important findings regarding the psychological aspects of musical improvisation and some of the possible characteristics which are more prominent in research into general musical experience and training.
There are several studies focusing on the cognitive processes of musical improvisation. Pressing’s (1988) theoretical model describes musical improvisation in terms of generative and evaluative processes creating musical event clusters. Feedback and anticipation are crucial to create the interplay between the referent cognitive, emotional, and perceptual processes and a domain-specific knowledge base. Furthermore, these processes can either continue or interrupt the existing musical events which form different clusters. Biasutti and Frezza (2009) used semi-structured interviews and then questionnaires developed from the interview analysis to determine the characteristics of the improvisational process. They found that the basic dimensions of musical improvisation were anticipation, emotive communication, flow, feedback, and the use of repertoire. Both of these approaches highlighted the importance of musical practice and basic musical skills to fluently improvise and focus on performance and musical goals instead of consciously executing the actions and process necessary for those musical goals (Biasutti and Frezza, 2009; Pressing, 1988). These various approaches of improvisation have gained much support from recent neuroimaging studies (Beaty, 2015; Belden et al., 2020). These studies showed that large-scale brain networks are associated with improvisation, such as the pre-supplementary motor area, medial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus (Beaty, 2015). They also found that the connectivity between the Default Mode Network (DMN) and Executive Control Network (ECN) and primary visual network was higher in improvising musicians than in classical musicians or non-musicians (Belden et al., 2020).
Because of the unique cognitive processes and challenges musical improvisation provides, it is easy to be fully immersed in the activity (Doyle, 2017; Pavlicevic, 2000; Whaley et al., 2012). Therefore, musical improvisation can frequently lead to a flow state (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikzentmihaly, 1990), a kind of optimal experience which is characterized by a lack of distraction, clear focus, a lost sense of self and time, and the autotelic nature of the activity. This is especially true for group improvisation (Doyle, 2017), where the activities of each musician can trigger and deepen the flow state of the other members (Doyle, 2017; Hart & Di Blasi, 2015). Flow experiences, triggered at an individual or a group level, can have beneficial effects, such as raising self-esteem, self-complexity, and self-actualization (Silverman & Baker, 2018), and increasing group cohesion and interpersonal communication (Lage-Gómez & Cremades-Andreu, 2019; Hart & Di Blasi, 2015).
This interpersonal synchronization can be seen in all musical improvisations on a bodily-kinesthetic, an emotional, and a cognitive level (Walton et al., 2015; Wilson & MacDonald, 2017). Entrainment, or the synchronization of multiple rhythmic systems, is an important part of all musical performance and music perception (Clayton et al., 2020) and plays a crucial role in the communicative aspects of music (Cross, 2008; Trevarthen, 1999). It seems that the physical entrainment of “musical bodies” (Walton et al., 2015) is even more prevalent during improvisation. Based on the theories of Cross about the communicative aspects of music (2008, 2014), this increased level of entrainment can explain the increased meaning attribution and meaning creation during musical improvisation (Pavlicevic, 2000; Wilson & MacDonald, 2017). Even our very first interactions within the parent–infant dyad show signs of communicative musicality (Trevarthen, 1999). The interactions within these sorts of musical dialogues help to create a joint sympathetic state and immediacy between all participants, either performer or listener (Cross, 2008; Trevarthen, 1999). According to Trevarthen (1999), our inherent musicality can be traced back to the so-called Intrinsic Motive Formation (IMF), a brain network formed by the basal ganglia, brain stem and limbic system which integrates our self-regulatory, executive, and attentional functions. The IMF creates a rhythmic impulse (Trevarthen, 1999) which then helps with the entrainment to the outside musical stimuli (Clayton et al., 2020). This can explain why improvisers can so easily synchronize with each other on a bodily, cognitive, and emotional level (Walton et al., 2015) as the spontaneous nature of improvisation (Alperson, 1984) is the closest to everyday speech and dialogue. It can also explain why emotive communication is an important aspect of the improvisational process (Biasutti & Frezza, 2009).
