Exposition

Six Hours of Exploratory Improvisation (2021)

Arja Anneli Kastinen

About this exposition

Creativity is seen as a fundamental human capacity which also seems to be very sensitive in escaping scientifically controlled conditions. During the last decades, musical improvisation has become a more and more interesting channel for studying the cognitive neuroscience of creativity. On 6 February 2017, I improvised for six hours without a break on eight different kanteles in the Black Box hall of the Musiikkitalo, Helsinki Music Centre. There were EEG caps on me and three listeners, and the data was recorded for about two hours from the beginning of the event. From the musical perspective, my personal starting point for the six-hour improvisation was to test and experience the reactions of my mind and body to this way of making music in a time scale that was stretched close to the limits of my capacity. My text will look into the project and analyse it solely from my point of view: as a musician researching the process of long-lasting kantele improvisation based on ancient Finnic tradition. The main questions in my study are: What is happening in the consciousness preceding and during the state of the so-called quiet exaltation? What are the elements or components needed to be able to achieve this kind of mental state? What is the meaning – the importance – of this music to its producer? What would be the relation of the musical elements and automatized finger movements stored in my long-term memory through the years of practise with the consciously invented and unconsciously produced music?
typeresearch exposition
keywordsimprovisation, ancient Finnic tradition, kantele, cognitive neuroscience, creativity, quiet exaltation, unconsciously produced music
date15/12/2020
published06/01/2021
last modified06/01/2021
statuspublished
share statusprivate
affiliationUniversity of the Arts Helsinki
copyrightArja Kastinen
licenseAll rights reserved
languageBritish English
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1089971/1089972
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/rc.1089971
published inResearch Catalogue


Simple Media

id name copyright license
1089975 Logot copyright holder All rights reserved
1090146 Image2 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090149 Image3 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090152 Image4 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090159 Image5 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090175 Image6 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090303 Kuva6 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090310 Image7 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090347 Image8 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090349 Image9 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090396 Image10 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090399 Image11 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090402 Image12 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090403 Image13 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090406 Image14 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090407 Image15 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090410 Image16 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090412 Image17 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090416 Image18 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090422 Image19 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090425 Image21 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090426 Image20 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090435 Image22 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090447 Image23 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090459 Image24 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090462 Image25 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090478 Image26 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090488 Image27 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090489 Image28 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090496 Image29 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090505 Image30 copyright holder All rights reserved
1090712 Image31 copyright holder All rights reserved
1091701 Appendix3 copyright holder All rights reserved
1091740 Video copyright holder All rights reserved
1091741 Appendix2 copyright holder All rights reserved
1091742 Appendix4 copyright holder All rights reserved
1091743 Figure3 copyright holder All rights reserved
1091744 Image34 copyright holder All rights reserved
1092054 Figure2b copyright holder All rights reserved
1098794 Image35 copyright holder All rights reserved
1098796 Image36 copyright holder CC BY
1098850 Image37 copyright holder CC BY
1098851 Image38 copyright holder CC BY
1098854 Image39 copyright holder CC BY
1098855 Image40 copyright holder CC BY
1098857 Image41 copyright holder CC BY
1098862 Image42 copyright holder CC BY
1098864 Image43 copyright holder CC BY
1099072 media1 copyright holder All rights reserved
1099075 Image32 copyright holder All rights reserved
1099076 media2 copyright holder All rights reserved

Comments are only available for registered users.