My Aesthetically choices

Why do I use contemporary techniques? For me, these techniques have a similar function in my music as the vocabulary in the languages that I speak. These technical skills, deepens and enriches my musical language and has become a vital part of my musical expressions. They have become the backbone of mastering the impro and contemporary genres. Due to a higher level of knowledge, I have a safer, more convenient rhythm in my maternal language Swedish than in other languages that I speak or understand. Which of course increases my possibilities to improvise naturally in a conversation in Swedish than other languages. And in music, my musical expressions in ”free improvised  music” have a different and more developed language than in e.g. jazz. Why then, do I feel more at home in free improvisation than in jazz? And what is improvisation for me? 

One obvious fact is that you develop skills on the things that you practice on. Another one is that where you feel at home, you feel safe. You dare to invest where you feel safe. In free improvised music, or rather what has become free improvised music to me, I have found a genre that suits my personality and my view of life. I have also found similarities with the things that have shaped my musicality over the years.

Improvisation is a way to express myself unconditionally. A way to communicate and to open myself emotionally and musically. A way to listen to myself, my instrument, my co-musicians and the spatial environment. Therefore, on the basis of the aforementioned, it is a key to use to find flow in music. 

Technique is one of all the keys that can help one to find flow. Thus, it can lead you to the so-called divine conversations. The different techniques are cornerstones, the grammar and the vocabulary that with the help of you, can become one with your instrument. But the main focus can never be on the techniques. If so, then you easily change the direction to tedious musical circus and juggling acts. Hence, in the same way that certain words and phrases can tend to take over during the learning process while you are learning a new language, certain musical techniques can tend to take over in a similar way. My conviction however is that they should be hammered into the spine so that they can form a stable foundation for future musical interactions. When the language/phrases/techniques are in place, they will enter when needed.