Another important aspect of musical improvisation is as a tool of self-expression and self-reflection (Pavlicevic, 2000). Although it has mostly been studied in the context of music therapy (Silverman & Baker, 2018; Strehlow & Hannibal, 2019), music seems to be connected to identity (Hargreaves & North, 1999; Laroche & Kaddouch, 2015) and to our intrapersonal life (Nettleton, 2004). The psychodynamic tradition proposed that music is similar to primary processes like dreams and imaginative work (Nettleton, 2004). Therefore, Involuntary Musical Imagery (IMI), which can be the result of internal mental states (Williamson et al., 2012), can represent unconscious drives and motives (Arnold, 2007). Improvised music is especially susceptible to this connection. From an embodied perspective, musical improvisation represents a person’s identity complex through the connection between spontaneous musical preferences and spontaneous behavior and thought patterns (Laroche & Kaddouch, 2015).
This connection is used in certain music therapy practices to improve mentalization (Fonagy & Allison, 2014) and therefore improve the clients’ understanding of their own and of others’ internal mental states (Strehlow & Hannibal, 2019; Trondalen, 2019). Although these music therapy practices use both receptive (music listening-based) and active (music creation-based) techniques (Silverman & Baker, 2018; Strehlow & Hannibal, 2019), improvisatory music therapy seems to have a greater effect (Pavlicevic, 2000; Strehlow & Hannibal, 2019). Thus, improvisation in music therapy serves as an important tool not just in strengthening our own sense of self but also in creating an intersubjective self between clients or between client and therapist (Stern, 2010).
The above shows that musical improvisation is a multi-faceted phenomenon. It is simultaneously cognitively challenging (Pressing, 1988), requires a high degree of emotional communication (Biasutti & Frezza, 2009; Cross, 2014), and when used in a therapeutic context increases well-being by providing flow (Silverman & Baker, 2018) and intersubjective experiences (Trondalen, 2019). These intra- and interpersonal aspects have mostly been studied within the fields of music therapy (Trondalen, 2019) or music listening and its everyday functions (Hargreaves & North, 1999). Although there are many similarities between improvisation during music therapy and musical improvisation, they have very different goals and emerge out of a different interpersonal dynamic (Pavlicevic, 2000). Therefore, the phenomena of musical improvisation and music therapy improvisation are not analogous, so further research is needed to better understand the phenomenology and possible psychological benefits of musical improvisation. This article thus poses the research question: What are the key phenomenological elements of musical improvisation?
Methodology
Participants
We recruited the interview participants through a written request which was posted on a web forum for local musicians in the area of Pécs, Hungary. The request was also distributed by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pécs to their students in the music faculty. The only requirement for the study was that participants should be skilled and active musicians with at least 1 year of extracurricular formal or informal musical training history including improvisation practice. There were 12 participants in total, 2 females and 10 males, aged between 18 and 43 years (
Materials
The qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews, which were recorded for transcription. The semi-structured interview had open-ended questions which were focused on the following three topics: the musical background of the interviewee (instrument, genre, etc.) and their reasons and motivation behind practicing music; musical improvisation (experiences, source of inspiration, motivation, attitudes, etc.); and their experiences regarding live performance. The sequence of questions was not rigidly followed. If new but related topics came up during the interview, the interviewee was encouraged to elaborate on those topics too.
Procedure
The interviews were in Hungarian and lasted between 10 and 50 min. Informed consent for the study and the recording was given by the interviewees prior and anonymity was provided. The interviews had taken place either in the university or (because of the COVID-19 pandemic) in the interviewee’s home or through video chat (MS Teams). There was an emphasis on creating a comforting and empathetic atmosphere for all three of these scenarios.
The interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA; see below). During every step of the analysis (including multiple readings of the transcripts), the fifth author of this study, an experienced and trained musician and music psychologist, assisted with the analysis of the emerging and master themes cross-verifying data interpretation to reduce bias and increase credibility of the findings.
The interviews were conducted in Hungarian, as it was the native language for both the interviewees and researchers. The interview excerpts used in this study were translated into English after the interpretative process to present these in an understandable way for an international audience. After the translation, the excerpts were checked alongside the original Hungarian transcriptions by the second author so that we were aware of and could minimize any changes of meaning caused by the translation. This way we attempted to minimize the impact of this process on our analysis and findings.
