GLOSSARY OF PRACTICE
IMPROVISATION
: Go With The Flow.
TIM FRANCIS
This first part of this paper will highlight the background of
this phenomenon. The notion of a Flow of thought as a recognised psychological
process can be traced to Albert Van Heim in 1871 in Switzerland. He was a
geologist and his own near-death experience started his case studies into
similar encounters by mountain climbers (Roszell, 1992) and found they achieved
altered states of consciousness. In 1904
William James of Harvard, who was studying ‘fight or flight’ reaction, expanded
the research. Part of this altered state became known as Peak Experience,
within his psychology circle, and noted philosophically for its mystical
qualities (Nagler, 2010). It was physiology with Will Cannon in 1916 that
provided a breakthrough though, determining that these varying changes in
consciousness, was rooted in biology (Cannon, 1915). In the mid-20th
Century, Abraham Maslow found there was this common attribute of flowing
thought as Peak Experiences, shared by all successful people (Grof, 2000).
The psychologist Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi is known for coining the term Flow in the 1970’s. During years
of study, he outlined the concept of being fully immersed in an activity is the
key to being in a Flow state. This involved being totally unaware of outside
interests and time passed by unnoticed
This optimal experience is achieved by what he termed an autotelic
personality type. Which he established to be intrinsically motivated rather
than a need for external objectives (Csikszentmihaly, 1992).
Keith Sawyer, who was an early collaborator through his PhD with
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, developed the area of Group Flow. He found that among
the key elements for this extreme group concentration, was a sense of shared
vision for the task at hand. He studied with jazz musicians, this included
close listening and when improvising, 'deep listening'. This Flow state within
the group was enhanced by complete concentration, being in control and moving
the project continually forward. Finding the balance between innovation and
failure, with an abandonment of ego, was imperative during communication,
familiarity and equal participation between members (Sawyer, 2008).
Researchers began to measure this phenomenon throughout the
subsequent years. They encompassed Flow questionnaires asking to identify and
evaluate when and how being ‘in the zone’ originated (Engeser, 2012). An
Experience Sampling Method was devised which required the participants to
complete forms at randomly chosen times to record their experiences of being in
a Flow state. The researchers, to avoid any unnecessary bias, coded the
information. Eventually the wording for Flow changed to that of Runner’s High describing
a state of euphoria induced with intensive running. In 1996 in Australia,
Doctor Susan Jackson crafted a self-reporting Flow State Scale connected to
sports research. This enabled the Flow experience to be both qualitatively and
quantitatively monitored. Over the next few years this was refined and she
produced a Flow State Scale-2 and a Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (Jackson and
Ekland, 2004). These were used to empirically study and measure Dispositional
and State Flow Frequency as a phenomenological concept.
There was an adverse effect
to pro-active Flow research in 2002. This was due to the president of the
Neuroscience Society Huda Akil. She declared in the New York Times that endorphins
released into the brain from running were nonsense.
“This
endorphin-in-runners is a total fantasy in the pop culture”
(Kotler, 2008 p209). This caused traditional research into Flow to diminish
quite significantly over the next few years.
This paper now leads into how flow has become more recently
defined and brings us gradually into present day understanding.
The academic ‘comeback’ for Flow for contemporary acceptance, is Arne
Dietrich’s (2003) paper discussing functional neuroanatomy of altered
consciousness. He brings it right back in the psychological mainstream by
focusing on pre-frontal cortex and showing it becomes deregulated or shut down,
when Flow is reached. Dietrich argues that there is a common neural action
during altered states of consciousness. Which is now known as transient
hypo-frontality.
It is connected to diminished use of the pre-frontal cortex area
while engaged in dreaming; runner’s high; drugs; daydreaming; and meditation.
He shows how there is a lowering of inhibition and self-awareness when the
pre-frontal cortex is not fully engaged and this has a direct impact on
inducing a feeling of Flow. His findings have been a benchmark in this field of
research that is generally recognized today. There is now an agreement that
concentration grows as an ‘efficiency exchange’ from a conscious slower
extrinsic mechanism, to a rapidly working subconscious intrinsic system
(Kotler, 2004).
...............................................................................................................
HELLO PHIL
THE FOLLOWING IS ONLY THE ROUGH DRAFT OF THE REMAINDER OF THE 3000 WORD PIECE...
IT IS THE GIST OF WHAT I WILL SAY BUT TO BE CORRECTLY STRUCTURED AND REFERENCED IN THE TEXT ETC ...BUT IT IS THE GIST OF WHAT I WANT TO SAY.
