After a weekend where I played and improvised for nearly 20 consecutive hours, dedicating myself entirely to Music, and after a good night’s sleep, this reflection emerged—a sort of (quasi) Manifesto, which I want to share with you.
There is a unique and special quality to the present moment, which I believe has to do with Non-Functional Music.
It is not just a matter of improvisation, because even improvisation can become “functional”.
What is born from the present moment is something unique and peculiar, which will never happen again. It often happens, during improvisation, to explore new directions, to see creative ideas being born, to share moments of great understanding and synchronicity, where everything flows and streams wonderfully.
Then that moment ends. We remember it, we try to recreate it, but we fail. Something is always missing.
Ok, this is nothing new, we’ve all been there. We can talk about the spontaneity of the moment, the freshness of a thing discovered by chance, of having fun without expectations and all the rest. It’s true, it is all already known and “normal”, obvious and mundane, given how many words have already been spent on improvisation and on “Carpe Diem”.
Yet, I believe there is something very precious and sacred in those moments.
What makes the difference is not the Music we create, but what Music creates in us.
Not Music as an object, but Music as an act.
Playing is an act that manifests Music, but Music exists regardless. It exists in the head, in the heart, in the spirit, in nature, in the universe, in atoms, and in frequencies. Music itself is an act that acts upon us. We believe we are playing and creating Music, that we are the actors and the creators, but it is Music that acts upon us, even while we are playing.
We are artists and musicians because we place ourselves at the service of Music. We are creative because we let creativity flow within us and manifest through us.
I realize this may sound like philosophical speculation, but my intent is to bring this awareness into reality.
Whether it is a recording or a live performance, I want to be able to center the musical experience on these premises, involving musicians and listeners in this type of understanding and experience.
It is not that there is much more to say or do. In fact, maybe there is less to say and do. Preparing the ground for sowing, becoming receptive and available, placing oneself at the disposal of music and letting music manifest and act upon us, erasing the distances between those who play and those who listen, everyone becoming responsible part of a conscious process.
At that point, it no longer matters if the music is created with the voice or with an acoustic or electric instrument, by a modular synth or with a computer, a MIDI keyboard, and a virtual instrument (VST). It doesn’t matter if they are in-tune notes or noise, sounds and frequencies that are not catchy. Wanting to make “beautiful music” almost always produces a functional act. Letting music act upon us is Non-Functional by definition.
If then the Non-Functional approach leads us to create “beautiful music”, even better. But that should not be the focus. Nor forcing a specific genre or wanting to indulge the hypothetical expectations of a hypothetical public.
Nonetheless, even forcing a genre, indulging expectations, or having a functional approach to Music still allows Music to manifest itself and act upon us. So even this is not a problem; Music always acts.
The point is this. Our acting is always acted upon by Music, whether we are aware of it or not. Therefore, my focus is no longer on acting as if everything depended on me, nor on forcing or planning, but on surrendering, on welcoming, on making myself available, and on being in the present moment.
It is what we have been told for millennia, it is in the Bhagavad Gita, in Buddhism and in Nagualism, in Osho as in Eckhart Tolle. “Inaction in action” is what Krishna teaches Arjuna. It is the most authentic non-doing.
Music, like Art, uses a universal language that connects and unites us. Although this type of experience can be done alone, it is precisely in a group that Music manifests its full potential. Through Music, we can vibrate in unison, feel collective emotions, elevate ourselves, and experience new states of consciousness.
In brief:
NoFM – Non Functional Music is a research, experimentation, and workshop project in the musical and sound field.
The purpose is to experiment with and deepen an alternative and non-ordinary way of composing, listening to, and experiencing music and sound, aimed at exploring perception, attention, states of consciousness, manifest and non-manifest reality, dream, and the self.
These are the premises on which the NoFM project is based:
- What makes the difference is not the Music we create, but what Music creates in us
- Not Music as an object, but Music as an act, which acts upon us
- Developing the awareness that our acting is always acted upon by Music
- Making ourselves surrendering, welcoming, and available towards Music, experiencing it in the Present Moment
Do you want to be part of the project? Click here to join us on Reddit!