The Hero’s Journey Project

HJP

 
 

The Hero’s Journey is the tale of adventure, adversity, triumph and personal transformation that has described our favourite mythical characters in the world’s best loved stories.  It is powerful and retold in many forms because it is in some sense each person’s life story.


The Journey was described in this form by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  In it, Campbell proposes the theory that important myths from around the world that have survived through time all share a common underlying structure. Campbell called this structure the monomyth.

This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which include (1) a call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline, (2) a road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails, (3) achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge, (4) a return to the ordinary world, again in which the hero can succeed or fail, and finally, (5) application of the boon the hero applies what he or she has gained to improve their world.

Open Collaboration on the Myth of the Hero’s Journey

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” - Joseph Campbell,  The Hero with a Thousand Faces

How This Might Work Musically

One or more stages of the journey can be represented by a piece of instrumental music or a song.  Alternatively, a character sketch of the hero or an archetypal character (e.g., the wise old man - see Mythical Supporting Characters) could be created. 

Different interpretations of the same journey stage or character are certainly possible as there are many perspectives from which to write the story as well as from which to hear it.  Depending upon how the pieces take form it might be fun to hear how they sound in order as outlined by the stages of the journey.   This is an organic process so let’s see how it grows!