As someone who has played music from a very young age, it was quite clear to witness the distinction between my music playing prior to LSD and then after it. This isn’t to say that it made me a better musician, but it allowed me to see where I could go with my playing and feel less restricted by any previously perceived boundaries. I have often spoken about it in a way which acts as a revealer, rather than necessarily generating new musical ideas. It has allowed me to connect with the deeper parts of myself, where it often feels like there’s something encoded into my DNA which makes me want to create certain types of music or be drawn to particular sounds.
As a saxophonist, I have developed a positive relationship with rehearsing, repetition, and improvisation via my experiences with LSD. Where practising used to feel like a chore when I was a child, it now feels like an opportunity to explore the different sounds that my instrument can make. I no longer find the repetition boring, and instead feel that it provides an opportunity to connect in something of a divine way to this sense of creation. Improvisation in particular (thinking about jazz as an example) seems to correlate with how the brain is operating under the influence of LSD, with more flexibility and novelty in brain dynamics involved in a structured, yet spontaneous manner.
Through consistent rehearsal and repetition, I have built the foundations for improvisation, and LSD has allowed me to push the boundaries with this and explore different types of music through my playing. It’s such a joyful experience, and I feel like the substance is identifiable as useful rather than creating an illusion of having an impact on the music. In the 1950s, an experiment on LSD and artistic creativity (which asked artists to draw a Kachina doll prior to, and one hour after ingesting LSD) resulted in art being created which was found to be more aesthetically pleasing, expressive, and full of meaning.
Experiments such as this, along with my continued fondness for LSD in combination with music, have allowed me to see it in a way where it’s useful for composition and also for playing. I have enjoyed consuming relatively small doses prior to playing a live show, and I really feel like there is more access to flow states while under the influence of LSD, which allows me to connect with body, breath, and mind while playing saxophone. The advantage of being a melodic instrument allows me the freedom to feel the spaces in between, play where the motif fits, and drop out at times to allow the rest of the band to create the soundscape. It often feels like a fortunate position to be in, where I am playing over the top of a foundation which has been created.
There’s also a sensation of feeling bonded to my bandmates, where we’re all locked into what we’re playing, and our individual egos aren’t necessarily coming into the equation. What we might perceive to be a temporary dissolution of the ego under the influence of psychedelics such as LSD can potentially allow the group dynamic to take priority, allowing the music to flow through the band as a cohesive whole.
When thinking again about the impact on our listening, LSD could potentiate the creative processes while under the influence by both allowing us to create and listen back, so we can get a fuller sense of what is being created and tweak things where necessary. There seems to be something unique about the ability of LSD to both allow us to exert influence on the process of making music, while having our interpretation of the sounds shaped by the experience itself. This is probably why it’s my favourite psychedelic, and there’s no doubt that it clearly found its place historically within the world of creative arts, and music specifically.
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