ABSTRACT
Introduction: From High Mass to Ecstasy
I again return to my childhood roots, and reminisce about my own first encounters with ritual, and the profound impact they had on my worldview. We summarize the discussion of the relationship between ritual and theatre that has been discussed among theatre theorists for over 100 years. We suggest that we will pick up our story where ritual activities became a prominent component of human activity, and that we’ll examine the role that music and shamanism played in those activities.
The Development of Ritual, Shamanism, and (Altered States of Consciousness)
The expanding human cognitive abilities that arose through the social interactions of anatomically modern Homo sapiens brains resulted in the capability of inducing dreamlike experiences in an audience through shamanic activity. In this section, we describe in detail the similarities and differences between this “collective dreaming” and the role that music and sound played in it during the stone age. We consider the possibility that these activities led to the development of theatre, and that Theatre = Song + Mimesis.
The Neuroscience of Arousal and Reward in the Altered States of Consciousness of Shamanism and Theatre
Introduction
We introduce the basic differences between dreams and altered states of consciousness, comparing the similarities between ritual and theatre in transporting the audience into the latter.
The Basic Neuroscience of Arousal
In this section we explore the neurological basis for altered states of consciousness, and our pathway to commandeering the consciousness of our audience through activation and arousal. We introduce the autonomic nervous system, its two branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and the neurotransmitters that control both.
The Effect of Music on Physiological Systems
We consider the direct effects that music has on these systems, suggesting a number of typical compositional techniques that seem to directly affect our audience’s physiological responses, making it possible to lead them into the altered states of consciousness of ritual and theatre.
The Effects of Music on Psychological Systems
We explore the effect of music on our psychological systems, and the direct effect music has in triggering hormones in our limbic system that provide the pleasure of the aesthetic experience. We then consider how these pleasurable effects may play out in an audience during a dramatic performance.
Cognitive Models for Music in Theatre
Having considered the more immediate effects of music on physiological and psychological human systems in theatre, we now turn our attention to more long-lasting effects.
Robert Thayer’s Models of Psychological Moods
The first long-term, and more slowly responding system involves the way we use music to fundamentally create and sustain human moods. We use Robert Thayer’s model to express mood as the relationship between a couple of states, calm and tense, and energetic and tired. We consider how this model applies to how we use sound and music in theatre.
Berlyne’s Theory of Arousal in Aesthetics and Psychobiology
We next consider how once we grab the audience’s attention, and then how we hold it over the course of an entire performance. D. E. Berlyne’s influential theory proposes that aesthetic arousal is a product of two dimensions: energy and structure. We consider these dimensions in terms of both music and theatre.
Conclusion: Experiments in Ecstasy
I conclude this chapter by summarizing where we’ve been, and I then discuss my own research and exploration into what I call “the gray area between theatre and music, concert and play.” I make the case that one of the primary reasons that people go to the theatre is to go on an emotional journey in time. That’s the part we sound designers and composers are so integral to providing.
