Part VIII: The Art of Learning: Transforming Paradigms and Embracing Disruption

Dr. Jeff Mims, Ph.D., M.S. (Psychologist I Insights Consultant | Qualitative Researcher | MEACO Operations Lead | Speaker) , Marty Strong (Navy SEAL officer (Ret), CEO, motivational speaker and Amazon bestselling author), Michael Steiner (CEO Best Robotics), Dr. Jens A. Hartmann.

"Improvisation within jazz music can be seen as the mastery key for unlocking dynamic consciousness states."(Dr. Mims)

Dr. Mims , as a Psychologist and Creativity Expert, I am curious how experienced Jazz musicians approach improvisation.

1.) For experienced jazz musicians, are there various types of improvisation which invite distinct states of consciousness and how might they relate to other phenomena such as disruption, absorption and enlightenment?

For experienced jazz musicians and those who practice mastery level musical performance, the improvisational solo presents an opportunity to communicate something the creative soul wants to express.? In this way, a moment of improvisation during solo elevates the possibility of accessing new states of consciousness as the musical bond between the ensemble tightens; this also allows different heights to be experienced each time.? Heightened moments of consciousness, clarity and transformation have all been mentioned in my research work with professional musicians who described what improvisation is like (Mims, 2022).? As it relates to 'being in the pocket,' improvisation ushers in distinct phenomena such as a disruption in time awareness, one being fully absorbed in performance and moments of enlightenment and mental clarity.? Improvisation within jazz music can be seen as the mastery key for unlocking dynamic consciousness states.

2.) How might performing a musical piece from memory allow new opportunities of experiential creativity?

Although the idea of performing a piece from memory may not sound like an opportunity to create something new, we must remember each time performing is a new moment in time for the artist.? Live performance for the musician is always a reflection of the performer in that moment with all of? their thoughts and experiences. In this way, playing from memory establishes the foundation by which experiential creativity can be built on, and the subtle nuances of lived experience and artistry can still be expressed whether it is original music or a well-known piece.

3.) For the experienced musician, what might it mean to discover the "hidden code" or new "chord" during musical performance, and how might that inform us about the capacity of learning?

The idea of the 'hidden code,' might be viewed differently in terms of what it brings into our awareness by the experienced musician. Herbie Hancock (pianist) tells a story about performing on stage with Miles Davis, and playing a "wrong chord," by mistake.? After the chord was heard and responded to by Davis with a melodic reply on the trumpet, the 'new chord' created an unexpected highlight within the song.? Discovering moments like this through a new chord has the ability to not only broaden the ways musicians think about learning but it has a similar effect on the audience as well. Unlocking the new chord reminds us all about the capacity of depth and possibilities of learning from music through experience.

That process seems to involve the coupling of disparate brain regions. Specifically, creativity often involves coordination between the cognitive control network, which is involved in executive functions such as planning and problem-solving, and the default mode network, which is most active during mind-wandering or daydreaming (Beaty, R. E., et al.,?Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 31, No. 10, 2021). The cooperation of those networks may be a unique feature of creativity, Green said. “These two systems are usually antagonistic. They rarely work together, but creativity seems to be one instance where they do.”

Green has also found evidence that an area called the frontopolar cortex, in the brain’s frontal lobes, is associated with creative thinking. And stimulating the area seems to boost creative abilities. He and his colleagues used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to stimulate the frontopolar cortex of participants as they tried to come up with novel analogies. Stimulating the area led participants to make analogies that were more semantically distant from one another—in other words, more creative (Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2017).

Creativity looks different from person to person. And even within one brain, there are different routes to a creative spark, Kounios explained. One involves what cognitive scientists call “System 1” (also called “Type 1”) processes: quick, unconscious thoughts—aha moments—that burst into consciousness. A second route involves “System 2” processes: thinking that is slow, deliberate, and conscious. “Creativity can use one or the other or a combination of the two,” he said. “You might use Type 1 thinking to generate ideas and Type 2 to critique and refine them.”

Which pathway a person uses might depend, in part, on their expertise. Kounios and his colleagues used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine what was happening in jazz musicians’ brains as they improvised on the piano. Then skilled jazz instructors rated those improvisations for creativity, and the researchers compared each musician’s most creative compositions. They found that for highly experienced musicians, the mechanisms used to generate creative ideas were largely automatic and unconscious, and they came from the left posterior part of the brain. Less-experienced pianists drew on more analytical, deliberative brain processes in the right frontal region to devise creative melodies, as Kounios and colleagues described in a?special issue of?NeuroImage?on the neuroscience of creativity (Vol. 213, 2020). “It seems there are at least two pathways to get from where you are to a creative idea,” he said.

