Giving voice to jazz singers’ experiences of flow in improvisation

Abstract

Jazz instrumentalists’ experiences of improvisation have informed psychological research on a range of topics including flow in improvisation, yet there is scant evidence of jazz singers’ improvising experiences. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study investigated the experiences of three professional Australian jazz singers who improvise extensively in their performance practice: How do these singers experience improvisation? IPA of semi-structured interviews with the singers resulted in two superordinate themes which both related to the flow state: (a) singers experienced flow when improvisation “went well”; (b) singers experienced flow as meaningful—flow provided singers with both the freedom to express the self and the opportunity to contribute to something beyond the self. These findings reveal a new context for flow experiences. Implications for vocal jazz education and practice are discussed.

Wish You Were Here: Mental and Physiological Effects of Remote Music Collaboration in Mixed Reality

“…In 2023, Wrigley and colleagues found that flow experience in musical practice did not fluctuate substantially for different age groups, genders, or used music instrument families [102]. In accordance with these findings, the state of flow has been observed with improvising jazz musicians [29] and piano players [21]. Loepthien et al discovered that flow and subjective well-being are related for individuals with a highly flexible self-concept and evidence between flow, previous musical practice, and music experience [55].…”

“…Furthermore, musicians that participate in music-making activities can enter the state of flow [21,29], which was originally introduced by Csikszentmihalyi et al in 1975 [15]. In the musical context, this state can be described as a joyful state of complete absorption in the act of music-making [16].…”

Improvisation as the Foundation of Flow in Music Education: Connections to Attitudes, Gender and Genre

“…In contrast, contemporary common-practice classical western music training places less emphasis on improvisation. Improvisation is an integral part of jazz, which has always been a male-dominated field (Caudwell, 2010;Forbes, 2020;Wehr, 2016).…”

‘This circle of joy’: meaningful musicians’ work and the benefits of facilitating singing groups

“…May be pursued for its own sake absent meaning, positive emotions or relationships; includes external markers of success and mastery as well as the perception of accomplishment (Seligman 2011, 18-20) (Lamont et al 2018;Lee, Davidson and Krause 2016). The PERMA element of engagement has been explored in many studies on music and flow (Tan and Sin 2019), including in education (Custodero 2002) and jazz singing (Forbes 2020). These studies demonstrate that the PERMA model is an illuminative lens through which to explore the complex processes of music practice and participation (see further Croom 2015).…”