Critical listening and altered states


Ok, this is not a question about relaxing, but about listening to evaluate how the system (or a piece of gear is sounding).

What, in your experience, are the pluses and minuses of altering your state of mind for listening? This can include anything you've used to affect your everyday state of mind, from coffee, beer, scotch, tobacco, to much stronger — and psychoactive, dissociative — additives.

What do you gain by altering your consciousness in terms of what you notice, attend to, linger on, etc?
What causes more details to emerge?
What allows you to stick with a thread or, alternately, make new connections?

Or perhaps you like to keep all those things *out* of your listening; if that's you, please say a bit about why.

hilde45

@stuartk

In other words, can one evaluate a system’s sonics while in an altered state that is not absorption? 

The answer is no. I cannot evaluate my system stoned as a rock, or drunk and drunken. Why ? Because acoustics critical analysis is like thinking and seeing with his ears, i cannot when my mind is darken by the fumes...

So, I clarified that I do not mean ASC to the degree to where one cannot focus and become absorbed. If you've ever had a cup of coffee, you know that there are many degrees one can be "altered" within the general rubric clumsily captured by ASC or "altered states of consciousness." 

So, I'll let those who want to pour out their (same, repeated) opinions have at it. I cannot explain it better or help those who wish to dilate on a misconstrued interpretation. Their need to talk is more emotional than rational, and there's nothing to do but let the slurry swirl. 

 

@mahgister 

@stuartk 

@hilde45 is correct in what he says.

Even just listening to music for some people is sufficient to induce altered states of consciousness. No stimulants are needed.

This is well documented in the scientific literature. Here is just one example of a book on the subject - Herbert, R. (2011). Everyday Music Listening: Absorption, Dissociation and Trancing. Aldershot, Ashgate.

"Abstract
In what ways does listening to music shape everyday perception? Is music particularly effective in promoting shifts in consciousness? Is there any difference perceptually between contemplating one's surroundings and experiencing a work of art? Everyday Music Listening is the first book to focus in depth on the detailed nature of music listening episodes as lived mental experiences. Ruth Herbert uses new empirical data to explore the psychological processes involved in everyday music listening scenarios, charting interactions between music, perceiver and environment in a diverse range of real-world contexts. Findings are integrated with insights from a broad range of literature, including consciousness studies and research into altered states of consciousness, as well as ideas from ethology and evolutionary psychology suggesting that a psychobiological capacity for trancing is linked to the origins of making and receiving of art. The term 'trance' is not generally associated with music listening outside ethnomusicological studies of strong experiences, yet 'hypnotic-like' involvements in daily life have long been recognized by hypnotherapy researchers. The author argues that multiply distributed attention - prevalent in much contemporary listening-does not necessarily indicate superficial engagement. Music emerges as a particularly effective mediator of experience. Absorption and dissociation, as manifestations of trancing, are self-regulatory processes, often operating at the level of unconscious awareness, that support an individual perception of psychological health. This fascinating study brings together research and theory from a wide range of fields to provide a new framework for understanding the phenomenology of music listening in a way that will appeal to both specialist academic audiences and a broad general readership."

@hilde45 

I guess what it boils down to is simply the fact that I'm not experienced in utilizing substances in precise doses to achieve what you describe; hence my difficulty grasping your meaning.

I don't know to whom you were referring in terms of a "need to talk" that is "more emotional than rational".  My frames of reference for examining awareness tend to be meditation and art-making, rather than utilization of substances, although, decades ago, like many of my peers, I did my share of experimentation with chemically-alteted states

@mahgister 

Thanks for your comments.

"Each perception can be a creative act" ... I'm going to have to muse on that one! 

 

I will go further, if listening music is not already an altered state of consciousness for you, you have a big problem...It is a kind of deafness which also is in the neurological litterature...

Even speech sound and musicality can induce an altered state of consciousness( hypnosis or chorus singing etc )

Even just listening to music for some people is sufficient to induce altered states of consciousness. No stimulants are needed.

Thanks for this interesting article .

This is well documented in the scientific literature. Here is just one example of a book on the subject - Herbert, R. (2011). Everyday Music Listening: Absorption, Dissociation and Trancing. Aldershot, Ashgate.