Running head: SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA 1

Competence, Autonomy, and Relatedness

Through the Vehicle of John Zorns Cobra

Sarah Bost

March 12, 2017

University of Washington

Abstract
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

Free improvisation is largely absent from the secondary school (6th-12th

grade) instrumental music education curriculum. Using John Zorns Cobra
game piece, this research investigates high school students responses to
free improvisation in a large ensemble context through the lens of Self
Determination Theory. Students responded to an open-ended questionnaire
about their experiences of competence, autonomy, and relatedness while
playing Cobra. Responses were coded based on these three facets of Self
Determination Theory; results and future implications are discussed.

[Cobra is] a psychodrama where everybodys personality comes out in very

exaggerated ways.
--Zorn, on Cobra

Introduction

Prompter: OK, the new game starts when someone makes a call

[Student points to mouth and then holds up one finger; repeats this gesture
while another student waves his hat in the air, the gesture for taking control
of the game using Guerilla Tactics. Prompter picks up yellow card with a P
on it, shows it to students, lifts it up into the air and brings it down rapidly in
front of her torso. A musical salad is served: cacophonous sounds of two
electric guitars, keyboard, flute, sax, cello, and bass arise from the group. A
new sound block is calledflute and conga duet.]

Group: [Cackles of laughter]

Conga player: Nooooooooo! Josh, Im going to kill you!

[Minimalist duet ensues, peppered with laughter. Prompter shows the Fade-
Out card, sounds dissipate.]

Prompter [looks at clock]: OK guys, thats all we have time for today.

Group: Awwwwwww!

Student: Can we play this again sometime? I played some really good stuff
today!
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

Free Improvisation

They say nothing comes for free in this world, but free improvisation is

an enthusiastic rebuttal to that perspective. John Zorns Cobra is a perfect

example of free improvisation: free improvisation is improvised music

without any rules beyond the players involved and is recognized as a genre

in its own right (Hickey, Ankney, Healy, & Gallo, 2015). Free improvisation is

the most open kind of improvisation and is inclusive of all skill levels;

ideally it is created in a safe environment which encourages risk-taking,

creativity, and self-expression (Hickey et al, 2015; Hickey, 2009). It is an

important part of the music curriculum as it helps students to become well-

rounded musicians. There is a significant social component to free

improvisationit creates a very special sense of interaction that is not as

present in other musical settings (Kanellopoulos, 2011). Musicians must

respond to the music that is currently happeningit is their obligation to

keep it going, to yield to it, to influence it. Students who experiment with

free improvisation progress in their aural training, learn vernacular and

idiomatic musical expressions, explore and expand upon their palette of

instrument timbres and abstract sounds, and eventually audiate sounds

before they play them; they are also more inclined to help each other before

asking the teacher for help (Toplis, 1990; Szymanski & Benus, 2015). Free

improvisation is learner-directed through enculturation, not transmitted from

a teacher like jazz improvisation riffs and patterns; Hickey (2009) claims that

true improvisation cannot be taughtit is a disposition to be nurtured

SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

[through a] throw them in the deep end approach. To fully participate in

free improvisation exercises and performances, students must have basic

psychological needs met; we can view and understand these needs through

the lens of Self Determination Theory.

Self Determination Theory

Self Determination Theory (SDT) is a motivation theory that focuses on

human behavior in a social setting and the attempt to meet the basic

psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Humans

have a propensity for psychological well-beingwhen these needs are met,

they contribute to higher levels of intrinsic motivation in people. Intrinsically

motivated people are apt to explore new experiences, to play and engage

with others, and to view challenges as fun and excitingthese

characteristics come from within each person as opposed to an outside

source (Evans, 2015; Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). SDT posits that competence,

autonomy, and relatedness are always at workthese three aspects are not

static (Szymanski & Benus, 2015).

Competence is the level of knowledge or skill of an individual. Self-

efficacy can be seen as fuel for competence in that it can greatly affect a

persons ability to learn and grow. The difficulty level of new material can be

a great hindrance to an individuals competencestudents are likely to give

up on music when they feel they cannot meet their need for competence

(Evans, 2015). Enjoyment is also viewed as a catalyst for growing

SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

competence: when students are having fun, their motivation can be

harnessed for learning (Szymanski & Benus, 2015).

Autonomy means having the freedom and independence to make

choices; it aligns with a self-identity and can directly affect a persons

behavior. Some students enjoy having the freedom to assimilate their own

information; others struggle with the feeling of too much freedom. This

paradigm in instruction is where autonomous activities in the classroom

must be scaffolded carefully by the teacher (Szymanski & Benus, 2015).

Typically when students are given autonomy-supportive options in the

classroom, they gain an increase in intrinsic motivation. Unfortunately,

autonomy often becomes elusive in the classroom when teachers are

hesitant to give students autonomy because of external pressures from their

administration or student performance deadlines.

