Results obtained with "Pia prototype"
With my Pia prototype, I had the opportunity to test the following aspects:
1-the correspondence of my choices of connection between a certain piece and a certain chakra and the choices of each individual in the audience
2-the ability to transmit awareness of the chakras and amplify resonance and connection with them while listening to a specific kind of music
3-the efficiency of the narrative structure of the event and more specifically of the pieces’ order I chose, as I would then like to play them in the actual concert
4-the level of interest and involvement of the audience in this topic
-Description of the event:
-On 07/09/2024 I’ve tested my project regarding the connection between Chakras and Music.
As you can see in the documentation, I was able to book a big room in a gym called “Olistica Salus” in Osimo, a city in the middle of Italy. This was possible thanks to the availability of Mrs. Cinzia, the gym manager and colleague of my Yoga teacher Tiziana. The latter contacted Cinzia to make a room available for this event. After that, I created the promotional poster, the event description, the questionnaires and other attached material.
By focusing on Chakras, we have the opportunity to be more aware of our inner spiritual balance, which reflects our degree of well-being with ourselves and with those (and what) around us.
So the definitive concert, the final outcome of my Pia, will be an occasion to become spiritually aware of Chakras through the emotions resulting from the combination of music, voice-acting and colors.
Event description for promotional purposes:
Piano Music & Chakra: an emotional connection
How can Music and Chakras, the 7 energy centers of our soul, be related? An opportunity to discover and become aware of the Chakras through listening. After a necessary description and focus of the energy centers, you will listen to 7 pieces associated with the 7 Chakras. You will decide, based on your sensibility, which chakras correspond to them.
Saturday 7 September, 6 pm, Olistica Salus Osimo Free entry, reservation required.
For info and reservations:[...].
After introducing myself, with due thanks to the people who made the event possible, I explained the topic of chakras verbally, sharing important information to the audience so that they could better understand the subject matter before the pieces were performed, even with the use of the questionnaire and a generic chart of Chakra placements (you can find these two documents attached). Finally, I explained that I will play the pieces not according to the order of the Chakras, precisely so that the audience, between pieces, will have the opportunity to choose, according to their own sensibility, which Chakra the piece they have just performed corresponds to.
After that, together with Yogi Tiziana, we did a guided breathing session, called "pranayama”, to prepare ourselves spiritually for listening to the piano pieces.
Then, I’ve performed the piano pieces (you can find in the order in the flyer with the rainbow in the background), giving the audience time, between the pieces, to choose and pencil the piece number from one to seven in the right column of the questionnaire, above the corresponding Chakra symbol.
After the performance of the 7 pieces (30 minutes), the audience answered the question behind the questionnaire: “While listening to the music pieces, did you feel a mood, a particular feeling emerge? If so, in which piece, where did you perceive it and what did you feel” explaining that this question is important in order to have awareness of sensations related to one chakra rather than another.
In conclusion, I distributed the flyers (with the rainbow in the background) with titles, order of the pieces, and the association to a particular chakra (plus other information such as recommended readings and a couple of evocative phrases). I therefore explained the reasons for my choices, why I chose that particular piece with that particular chakra.
We then did a final recollection greeting, led by Tiziana. The event lasted just over an hour.
I collected a total of 30 questionnaires.
-Results and answers:
1-
Before considering the results obtained it must be said that, despite the great attention of the 30 listeners (of heterogeneous ages, between 26 and 70 (or slightly more) years) some questionnaires turned out to be inconclusive, either because of indecisions about the choice (multiple choices in one box) or because of repetitions of the number related to a certain song in several boxes, evidently due to forgetting the number corresponding to the particular song during a 30 minute performance.
Apart from this, the data collected are nonetheless explanatory.
As the table with the x's, i.e., the choices of the 30 participants, illustrates, regarding the 1st chakra, the majority chose Rachmaninov's piece, spiritually agreeing with my association.
Same thing about the 3rd Chakra, listeners voted for Scriabin's piece, in line with my association, but tied with the votes for the 2nd Chakra, and almost tied with the votes for the 1st.
