Jazz and Laughter: participation makes the difference

    Have you ever been in a room, talking with someone in a quiet corner, when a sudden noise comes from another section of the room? There is another group of people over there and they are very animated and the noise bursts out again. It is someone laughing -- and others in the group are joining them and obviously having an enjoyable time. Yet that noise, even once it is recognized as someone laughing, may not sound that pleasant. Some laughs are called "lilting" or other pleasant references but others are sometimes compared to sounds of other animals or objects in collision.

    Whether the sound, at a distance, is pleasant or unpleasant, it can still be considered very appropriate within a group who are all participating in the interaction together. It is this participation that lowers the guards, and criteria, and allows everyone to relax into a mutual experience. If you hear it from a distance -- not as part of the group -- it is a noise. If you are part of the experience it melds into the overall situation.

    It is not always necessary to be with the group in order to participate. In the above case, you are unlikely to be able to hear and see what is going on without being among the others. In the case of music, it is often a degree of intensity. In order to immerse in the music, it is necessary to be able to hear it properly. That may mean being in a quiet room, with other quiet people, so that all of the sound can be noticed, listened to, examined, and felt.

    On the other hand, it is just as valid of an experience of music to be in the midst of an explosion of sound and people and participate in the emotions of the fellow concertgoers and the movements of the band -- in spite of the fact that it may be so loud that the notes can no longer be distinguished from each other. In the one case, it is the music that is experienced and, in the other, it is the experience that is set to music.

    Jazz is an interesting juxtaposition of music and experience. A jazz piece, even when played by the same group of musicians, is not expected to sound the same twice in a row. The variation expands further when it is played by a different gathering. Although a spectator may not be directly singing or playing an instrument they have to be an active participant to fully take part. There are factors of anticipation -- what will happen next -- and surprise -- not expecting what did happen. The music will flex according to the weather and the internal needs of the players and the audience.

    There has been much speculation about whether robots could ever "replace" a human. Alan Turing presented what is called the "Turing Test" which says that if you are separated from a computer that can give responses -- so you have no direct knowledge of whether it is a computer or not -- and a human cannot tell whether or not it is a computer giving responses then it "passes". It is truly Artificial Intelligence.

    I would submit that an even better test would require the AI to be able to participate within a set of people and know when to laugh.

    What activities come to mind when you think of a need to be an active participant?