Analysis
We analyzed the interview data using the Hungarian guidelines of IPA (Rácz et al., 2016). The focus of IPA is on the idiographic analysis of the interviewee’s subjective experience. It examines how people process and give meaning to their experiences. IPA uses a “bottom-up” method, where the themes are generated from the data using three levels of analysis (Smith et al., 2009 as cited in Rácz et al., 2016) instead of using previously generated theoretically based codes. The first step is creating descriptive, interpretative conceptual notes using the interviewee’s own words after repeated close readings of the transcript. These notes are separated from the text and their goal is to exemplify the more general understandings of the interviewee about the topics and ideas in the text. The next step is the creation of
Results
After the analysis of the individual interview transcripts, two master themes were constructed, consisting of themes which were evident in more than half of the interviewees (as proposed by Rácz and colleagues [2016]). These master themes and the emergent themes which make them up can be seen in Table 1.
Primary Master Themes and Emergent Themes.
The first master theme was coined
First master theme: self-actualization
This master theme is called self-actualization because the emergent themes which created it describe how musical improvisation can reflect or even facilitate self-development and how they can express their musical identity through improvisation.
Need for growth
All of the interviewees except one consistently described a motivation to improve their improvisational skills and a need to challenge themselves. Many mentioned that they were drawn toward improvisation in the first place because of the challenges it can provide: “I really like improvisation because of the challenges. During (improvisation) practice at home everybody is pushing their boundaries. That’s the point” (KB19).
This excerpt illustrates how the challenges within improvisation can be motivating on their own to further improve one’s skills and grow as an improviser. This need for growth seems to be an intrinsic quality, motivated by the internalization of musical elements and styles. The challenges and intrinsic motivation can further inspire the musicians which in turn can fuel this sense of growth and motivation for growth:
I know about myself that I want to be good in improvising, and I feel that I can improve in that. And constantly, if I put this in the foreground, that [saying to himself] try improvising something different, now try this, try that, that’s going to have an effect on my growth (BM20).
This theme, although it could be interpreted as a form of perfectionism, was also paired with a need for novelty, as in acquiring new styles, techniques, or musical elements and internalizing them into their improvisational vocabulary. The difference is in the experience itself, where the enjoyment comes not just from successfully playing something difficult but also from doing it in an effortless way “What [inspires me] is to play as naturally as possible the. . . most complex feels or grooves or any figure. And well improvisation. . . I do that also for my own improvement” (HT20).
This kind of combination of growth mindset and novelty seeking can manifest itself as a sort of impulsivity. However, novelty seeking and impulsivity also came up in contexts of skill acquisition, learning, and creativity:
It was true for my whole life that I was always looking for new impulses, I couldn’t really be satisfied with a situation. When I was good in something then I always looked for something else in which I could be a beginner, I could be sh*t and I can improve in it (BG43).
This excerpt and the previous ones show that this kind of impulsivity and novelty seeking is not simply about being open to new experiences. It reflects a sort of horizontal growth, improving by exploring new elements, gaining complexity, and broadening perspectives.
Self-expression
This theme reflects the perceived authenticity of musical improvisation, and this is where participants expressed most directly how improvisation reflects their musical and self-identities. They experienced a more honest and direct connection to the music when it was improvised, as if spontaneous music creation could reflect their current emotional state and their identity more readily than pre-written music, even if it was their own original piece: “Well maybe I would define improvisation in music as . . . the musical painting . . . of . . . myself” (KB19).
How you try to bring your emotions, or your actual state or whatever, parts of your personality into your musicality I think that you can best illustrate it, show it to yourself and the audience you play to by improvisation. (PZ32)
These excerpts illustrate this interpretation very well. Both the analogy that improvised music is like a self-portrait and the second extract supports the idea that improvisation is, for the musician, a way of processing and expressing their self-experience, not just to others but to themselves as well. The spontaneity of the process helps them realize their emotional and mental state and raise their level of insight. Because of its spontaneous nature, improvisation can reveal a lot about the improviser: “I think that during improvisation is when it turns out really what kind of musician is someone, when they play for real what comes out of their head” (BB18).
