Becker "Music and Trance"

Becker begins by defining trance "as a state of mind characterized by intense focus, loss of strong sense of self and access to types of knowledge and experience that are inaccessible in nontrance states" (p.247). There are three types of trance the first being where the performer feels connected with the music she plays/creates, the listener who becomes focused on the music, and lastly the possession trance where one's body feels taken over by another entity. She discusses the relationship between music and trance from a scientific perspective as she brings up what happens in the brain neurologically when we listen to music. For example she has a connectionism theory where we associate a familiar piece of music to a memory placing us where we first heard it, feeling again the emotions of the past. Through synaptic connections in many parts of the brain we remember the last time we heard a song as well as the feelings of joy, sadness, ecstasy associated with it. She uses examples of trance from several cultures such as the Rangda/Barong ritual of Bali. This ritual is an event used to balance our world and the world of the gods to ensure there was no such misfortune like crop failure or illnesses. Linking brain topography, the firing of neurons and chemistry of the brain, to the relationship between music and trance she once again proves our theories about how great the power of music is.