Music as a system: Art, interaction, and freedom

This a text based on a study I did on human computer interfaces while doing my master in Computer science at UiB.

Music is more than sound, it is a living system. It is expression and creativity as a network of ideas, instruments, performers, listeners, tools, and history. Every note, rhythm, or phrase exists in relation to something else: other notes, other musicians, the audience, and even the instruments themselves. To understand music, we need to see it as a system where freedom, structure, and interaction coexist, and where experimentation expands the possibilities of the whole. At the same time, to experience music we need no knowledge of this.

Music and the Invisible Life

Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian painter and theorist, wanted to create art without referring to objects in the real world. He called his paintings “compositions,” linking them to music. Kandinsky understood that colors, shapes, and forms could speak directly to the soul. Michel Henry, a French philosopher, studied the invisible life behind art: the inner experience of creating and perceiving. Music works the same way: before we analyze rhythm, harmony, or structure, the experience of hearing or making music exists on its own. A listener or performer can feel and understand music without knowing its theory.

Neuroscience supports this intuition. Studies of jazz musicians show that when they are in a flow state, some parts of the brain quiet down while others work, allowing a level of freedom in expression that is pure creativity. Different types of music activate listeners’ brains in distinct ways, suggesting that sound and rhythm communicate directly with us, just as Kandinsky imagined.

Music as a System

Music is a living, evolving system. It has structure, rules, and patterns, but it also evolves over time. George Russell, in The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, described tonal relationships as fields of gravity. Musicians navigate these fields, making choices that shape the system. Every note, chord, or improvisation is an experiment within a larger structure. By experimenting, musicians don’t just follow the system—they expand it.

Donella Meadows, in Thinking in Systems, explains that systems have boundaries, rules, and feedback loops. Within these boundaries, creativity thrives: small changes can ripple through the system, producing unexpected results. Music works the same way. By improvising, bending rules, or inventing new instruments, musicians and sound workers create feedback loops that transform the musical world.

Alain Badiou, in Five Lessons on Wagner, emphasizes art as a process of creating truth. A composition or performance can introduce something entirely new—a truth-event that reshapes what music can be. Freedom in music comes from these moments: the system provides structure, and the musician discovers the unexpected inside it.

Tools, Interaction, and Mediation

All music exists in interaction. Musicians interact with instruments, with each other, with audiences, and with the cultural and historical context of their music. Tools that are used, from violins to synthesizers to digital interfaces, mediate this interaction. Kandinsky understood that tools were not just objects but rather extensions of the artist’s mind. George Russell’s tonal system was a conceptual tool guiding improvisation. Every tool shapes possibilities but also enables discovery.

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) provide a vivid illustration. BCIs allow musicians to use brain signals to generate or modify sound, creating a continuous feedback loop: thoughts shape sound, and sound shapes thoughts. The musician, the system, and the tool form a single interactive process. This exemplifies Activity Theory: the subject, object, and tool are inseparable in creation.

But BCIs are only an example. Every instrument that responds to intention, improvisation, or feedback demonstrates the same principle. Musical systems, whether acoustic or digital, provide structure for creativity while allowing exploration beyond their limits.

Freedom and Experimentation Within Systems

Structure does not limit music, it creates freedom. Rules, patterns, and frameworks provide a space where musicians can experiment. Jazz musicians talk about “living the instrument. Improvising within a tonal system, rhythm, or digital environment lets musicians discover possibilities that would not exist in a rigid framework.

Every experiment leaves a trace, expanding the system for future players. The feedback loops between performer, tool, environment and history make music a living system. Improvisation is not just playing notes it is creating new paths and expanding on the available palette of expression. Technology, instruments, and conceptual systems do not replace human creativity; they extend it, offering new ways to explore, expand, and evolve music.

BCIs provide a clear example. In practice, they allow musicians to map brain activity to sound, explore uncharted musical territories, and develop entirely new ways of thinking about composition. The brain, the instrument, and the environment merge into one system, where freedom is defined not by the absence of rules, but by the possibilities the system creates.

Music, Cognition, and Society

Music is both a cognitive and social system. Distributed cognition theory reminds us that knowledge and activity are shared across people and tools. Every composition builds on previous works, and every improvisation responds to what others have played. Even the most solitary music is connected to a network of influences.

When BCIs or other interactive instruments are used, this principle becomes tangible: musicians can respond to signals, generate feedback, and adapt in real time. But this is true for all music: systems, tools, and feedback loops allow musicians to expand their world, discover new truths, and create experiences that resonate with others.

Music in Practice: BCIs as Illustration

BCIs are just an example. They show how different systems within technology, art, science and other systems interact with human intention. When used in live performance or therapy, BCIs translate mental states into sound. This makes the musician, the listener, and the system part of a shared process. Music therapy using BCIs illustrates this vividly: patients unable to move or speak can express themselves through sound. Their intent, emotion, and creativity become part of the musical system, interacting with tools and listeners in real time.

The same principle applies to all instruments: the system and the performer interact continuously, creating a feedback loop. The more a musician experiments, the richer the system becomes. Improvisation, iteration, and exploration all contribute to the living network that we call music.