Drugs, altered states, and musical consciousness:reframing time and space
Oxford University Press eBooks July 28, 2011 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553792.003.0074 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Altered states of consciousness |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key findings | Argues that psychedelic drugs, mainly cannabis, alter time perception during musical performance and change musical consciousness, using scientific studies and musicians' anecdotes from 1940s American jazz and the 1960s West Coast psychedelic counterculture as illustrations. |
Abstract
This chapter discusses the psychedelic effects of drugs (mainly cannabis) on the perception and performance of music, and in particular how such drugs influence time perception in the process of performance. It focuses both on scientific studies and on anecdotal evidence provided by musicians and observers of musicians using drugs. Most of the material relates to developments in the American jazz of the 1940s and to developments in the 1960s psychedelic counterculture of the American West Coast, as particular illustrations of how musical consciousness may change in the process of making or listening to music under the influence of drugs.