From Soul, within Sound, to Self
I recently attended the University of Vilnius in Vilnius, Lithuania where I presented a paper at the 2nd International Conference of Spirituality and Music Education (SAME): Spirituality, Music and Education in a Cultural Context. The conference took place on June 27-29, 2013 at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Vilnius, of one the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe.
Paper Abstract
Recent studies in music perception, neuroscience, psychology, and religion suggest a direct correlation between musical sound and spirituality. Here I define sound production and realization as creative spiritual processes forming a relationship between two attributes of musical creation: the cognitive and performative ones described in terms of symbolic and stylized acts or actions controlled and sustained by the cognitive nervous system, and the emotional and spiritual attributes that may be understood as the mind’s enactment of musical contemplation or prayer. From an interdisciplinary point of view, the paper speculates that when hearing musical sounds our consciousness may be mapped in the brain, resulting in specific cognitive pathways that may account for the sense of our inner self. As a result, the paper describes musical creativity as a form of self-realization – a discovery and manifestation of the existence of an authentic self.This activity is effectuated by mental, psychological, or spiritual introspection as it forms a direct link between musical sound and our inner self. The paper puts forward a rich discourse between music composition, performance, and appreciation, on one end, and the cognitive plasticity of our spirituality in the cultural contexts of musical creativity, on the other. Examples of relevant morphologies and compositional processes used to suggest a path from soul to self are discussed. Engaging in an inter-cultural and inter-spiritual dialogue, the paper suggest a dialectic between sound and religious experience in music, a connection that that gives the notion of the human spirit central form of expression in the performing arts.
