A musical experiment exploring the relationship between deafness and creativity

[nickc]

I recorded and improvised this piece "deaf" on my korg keyboard (an acoustic instrument is not viable of course). I plugged the keyboard into my laptop and muted the sound, inserted ear plugs and hit record. I could see the keys but could not hear any audible sound other than my breathing and the music inside my mind.

The piece begins very shakily... with what I call "musical fluff" as It takes time for the brain to adjust. By the 1:30 minute mark, the piece began to become an entity of it's own and you can explore the rest for yourselves.

The fugato which begins at 5:10 is a wild ride... almost reminiscent of a two/three part invention by J.S Bach.


Things I've learned from this first attempt:

    If I were to loose my hearing, I believe that my playing and creativity would both improve. My evidence for this is based on the fact that once all external distractions were removed, I could truly focus on the music inside. Not just on the notes, but the phrasing, dynamics, rhythms and articulation as well without any influence from the outside world. I believe somehow, this technique needs to be further developed and I believe ALL musicians should have the means to practice in such a way. I will be experimenting with this further over the next few weeks.

I apologize for the recording quality as it's only a keyboard... however I feel the piece is listenable and enjoyable given the artificial nature of the sound.

Nicholas

[ted]

This is a good experiment because it makes us ponder the nature of the improvisational process, i.e. we discover what happens when the input to one of the feedback loops is removed. I suspect that the results for each of us would differ markedly according to individual habitual reliance on aural feedback. I use it constantly, so were I to try the experiment I should expect a reduction in musical quality.  But maybe not, because other inputs might take over, such as mental calculation, haptic and aural memory. I don't think it is quite the same as a composer writing a symphony using aural imagination alone, as the speed of the improvisational process precludes that mechanism. Had you posted it without telling us its mode of creation I would not have recognised any difference from your usual playing, but exactly what this response means is anybody's guess. It might just imply my musicianship is slack, which it probably is !

[furtwaengler]

Things I've learned from this first attempt:

    If I were to loose my hearing, I believe that my playing and creativity would both improve. My evidence for this is based on the fact that once all external distractions were removed, I could truly focus on the music inside. Not just on the notes, but the phrasing, dynamics, rhythms and articulation as well without any influence from the outside world. I believe somehow, this technique needs to be further developed and I believe ALL musicians should have the means to practice in such a way. I will be experimenting with this further over the next few weeks.

I just did this on a whim a few minutes ago, a good use for the electric Yamaha thing which has been the source of my practice all summer. I am quite honestly shocked by how this "deaf" improv turned out. The mysterious language of the fingers...or not, because even though there are patterns which my hands found because they are more or less common and comfortable to them, my brain was certainly working and thinking through things in a different way. While I was doing it I was thinking this was not going to turn out so well, especially considering pedaling and the attack of the notes. I'm actually a bit scared at how well this turned out, and can say Nicholas is on to something. (Secrets to Beethoven and Smetana unlocked?)

Thanks for the inspiration!

DSF

[dogperson]

 Grand piano passion  is devoted to Musations with hearing loss and adult students.  One article, link below, has a perspective from the author that he believes his deafness has  definitely influence not only his desire to play music but his perspective.  There are other articles on this website that you might find interesting from this perspective

https://www.grandpianopassion.com/2013/07/18/excerpt-making-music-with-a-hearing-loss/?omhide=true

[furtwaengler]

A more official reply to your recording now that I've completely confused everything with my recording. First I got tricked by the rain, thinking "Oh that's neat, he recorded this during a perfectly relaxing storm." Then I remembered you were not hearing anything you were doing and put two and two together, haha. I notice things which I've heard as a part of your language, such as the rolled ascending chord scales and the ornamentation (was going to say French Baroque, but I'm actually not enough of an expert on that). The fugue was indeed a m a z i n g. Whether deaf or not the ability you have to control multiple lines in an improvised contrapuntal texture is very impressive. 

[furtwaengler]

Grand piano passion  is devoted to Musations with hearing loss and adult students.  One article, link below, has a perspective from the author that he believes his deafness has  definitely influence not only his desire to play music but his perspective.  There are other articles on this website that you might find interesting from this perspective

https://www.grandpianopassion.com/2013/07/18/excerpt-making-music-with-a-hearing-loss/?omhide=true

Thanks for this. It is very interesting.

[Derek]

This sounds fun to try. I'll have to try it with my clavichord since I no longer have a digital piano at the moment. In order to do this I'll have to put on white noise in headphones, it'll easily drown out the clavichord, and I'll record the results.

I wouldn't have guessed by the way that this was made without hearing it.