This excerpt explicitly states the importance of expressing musical identity. However, the key here seems to be to reach a level of naturalness, a state in which you can channel your thoughts and ideas musically with ease and without much thought: “I think that maybe the key to it (good improvisation) is to not think about which note is where in your instrument and on what note to play but to play what is inside your head at the moment” (VD24),
These excerpts show how improvisational skills in this sample, who are not primarily jazz musicians, are not an element of their musical identity but rather a method of expressing it to themselves and their surroundings.
Peak experiences
Improvisation reliably triggered positive feelings for most of the interviewees. These experiences had a wide range, from simple joy to immersion or even euphoria, all induced by the same activity and process.
The experience that you can immerse yourself, without condition in a kind of musical medium and you can even take it on your shoulders, that you can improvise over it, that’s really good. That kind of unconditional responsibility and calmness and excitement at the same time (BP39).
The previous excerpt exemplifies almost the whole spectrum of feelings that improvisation can evoke. The sense of immersion and focus is present, alongside various positive and sometimes contradictory effects like calmness but also excitement. In this example, the feeling of unity with the music was described as unconditional responsibility, not in a sense of duty or task but as an effortless state of being within the group improvisation. This resulted in a feeling which can be interpreted as group flow. The next excerpt shows something similar as well.
That’s when you don’t think about it, you can release yourself from music theory and then the ideas can come more automatically. Maybe you will have a more direct connection with your instrument, cause this thinking is left out or it’s not going to be less important. (BG43)
But even in these cases, the sense of being an active participant, concentration, and focus were stated to be key traits of the phenomenon:
Once there is an ecstatic rhythm, and there is this concentration but at the same time there is this inner freedom. Because of these this is really a very special state of consciousness and I can really only compare it to really peak experiences (BG43).
This focus and concentration, where the level of self-awareness is intact, seem to be important aspects in this kind of peak experience. This ambivalent state of being absorbed and thinking automatically while also being active and focused is close to an element of flow state where action and attention merge. UT20 described his experiences during improvisation as being “pulled” and of the music “raising him” toward a peak:
Can you explain this raising itself? (Researcher) Well, with good musical elements really, and then I raise and raise and condense this whole thing. And then I speed up the rhythm, of course slowly, so it’s not that it went from very slow to very fast suddenly, instead to raise only a bit and raise, raise and at the end there is a big bang really. (UT20)
This shows a sort of semi-conscious state, where he is taken up by the momentum of the music, but he is also aware and affects the musical landscape to reach a cathartic state. This dynamic is not only present in solo improvisation, but it is described at least as much if not more during collective improvisations or jam sessions.
If an improvisatory music reaches, which is shaped by more people, reaches a state where there is total harmony . . . And this, when there is such a sound, a clear moment of the improvisatory music than it fills me with such a euphoric feeling which is one of the core properties of my musicality, I think. This is when I can feel that I am now playing music and something valuable happened. (PZ32)
This excerpt illustrates how the “raising” can happen naturally in a group improvisation by interaction triggering peak experiences. This excerpt also expresses how these peak experiences give meaning to the experience of improvisation which can strengthen self-identity and facilitate self-actualization.
Second master theme: intersubjectivity
This master theme is called intersubjectivity because it describes how musical improvisation can create an interpersonal space. The act of spontaneous creation demands a sort of free-floating, open, and receptive attentional state toward the environment. When multiple people are receptive, this in turn can create a sense of connection between the musicians and the audience, with musical improvisation as a sort of medium for that connection.
Receptivity
The theme of receptivity was named after receptive music therapy, during which music listening is used to create a more open state of mind in clients. The interviewees described a similar state of mind during improvisation, facilitating a kind of free-floating attention. This can be clearly seen by the description of KB20, who was part of a big band, in which they played well-practiced compositions before joining a jam-session course to learn how to improvise.