The need for relatedness is met when humans have a sense of

belonging within a communitythis involves socialization, relationships,

teamwork, and a sense of unity. With appropriate scaffolding from their

teacher, students can cultivate feelings of relatedness amongst their peers

(Szymanski & Benus, 2015). Students desire to connect with others (peers

and teachers) on a deeper level. When student needs for competence,

autonomy, and relatedness are met, students tend to have better learning

experiences and academic achievement (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009) and more

engagement with the material (Szymanski & Benus, 2015). Students also
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

feel more compelled to help each other instead of relying solely on the

teacher for help.

When these facets of SDT are associated with free improvisation, we

begin to see further benefits of free improvisation experiences in the

secondary classroom. While free improvisation requires a certain amount of

competence, most of it is gained through the experienceeven Zorn says

that his Cobra game piece is best learned from playing it rather than having

it explained (Van Der Schyff, 2013). Autonomy is a huge factor in free

improvisation because musicians have few constraints: no chord changes to

follow, meter comes and goes randomly, genres are fluid. Each musician can

contribute as much as he is willing to the soundscape. The social aspect of

free improvisation is also present: musicians must communicate musically

and non-verbally, and they create their own culture within their ensemble.

John Zorns Cobra is an excellent platform from which we can view and

analyze the needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

John Zorns Cobra Game Piece

John Zorn (b. 1953) is a composer, performing saxophonist, avant

garde musician, producer and record label executive, club owner, and a

MacArthur Genius Grant winner from New Yorks 1960s underground

Downtown Scene. He is known as an autonomous composer whose

music is experimental, complex, esoteric, and genre-breaking. His influences

include Harry Partch, Charles Ives, John Cage, and Ornette Coleman, to name
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

a few (Gordon, 2012). His early compositions of American Experimentalism

(1970s and 80s) led to the creation of Cobra, which uses jump-cuts

between musical genres and is based on interruptive blocks of sound (Van

Der Schyff, 2013). To describe his work and that of his contemporaries, he

says, We were the generation that benefitted from [the recording

explosion] (Gordon, 2012). Through his compositions he sought to reverse

the composer-conductor-ensemble structure of classical music and the

soloist-rhythm section dynamic of the jazz tradition (Van Der Schyff, 2013).

Cobra was created in 1984; there is still no published score to this

work. Zorn intends for this game piece to be passed on by oral (and aural)

tradition: copies (and copies of copies) still float around today in true

underground fashion. He calls Cobra a psychodrama, where the audience

(and the players themselves) get to see the musicians as the assholes they

truly are. Cobra is:

more of a compositional atmosphere than an improvised one

[based on] the situation that the music was being played in[a]
human drama, life itselfMusicians relating to each other through
music [with] anarchic tendencies. (Brackett, 2010)

The selection of musicians is paramount: Zorn intends for the players to

have good compositional ideas, not necessarily virtuosic skills, and to make

good calls. Personality is importantthere must be a mix of players, those

who look for power and control, those who shy away from it, and those with a

great sense of humor (Brackett, 2010).

Van Der Schyff (2013) records in great detail the process of Cobra, and

illuminates the quandary of free improvisation, that it is a genre that

SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

western academic circles tend to ignore. The musical events are

determined only by the players through hand gestures to the Prompter, who

shares cue card symbols to the group and gives a downbeat for the next

musical block. There is no conductorthe Prompter is a figurehead who

unifies and renders the groups musical decisions. Players are arranged in a

semi-circle for visual and aural communication with the Prompter in front of

the group. Players must each have a hat or headband within reach, as this is

the indication for Guerilla Tactics, the power-struggle layer of the game

piece. Through body language, facial expressions, hand gestures, and

musical sound painting, the game progresses at a clip: it pushes the limits

of human information processingand it is fun!

Each player is given a score (a loose term for a menu of musical

options and the hand gestures that accompany them) like the one below (fig.

1):
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

fig. 1: John Zorns Cobra score

Through facilitation from the Prompter, the musicians learn what each

musical option means (for example, Pool means that any players can play

or not play for any given length of time; Runner means that the player who

made the call can decide who plays, perhaps a duet or quartet; Trades

means that the caller will choose one person with whom he will trade musical

phrases, and after they begin their trades, other players can begin separate

off-shoots of trades). These moves are practiced in isolation and in context.

When the players are ready, the next layer of the game is introduced:

Guerilla Systems. A player can ask to don a hat/headband (permission is

given from the Prompter by putting on his own hat) which gives them
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

freedom to make their own musical decisions, regardless of current calls

being made by other musiciansbasically, they become a wildcard and can

disrupt the ongoing states of musical calls. Guerillas can be assassinated

when other players become tired of their reign of chaos. Guerillas can adopt

two other players into their Squad to serve as watchdogs for assassinsif a

Guerilla Squad can identify who is trying to assassinate them, then they can

continue their reign. Keep in mind that the music is still continuously flowing

during these tactics, hence the limit-pushing of human information

processing! The game forces players to rethink their improvisation process

in terms of communicative efficiency (Van Der Schyff, 2013).

