Using Spiritual Intelligence as a Framework to Link Electroacoustic Music and Spirituality

Susan Frykberg

doi:10.1017/S1355771820000254

Using Spiritual Intelligence as a Framework to Link Electroacoustic Music and Spirituality

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 November 2020

Susan Frykberg

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Susan Frykberg*: Affiliation:
The Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
*: Email: Susan.frykberg@monash.edu

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Abstract

There are a number of electroacoustic (EA) composers who draw on spiritual or religious material for their work. However, for some the word ‘spiritual’ is problematic, being too vague or broad, and the word ‘religious’ too narrow. To refine the word ‘spiritual’ therefore, in a way that might be acceptable also to those who are religious, I employ the contemporary concept of spiritual intelligence (SI) as a proposed framework for linking a discourse of spirituality with electroacoustic music. In addition to postulating SI as a way of framing the word ‘spirituality’, I identify three different ways in which EA composers draw on spiritual or religious material: some use existing sacred texts or methods; some approach sound itself to explore the nature of reality; finally, there are those who are drawn to ancient ways of understanding where spirit and material worlds are not separated; for example, in the West, the Pythagorean tradition.

Type: Articles
Information: Organised Sound , Volume 25 , Issue 3: On Phonosophy , December 2020 , pp. 302 - 306

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771820000254 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: © Cambridge University Press, 2020.

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References

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