While I was sitting (playing) in the band, the point is that we should be together as much as possible right, and it is interesting that last time [during the jam session where she went] I paid way more attention to the others than, I don’t know, during the x year I was sitting in the band. (KB20)
KB20 described how she naturally paid more attention to the other musicians during group improvisation (jam sessions) than during her previous performances, and that she focused more on the music and on what other people play and not just what she plays. She also described it as something natural and effortless. This way of playing with others and the improvised music itself could serve as a source of inspiration: “It bothers me a lot that I am stuck in those boxes with the pentatonic scales, but usually with other musicians, things can come out which I couldn’t bring out before” (BB18).
Whereas this receptive state is highlighted during group improvisation, it is also important in other contexts. Many interviewees mentioned how the mood of the audience influences them, which can be interpreted as part of this receptive state. This is expressed with the next excerpt, which shows how solo improvisation is affected during a ballet performance.
[What inspires her is] The need that they have to hear it. That is that what musical structure do I put together, how well it can be heard, in other words how understandable is what I am doing . . . Besides that, it needs to be heard, well I don’t know, my mood that day, the mood of the kids, if some movie score stuck inside my head. (HN35)
In the previous excerpt, great emphasis was put into making the music meaningful to the listeners, in this case, the dancers. To make it meaningful (or “heard”) HN35 has to understand their needs while also improvising. This excerpt also exemplifies how receptivity can be directed toward their inner states, thoughts, and feelings. Improvisation thus helps to connect and be aware of these mental states which then can be expressed:
The feeling what you had that time is coming up again for you. This can be anything. This can be what I said before, right, that you say a kind musician or heard a kind of music which made you feel, even that can come back. Or even a kind of event, or a feeling that happened in your personal life. So, I think things come back when you improvise or play music really. (BM19)
Rapport
Many interviewees clearly described a feeling of togetherness, synchrony, and understanding of the other musicians or the audience. This was frequently compared with language and speech, as they felt that improvised music was communicative in its core.
It is kind of like, like speech! Well, that . . . that’s why I say that this is a sort of musical language all the time because I think it is a kind of communication, especially improvised music, communication with each other and . . . the current speaker can make extremely interesting things out of it, I think. Even when we talk about accompaniment, or an improvised solo as a soloist, or a fill, you can bring anything into music. (PZ32)
Here emphasis was put on the content of music, as it communicates something, even though it was not clear what it is besides that it can be fascinating. This shows how improvised music more readily fulfills a need for communication and connectedness. This similarity to communication is what leads to a state of synchrony and empathy.
The previously described receptive attention seems to be an important factor in the creation of rapport:
When you pay attention to the other guy and, I don’t know, telepathically you are on the same note and you start a sort of conversation. You bring in a stylistic element I even bring it down with a third and it starts to dynamically build up. If two instruments start to improvise together then I think it is important to attune to each other and to have a common dynamic. And when there is a peak at the end that is yeah, ecstasy. (KB19)
In the case of this interviewee, the dynamic of the relationship also triggers peak experiences similarly to how it was described during solo improvisation. But in this case, the “raising” was caused by reacting to the other musician and deepening the synchrony. Even though they could communicate explicitly during a performance this sense of rapport seemed to intuitively rise from the situation itself. Improvisation can be a medium of rapport which facilitates strong feelings of empathy which in turn can inspire improvisation even further.
What gives me motivation is to make it really good and aesthetic and delightful, really. And obviously the process itself inspires me after that later on. To take it as long as possible and have as good of an arc as possible and to feel together when we should put it down for example. This movement together, that separate individuals merge into one soul while they’re playing together. This can be really motivating, this experience, it is really a sacred experience. It absolutely doesn’t happen on a physical plane, rather on a spiritual one. (BP39) This attunement with others and communal experience. (Researcher) Attunement with others yes, technically, practically. (BP39)
The intuitive rise of rapport comes not necessarily from a conscious or semi-conscious attempt to communicate but from the simple act of playing and improvising together. This experience of togetherness was a motivating force behind playing, as the sense of meaning behind improvised music can come from the successful rapport itself.