Student Experience of Cobra Through Open-ended Survey

The high school students involved in this particular Cobra experience

were in grades 9 through 12 and were a mixed instrumental ensemble:

rock/jazz rhythm section (two electric guitars, electric bass, piano, and drum

set and hand percussion), two string players (violin and cello), and

woodwinds (two flutes, one clarinet, two alto saxes, and one tenor sax).

Based on teacher evaluation, this group was in need of unification and

engagement, and it was hoped that Cobra might aid in those deficiencies.

Students participated in a five question free response questionnaire, with a

comment section for additional thoughts; questions were based on

competence, autonomy, relatedness, self-efficacy, and enjoyment (see fig.

2).
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

fig. 2
Cobra Experience Survey

Did you like playing Cobra? Why or why not? Did you have a favorite part?

Did you feel confident that you understood the rules?

Did you feel like you had enough skill on your instrument/musical knowledge
to participate? Explain.

Did you make any calls in the game? Why or why not? (How many?) Did
you participate as a Guerilla?

Do you feel like this experience was beneficial 1) to you as a musician

and/or 2) to your ensemble? Think about social and musical benefits and
explain.

Would you like to share any other thoughts about your Cobra experience?

Student responses were coded based on the themes of Competence

(including self-efficacy), Autonomy, Relatedness, and Enjoyment (as it feeds

into competence and relatedness), and are listed below.

COMPETENCE:

I have most signals [hand gestures] memorized.

Yes, I did all of [the calls] because I was running out of stuff to play.
[There was] no pressure to sound a certain way. Very open-ended.
It forced me to think on the spot.
If I didnt [feel confident], I would be a mess.
I am not ready or really good at making calls.
The change of [musical] style confuses me.
I made a lot [of calls] because I wasnt on my normal instrument.
My skill on the clarinet allowed me to fully participate.
I cant improvise very well.

AUTONOMY

It abled me to play mostly whatever I wanted.

SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

I did all of [the calls, including Guerilla] because I was running out of stuff to
play.
Students were able to make calls, provide leadership.
I called for Sound Memories when interesting combos occurred.
Creativity happened with that opportunity [of Guerilla Systems].
We could play whatever without having to play the whole time.
[I made calls when] I felt we needed to change.
We could dictate who played.

RELATEDNESS

It helped the ensemble get more comfortable.

It helps you to learn how to solo with your friends.
Forced me to listen carefully to others.
Encouraged collaboration.
Brought us a lot closerI feel more confident in us as an ensemble.
We tried to listen and play off of each other.
Socially I thought it was great.
Taught us to work together.

ENJOYMENT

[Making calls] made the game more fun for myself.

Fun and chaotic
#COBRAFORLIFE
I liked Cobra
It was something new and enjoyable.
Yes, it was a lot of fun.
We should do it again.

Discussion

Student responses indicated largely that autonomy, relatedness, and

enjoyment needs were met positively; responses for competence were

divided. Self-efficacy was apparent in some of the competence responses

where students mentioned confusion, presence or lack of confidence, and

comfort level. For future experiences with Cobra, it is helpful to know that

competence was self-reported as hit-or-miss. It might be beneficial for the

SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

teacher to have record of student self-efficacy during this experience for

scaffolding purposes; the teacher can isolate issues of confusion, take more

time to explain them and practice them in rehearsal, and check in with

students who still have questions. Future repetitions of this game piece may

help meet all three needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness in all

students, especially as students become accustomed to the game. This

implication returns us to the argument for careful scaffolding, made by

Szymanski and Benus (2015). The more methodical a teacher can be about

introducing new concepts in an understandable order, the more comfortable

students will feel about incorporating those concepts into their rehearsal

context.

With so many musical benefits to free improvisation, one wonders why

it is rarely exercised in the secondary music curriculum. Hickey (2009)

reminds us that improvisation in schools became a National Standard only as

recently as 1994, and often this is either in the general music classroom or in

a jazz ensemble setting. Twenty years later, she and her fellow researchers

(2015) claim that there is still a dearth of improvisation activities in schools

due to lack of teacher preparation. Teachers and students alike experience

anxiety when approaching improvisation due to their fairly strict roots in

notation-only musical training. These researchers insist upon free

improvisation instruction for future school teachers if we are to bridge the

gap in improvisation education in schools. Teachers must have training to be

SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

able to successfully scaffold free improvisation experiences for their

students.

It is also important to note that this experience in the high school

classroom would not have happened without teacher training in free

improvisation exercises (Hickey et al, 2015). While the training was fairly

brief (during a one-weekend workshop and across one autumn quarter of

private instrumental lessons), it was present and made all the difference in

teacher confidence as ambassador to free improvisation success.

The decision to improvise marks the initiation of a search for a public

musical space which is marked by the absence of fear, where exploration of

musical freedom is pursued, where everything might happen but not

anything goes (Kanellopoulos, 2011)and where we grow together as

humans.

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Hickey, M. (2009). Can Improvisation Be "Taught"?: A Call for Free

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SELF DETERMINATION THEORY THROUGH ZORNS COBRA

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