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY IS NOT YET COMPLETE BUT SHOWS YOU MY INTENTION..
THE VIDEO IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE FORMAT AND NATURE OF A PERFORMANCE AND FLOW ANALYSIS...HOPEFULLY THE OTHERS WILL PROVIDE A FULLER EXPERIENCE OF FLOW....BUT EQUALLT LEE ALSO ADVOCATED EVEN PRESENTING FAILED ATTEMPTS ALSO...TO LEARN FROM ETC...
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN ACCESS A FULL SCREEN TO SEE IT AND VIEW THE SUBTITLING ETC...AND IF THE AUDIO IS OK ?
THERE WILL BE OTHER VIDEOS AND WRITTEN ASSESSMENTS/ANALYSIS TO ACCOMPANY THEM.
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There
were also advances in music and education which allowed further
investigation by Martin and Jackson. (2008) Moreover, Jackson, Eklund
and Martin created the Long FSS-2-General for monitoring Flow
experience in broader contexts two years later. (2010)
The
resurgence and major investment into Flow became prominent again
though, due to the ways images of the brain became possible through
science.
Jamie
Wheele is an expert on neuro-somatics of ultimate human performance.
Together with Steve Kotler, a New York Times best-selling author, set
up the Flow Genome Project. Part of their team is the director of Red
Bull's global athlete programme, Dr Andy Walsh. There is also the
neuro scientist and writer Dr David Eagleman from Baylor College of
Medicine and other well qualified professionals in the field of high
performance psychology.
Furthermore,
I have read several accounts by Andrew Newberg concerning
neuro-imaging techniques, such as SPECT and fMRI.
http://www.andrewnewberg.com/spect-images/
He also introduced Positron
Emission Topography PET which is used for spatial resolution in clinical
oncology. Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography is an imaging
device utilising gamma rays, providing 3D imaging. Functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a technology for measuring flow in
blood activity in the brain.
Newberg scanned the brains of Tibetan Buddhists and Franciscan nuns to
measure blood flow during meditation and documented the changes in
sensory and cognitive time-orientation. His results showed how
becoming 'one with the universe' is affected by the transient
Hypo-Frontality
Charles
Limb is a surgeon, neuroscientist and a jazz musician at the
University of California. He specialises in ontological treatments
and conducted several fMRI experiments with jazz improvisation. He
found deactivation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex which
governs, amongst others, the self-critical part of the brain. He also
discovered when the performers were improvising it incorporated areas of linguistic
grammar and syntax, indicating not just spoken word but general
auditory function with this brain location. He also found that when
the musicians responded to happy visual stimuli their prefrontal
cortex diminished correspondingly with this emotion. Interestingly,
he noted that when creating sad music they showed an increase in
visceral experience and more activity in the reward parts of the
brain.
This
is of particular relevance to my own research with improvising jazz
myself, with musical collaborators and within African drumming and theatre performance.
These
studies will involve using film ethnography to document how and when
the performers reach this Flow state. The cameras will capture visual
and audio nuanced moments that could otherwise go unnoticed. They
will be analysed in a post-performance setting and reviewed by the
performers to find the links into Flow.
In
1895, Felix-Louis Renault is credited with visually documenting a
Wolof woman crafting pottery. This was the birth of film ethnography
in the area of anthropological studies.
‘Nanook
of the North’ , an inuit portrayal by Robert Flahety , is the well
known 1922 ethnographic film to be associated with field studies.
Considered a docudrama, a precursor to ethnofiction which in turn a
forerunner of French New Wave of the 1950/60’s. The Portuguese were
active in their post-revolution1970/80’s in this particular area of
visual anthropology.
The
sociolinguistic and educational anthropology as an ‘ethnography of
communication’ was developed in the early 1970’s. Video
microethnographic studying became prevalent in the classroom. The
previous structuralist and functionalist approach was superseded by
post-modernism and a more experimental research, currently practiced.
Sarah
Pink is a well respected authority on anthropilogical studies and I
read her books 'Doing Visual Ethnography' (2001) and 'Doing Sensory
Ethnography.' (2009)
She
explains in detail the need for of filmed observation during
research. Her writings helped current understanding of ethnography in
determining that written text is not superior to visual
interpretations. The knowledge that it generates is more than a way
of collecting data, as it also a clear indicator of social
relationships and their ever-changing behavioral and cognitive
variations.