These examples show how improvisation creates a receptive attentional state and serves as a medium for rapport and attunement with others. Together receptivity and the feeling of rapport can create an intersubjective field where strong emotions of empathy and synchronicity can arise from improvisation. It can appear even between a solo-performer and the listeners, but especially during a group performance between all the improvisers and the audience.
Discussion
The aim of our study was to explore the characteristics of the phenomenological experience of musical improvisation. With the use of IPA, we found five themes describing both intra- and interpersonal experiences and psychological functions which were grouped into two master themes. We will discuss how these themes interact within the phenomenology of musical improvisation and how they can facilitate self-development (Silverman & Baker, 2018) and communicativeness (Trevarthen, 1999) considering previous studies discussed in the literature section.
In our study, the interviewees described various themes which can be directly connected to self-actualization. The most prominent of these themes was an expressed need for growth and improvement by the internalization of novel experiences and musical expressions. This was not necessarily expressed as being able to perform better. Instead, the need to grow was always described in detail as learning new musical phrases, figures, or styles, as a sort of parallel rather than a linear way of skill acquisition. Thus, it is similar to the characteristic of Doyle’s (2017) creative flow theory, where divergent and convergent thinking play an equal part in the process. The process of improvisation relies on the creative sequencing of musical elements into a cluster (Pressing, 1988). Our findings suggest that practicing improvisation cultivates this particular kind of growth mindset. By internalizing many styles and figures, the improviser will be able to move from their spontaneous preferences and reach insights into the musical motives (the phrases and patterns most characteristic of their style which are also representative of their identity and personality) (Laroche & Kaddouch, 2015). This kind of parallel thinking style can raise complexity in the self by broadening and internalizing various experiences (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014), making it more flexible and diverse.
Authentic self-expression was another theme emphasized by the interviewees. Musical improvisation was described as more directly linked to themselves with a great sense of personal freedom in our interviews. Our findings suggest that musical improvisation could utilize primary processes (Nettleton, 2004) and vitality effects (Stern, 2010) more readily than regular music performance because of the characteristic executive processes mentioned above (Pressing, 1988). That way the core tastes (Laroche & Kaddouch, 2015), a reflection of the performer musical identity can be expressed more easily. This self-identity function, normally associated with music listening (Hargreaves & North, 1999; Schäfer et al, 2013), might be stronger during musical improvisation because the performer is actively participating, as shown in the analysis. This also emphasizes how musical improvisation outside jazz and related genres is not necessarily a key part of these musicians’ musical identities. Instead, it is a vehicle, a way of expressing their identity in music, as in what kind of musicians they are and what aesthetic choices can characterize them (Hargreaves et al., 2002). According to our findings, self-identity can be more intensely experienced during musical improvisation (as proposed by Laroche & Kaddouch, 2015), raising self-awareness. Interestingly, although this kind of authenticity is mostly associated with free improvisation in music therapy practice (Pavlicevic, 2000), many interviewees felt that more structured improvisation had the same effect which can be part of the looser expectations regarding improvisation within pop music and adjacent genres.
The successful spontaneous building of expressive phrases could also lead to absorption (Doyle, 2017) which is a key sign of peak and optimal experiences (Privette, 1983). The theme of peak experiences was expressed as a positive, meditative, focused, and euphoric event during improvising. According to previous studies, this kind of positive phenomenon has many sources, from overcoming challenging situations (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014) to successful connection and synchronization with others (Hart & Di Blasi, 2015), and the absorption into the performance itself (Whaley et al., 2012). It had a lot of variations but shared many similar components: the overall feeling of happiness and joy and the experience of absorption either in a cathartic or in a more relaxing fashion. Music has frequently been stated as one of the most reliable triggers of peak experiences in previous studies (Whaley et al., 2012). On some occasions, musical experiences were stated as being synonymous with the flow state (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014).
Overall, this theme can be characterized as the culmination of the previous two. Learning new figures is key to the internalization of musical genres, which can be necessary for a sense of creative achievement (Csíkszentmihályi, 1997). Spontaneous self-expression can facilitate a state of absorption which can finally converge into a meaningful creative product (Doyle, 2017). The fluid usage and buildup of various musical elements, called “raising” by one of the interviewees, could consciously trigger flow or appear similar to the processes of flow (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). This kind of raising was frequent in in a “conversational” context, where two or more improvisers play together triggering peak experiences and flow between them (Hart & Di Blasi, 2015).
