Insights in Music and Culture
What is the function of Music and Art? What I learnt from interviewing 10 Artists and Musicians.
In 2021, I undertook the Xook project for the City of Sydney. The project was a series of interviews with 10 artists and musicians that sought to explore individual attitudes and perspectives to music, art, and artistic practice. What we found was that each artist used their art to penetrate deeply into life, culture, and society. Whether as way to connect with ancestral legacies, continue cultural traditions, alleviate stress, or to know themselves more deeply, we found that music and art defined their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
How Music Hijacks Your Nervous System—in a Good Way
Music is trans-dimensional, having the power to affect body, mind, and soul. It transforms through process called resonance, making it a conductor of human biology, physical matter, and the human psyche. To understand the concept of resonance, we need to understand what music is at a fundamental level. This article explores music and its interpersonal connection through the science of resonance, an understanding that changes our conception of music, its nature, and effects.
The Spiritual Roots of Electronic Dance Music (Part 2)
This article continues on from the Part 1 which describes the evolution of Electronic Dance Music’s (EDM) spiritual roots. Part 2 expands on this understanding, outlining the musical tropes that evolve from ritual, used within House music, and developed into modern EDM. These tropes are included within a philosophy for music creation and performance which aims for altered states, such as experiences of trance, ecstasy, and euphoria. This modern evolution comprises new music technologies, performance approaches, and sounds, incorporated within modern music events and festivals.
The Multi-Sensory Nature of Music Rituals
It is well-known that music affects our emotions, alters our states of being, and is used to treat various diseases from Alzheimer’s, trauma, pain, to Parkinson’s (Levitin 2024). Yet, we often forget that the context in which music is experienced is critical to the successful outcomes of music as therapy. This article argues that music is most powerful when considered within the context in which it is experienced, a holistic practice known as ‘music ritual’. Music rituals use a variety of methods- aural, kinaesthetic, conceptual, olfactory, visual, psychological to create an immersive environment where music can have the most impact.
Music as Life Philosophy: 10 Ways Music teaches us to Live Better.
How does music help us live better? Many musicians adopt an approach to life that is based upon the lessons they learn through their music practice. Music, apart from being a series of organised sounds, can also serve as a philosophy for life that hones our skills and perspectives. This article explores ten core ways that music can be used as a philosophy for living, providing life skills that are transferable into other domains.
The Evolution of Consciousness Through Music
How can music help us uncover our highest potential? This article explores this question through the lens of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Largely misrepresented, recent studies suggest that Maslow’s highest human value was not self-actualisation (an expression of personal potential and ego) but self-actualisation, an experience beyond the ego through peak experience and communion with others. Music contributes to these higher goals by offering access to higher states, such as ‘flow’ described by Milhaly Csikszentmihalyi. Musical flow states offer a way participate in higher human ideals, moving beyond selfishness, egotism, and conformity to contribute to the evolution of human potential, health, and development.
