I don't recall seeing any responses to this, so I'll throw in my 2 cents. Ritual behavior is an important aspect of any performance. Most athletes, musicians, actors, dancers, etc. that I know have pre-performance rituals that range from little things that get one in the right frame of mind to elaborate obsessive rituals that must be completed before performance. For instance, many golfers go through the same ritual before every shot, same with tennis players before a volley starts or batters on a baseball team. These are just some easily observable examples. I think there is an important reason that many artists are fascinated with ritual both from a practical point of view (like I mention above) and also that the study of rituals in general (social, religious, physical, performance, etc.) really is useful in creating your own rituals, whatever they may be. I have a small pre-performance ritual that I do before playing or practicing music to get myself in the right frame of mind, but I try to do it in private since it involves a bit of silence and meditation and also some pinching and jabbing of myself at certain points. I suppose it could be quite odd to see, but it works for me. (disclaimer: I suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, which, although treated with medication, still causes me to compulsively do things that show up in my rituals - and I have a lot of them not related to performance - so maybe you can see why I think about ritual alot.) Rob NP: Grant Green "Am I Blue" Quoting Zachary Steiner <zsteiner@butler.edu>:

I've noticed quite a bit of fascination with ritual amongst avant-garde artists; both an interest in traditional rituals from other cultures or the creation of their own rituals. Is this merely a coincidence or is there a reason behind this? It seems odd that artists so intent on breaking from/breaking down existing forms of artistic expression would have such an attraction to certain traditions.

Zach