The other master theme described musical improvisation as a communicative medium and a field of connection and synchrony. The theme of receptivity seems to be an important one for many others, such as peak experiences, rapport, and self-expression. This term was used because it describes the active attentional state which also lacks clear focus, and it is a characteristic of many music-related flow experiences (Silverman & Baker, 2018). It was also characterized by the interviewees as effortless. According to our analysis improvisation seems to invoke this kind of receptive attentional state due to the automatic cognitive processes (Johnson-Laird, 2002). Receptivity also seems to be an important component in reaching flow and peak experiences. Our findings suggest that improvising can engage the performer as both an agent and a listener, like how the activity of music composition does the same (Chirico et al., 2015). However, this receptive state really shines during group improvisations. This free-floating attention makes it possible to immediately entrain and react to others and to the music played together, creating a musical dialogue (Cross, 2014; Strehlow & Hannibal, 2019; Trondalen, 2019).
Rapport as a theme was one which emerged from the receptive state and was frequently expressed together within the same chain of thoughts in our study. The key difference from receptivity is a sense of synchrony and unity, which is a sign of the emerging intersubjective field (Trevarthen, 1999; Trondalen, 2019). Rapport has been described as happening between the musicians or between the performers and the audience probably due to entrainment (Clayton et al., 2020; Cross, 2014). This sense of rapport was described as communicative, communal, or even sacred at one time. These are all characteristic of many levels of musical intersubjectivity (Trondalen, 2019). Rapport was also frequently paired with the sense of meaningfulness and absorption, like the motive of peak experience. This way the sense of rapport could get its meaning from the combined creative flow emerging from the reactions and “conversations” of the improvisers (Doyle, 2017; Hart & Di Blasi, 2015). This meaningfulness can also be a sign of “floating intentionality,, the sense of meaning associated within music (Cross, 2014). A sense of synchronicity can be achieved through the communicative medium of improvised music alone due to our intrinsic motive pulse (Cross, 2014; Trevarthen, 1999). Through rapport, a shared sense of meaningfulness can be communicated during improvisation, proving to be one of the most important therapeutic factors in a clinical setting (Pavlicevic, 2000). The reason for that is the sheer spontaneous interactivity being present during these episodes of rapport, which can create the “raising” effect described above during one of the interviews and in the phenomena of creative flow during jam sessions (Doyle, 2017).
The sample was somewhat more heterogeneous than that typically used for IPA (Rácz et al., 2016) regarding genre and training, as it was hard to find musicians who played in only one style outside of classical music circles. Some interviewees played in many bands and were familiar with many genres, whereas others were self-taught and only played alternative music. One of the goals was to explore the psychological motives of improvisation outside specific genre traditions. This also made precise interpretations difficult. However, many participants talked about very similar experiences regarding improvisation describing diverse musical scenarios from playing in a theater group to free jam sessions.
Even with this less homogeneous sample, the emerging themes and master themes still showed a high level of convergence. At least a quarter of the sample expressed the primary motives within the self-actualization and intersubjectivity master.
Conclusion
Musical improvisation elicits strong intra- and interpersonal experiences similar to the functions of music listening (Hargreaves & North, 1999) or other forms of musical communication (Cross, 2008, 2014). Some themes, like the need for growth and receptivity, seem to come from the unique cognitive processes required by musical improvisation (Biasutti & Frezza, 2009; Johnson-Laird, 2002; Pressing, 1988). Other themes, like peak experiences (Whaley et al., 2012), and rapport (Trevarthen, 1999) are well documented within other types of musical expression and in the experience of music listening. But it is more connected during improvisation due to the spontaneity and reactivity present within the experience (Doyle, 2017). Future qualitative studies should focus on an even representation of different musical styles and performers, such as jazz, classical, folk, and pop musicians. Thus, differences and similarities arising from different stylistic and genre traditions can be explored in spontaneous musical expressions.
Footnotes
Funding
ORCID iDs