Coming up with an idea is only one part of the creative process. A painter needs to translate their vision to canvas. An inventor has to tinker with their concept to make a prototype that actually works. Still, the aha moment is an undeniably important component of the creative process. And science is beginning to illuminate those “lightbulb moments.”

Kounios examined the relationship between creative insight and the brain’s reward system by asking participants to solve anagrams in the lab. In people who were highly sensitive to rewards, a creative insight led to a burst of brain activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, the area of the brain that responds to basic pleasures like delicious food or addictive drugs (NeuroImage, Vol. 214, 2020). That neural reward may explain, from an evolutionary standpoint, why humans seem driven to create, he said. “We seem wired to take pleasure in creative thoughts. There are neural rewards for thinking in a creative fashion, and that may be adaptive for our species.”

Imagine learning a new piece of music. How do musicians master a composition? They go beyond rote memorization; they engage with the substance of the piece, interpreting and adjusting it to create their unique rendition. This iterative process continues until the musician finds the perfect harmony between the original composition and their individual interpretation.

In the same vein, our approach to learning should mirror the improvisation of jazz. Learning becomes a dynamic act of changing, adjusting, and interpreting the new content until it harmonizes with our unique perspective. This process, akin to a musical cover, allows us to transform the substance we encounter, making it more potent and relevant to our understanding.

In the realm of ideas and innovation, there exists a concept that transcends disciplines, a notion that challenges the status quo and propels us toward breakthroughs – Thomas Kuhn's paradigm vision. As we embark on a journey of exploration, one cannot help but ponder if Kuhn, with his revolutionary thinking, subtly prepared us for the phenomenon we now identify as Disruption.

In the tapestry of science, technology, and change management, Kuhn's vision of paradigms takes center stage, urging us to reconsider the essence of breakthroughs. It echoes the wisdom that true progress often stems from revolutionary or divergent thinking. But what does it mean to genuinely learn something new? The answer lies in a process that mirrors the very essence of jazz, improvisation, technological disruption, startups, and entrepreneurship.

Learning, in its most potent form, involves not only absorbing new content but actively changing it in the process. The paradox of altering what we are yet to fully grasp might seem absurd at first glance, but it is in this paradox that innovation thrives.

Consider the world of technology disruption and startups. What are these if not manifestations of individuals taking new ideas, changing them, and creating something entirely novel? The entrepreneurial spirit, at its core, is about reshaping existing paradigms, embracing the unknown, and transforming ideas into tangible realities.

The essence of disruptive thinking lies in challenging established norms, questioning assumptions, and actively engaging with new content. It is the willingness to alter, interpret, and make our mark on the substance of what we are learning. This process, far from being confined to a particular field, is the fundamental mechanism through which our brains assimilate new and complex information.

Perhaps, it's time to reframe our perspective on education. Instead of viewing it as a passive act of acquiring knowledge, we should embrace a more active and transformative concept – changing the world inside and out. Learning, in its truest sense, is a revolutionary act where we reshape the content, make it our own, and contribute to the ongoing evolution of ideas.

As we bid adieu to the familiar and venture into the unknown, let us carry with us the idea that education is not just about gaining knowledge; it is about actively changing the world within us and around us. In this journey of transformation, we become the maestros of our own symphony, weaving new paradigms and embracing the beautiful chaos of disruption.

Additional reading:

Creativity: An introduction Kaufman, J. C., and Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2021

The Standard Definition of Creativity Mark A. Runco &Garrett J. Jaeger Pages 92-96 | Published online: 10 Feb 2012(Creativity Research Journal, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2012).

Functional Realignment of Frontoparietal Subnetworks during Divergent Creative Thinking Roger E Beaty, Robert A Cortes, Daniel C Zeitlen, Adam B Weinberger, Adam E Green Cerebral Cortex, Volume 31, Issue 10, October 2021, Pages 4464–4476, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab100(Beaty, R. E., et al., Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 31, No. 10, 2021).

The eureka factor: Aha moments, creative insight, and the brain Kounios, J., & Beeman, M., Random House, 2015

Creativity anxiety: Evidence for anxiety that is specific to creative thinking, from STEM to the arts Daker, R. J., et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2020

Predictors of creativity in young people: Using frequentist and Bayesian approaches in estimating the importance of individual and contextual factors Asquith, S. L., et al., Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2020

The science behind creativity: Psychologists and neuroscientists are exploring where creativity comes from and how to increase your own, By Kirsten Weir, April 1, 202213 min read, Vol. 53 No. 3, Print version: page 40 (https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/04/cover-science-creativity)

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