This means that, at the concert, in preparing the right lyrics and musical atmosphere, prior to the performance of the piece, for this Chakra, it will be necessary to accentuate even more the characteristics of the first three Chakras, particularly between the 2nd and 3rd. Therefore, make my evocative intentions understood by on the one hand greatly emphasizing the character of fluidity and gentleness in presenting the 2nd Chakra (element: water), and on the other hand expressing more contrast with the characteristics of the 3rd, such as strength, will, therefore a more fiery type of energy (element: fire).
The 5th Chakra turns out (surprisingly, in my opinion) to be the one with the greatest correspondence between my choice and that of the audience.
Regarding the 7th chakra, there is a slight prevalence in the association of the latter with the second song rather than with the first, the one I would have associated with the Chakra in question (8 votes versus 6).
It is good that there is a prevalence of votes to the upper two Chakras, rather than the lower 3, which are more connected to the Earth, but it is equally curious to note the five votes related to the 1st Chakra for a song that in my opinion should evoke and amplify the opposite Chakra, namely the 7th. This is understandable since Pärt's piece begins with a bass octave from which all the rest of the piece is derived, creating an initial grounding effect compatible with a sense of stability. In concert it will therefore be necessary to introduce the piece by going to emphasize the spiritual nature related to the 7th chakra, that is, the universal, transcendent identity related to thinking and awareness of our existence within a larger universal system. This will help guide the listener to a focus connected with this energy center.
Also for the 4th chakra there is a slight prevalence in associating it with the first piece, the one for me related to the 7th chakra, rather than with Schumann's piece, the last to be performed.
The considerations I made in the previous paragraph will also prove determined to create distinction with the chakra in question here.
In addition, the considerations already made to accentuate the distinction of the perception of the 2nd and 3rd chakras will also be determined to define the association of Einaudi's song with the water chakra rather than with the heart chakra, the 4th (in fact, a majority of votes can be found song 4-4th chakra rather than 2nd).
Finally, the song that resulted in the most heterogeneous distribution of votes compared to all the others turns out to be the second one, water dance by Tanaka, which I associated with the 6th chakra.
It is also to be said that it may be that if I had performed this track seventh on the list rather than second, it is not to be ruled out that listeners might have placed it differently, in light of a different kind of listening path.
That said, here it is more evident than ever that it will be necessary to convey my personal vision in a way that is as focused as possible on my interpretive intentions (those I explained in the opening paragraph regarding the 2nd chakra).
On the other hand, as far as the answers to the question behind the questionnaire are concerned, there turn out to be considerations related to personal feelings that are very much felt and different among the various listeners, demonstrating that this has resulted in a beneficial effect of awareness of one's own emotions and feelings.
In conclusion, it’s clear that this topic is too subjective that is impossible to declare total objectivity related to the way people can perceive Chakra and music connection.
On the other hand, we can bring forth the audience to follow a certain connection, so my chakra-music choices, but not in the way I’ve tested. That’s why in the final concert there will be a voice-actor that will introduce the pieces in an artistic way to increase the awareness and the feeling of a specific chakra, leading to the performance of the specific piece I’ve chose, plus the use of light to create the right atmosphere (7 colors for 7 chakras).
In the end I think that an artist, me in this case, has to make choices, or all this won’t be possible only because is not scientifically based.
2-
The audience really showed involvement in the topic. The only thing is that, as I’ve explained, everyone had shared a personal perspective. So the question is: when I’ll present the Chakras in concert with my choices, so no questionnaires to compile between performance of pieces, will people be able appreciate my personal associations? Considering the way and the effort for conveying my choices, in the manner I explained in the previous answer, I think and for sure I hope it will be possible.
3-
The narrative structure of the event was efficient, but the explanation of the Chakras in the beginning in a non-artistic way was a little heavy to follow, that’s why I’ll need a voice-actor to introduce the topic before dealing with each Chakra for the rest of the concert.
The pieces’ order I chose was good, I’ll play them in that order in the actual concert.
4-
People really appreciated this proposal, everyone was really focus.