Its
use as the principal way of documenting visual data, is the basis of
my research question. To
capture the body and facial characteristics, the change in voice
mannerisms and general sensory interaction for performers entering
Flow state. This exploration and discovery in the field enables a
host of revelations, discussions and analysis during and in
post-performance reviewing.
I
understand the reception of filmed ethnography can be contrastingly
reviewed. Not just for my own research purposes directly but also
from my understanding of academic acceptance.
Karl
Heider's book 'Ethnographic Film' Revised Edition 2006 includes his
acknowledgement of various changes and references to how ethnographic
film is used in teaching and how ethics and finances play a vital
part. His original 1976 book received considerable criticism,
especially from Jay Ruby in the Department of Anthropology at Temple
University in Philadelphia.
He
describes Heider's view as purely a means to provide documentaries
about exotic people. Concluding that he would need a book-length's
rebuttal for her full appraisal of the book. He wrote that Heider had
not referenced Ruby's own previous work on visual anthropology so
couldn't possibly be fully inclusive on this subject.
His
actual display of contempt for Heider's original book has made me
aware of the potential for personal reasons to maybe cloud or
influence professional opinion.
Ruby
although, phrased an interesting question himself, as part of a paper
for the 'Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication'...
“Is
an ethnographic film a filmic ethnography?”
(1975)
The
need for ethics in ethnographic film and/or filmic ethnography is an
area that is important in my study with collaborators for Flow. I
will take on board Martyn Hammersley and Anna Traianou's work on
qualitative research during my Flow improvisational journey. They
argue that the emergent and flexible areas of questioning produce
qualities and results that are difficult to predict sometimes in a
pre-study analysis. The outcomes/outputs can vary considerably from
what is legislated for during the outset. (Hammersley and Traianou,
2012) They argue that there is a 'ethics creep' towards bureaucracy
with its formality within the social sciences. Nevertheless, they do
acknowledge the need for dedication, objectivity and independence as
values required within social research.
The
general misconception, that the written word takes precedence over
visual images to create human knowledge is addressed (MacDougall, 2006) as a need for new social aesthetics when searching for cultural
patterns. He has a preoccupation with representing images in
ethnography, not purely as a substitute for written text but as an
alternative and complimentary action. The notion of images reflecting
and leading to thought is discussed in detail. That we rely on this
association particulary with language, is attributed to using reason
to understand this as a mind's only means of comprhension.
MacDougall further argues that there is more to visual imagery and
ethnographical interpretation via the emotional sensory activation
and the visual representations of imaginations. With this in mind, I
can take the perception of my filmed ethnography to rethink and
recognise new feelings of visual discovery. The way I use the camera
to capture a mixture of responsive, constructive and interactive
ethnographic footage will have an impact on the perception of how and
when Flow is reached. This will be one of the main reasons why the
post-analysis review of the filmed performances will provide
compelling data on the actual process of improvisation. To accentuate
my meaning here I advance the argument that the knowledge of being,
is equal to and for my purposes, more suited to the pursuit of Flow,
than the usual preservation of written meaning.
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Bibliography
Cannon, W.B. (1915) Bodily Changes in Pain, Fear and Rage: An Account of Recent
Researches into the Function of Emotional Excitement. London: D. Appleton
and Co.
Csikzentmihalyi, M (1992) Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of
Flow in Consciousness. Cambridge U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Engeser, S. (ed) (2012) Advances in Flow. Berlin: Springer Science and Business Media.
Grof, S. (2000) Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research. N.Y.:
Suny Press.
Jackson, S and Eklund, R. (2004) The Flow Scales Manual. WV.: USA.
Kotler, S. (2014) The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human
Performance. Dublin: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Kotler, S. ( 2008) West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief. N.Y.:
Bloomsbury Publishing. p 209
Nagler, M. (2010) The Search for a Non-Violent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves,
Our Families and Ourselves. CA. USA: New World Library. p 72.
Roszell, C. (1992) The Near-Death Experience: In
the Light of Scientific Research and the Spiritual Science of Rudolf Steiner.
MA. USA: SteinerBook. p 30.
Sawyer, K, (2008) Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration. N.Y.: Basic
Books.
The
performances with collaborators are all improvised sessions and the
ones with myself initiating the Flow are revealing when I was able to
induce a Flow state.
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The
performances with collaborators are all improvised sessions and the
ones with myself initiating the Flow are revealing when I was able to
induce a Flow state.
...........................................................................................................
This is a session that produced a mild form of Flow for two of us drumming together. We were playing a basic rhythm to experiment with the inducement of some kind of Flow state.
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TBC
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