Saturday, April 26, 2014

Sound and Being

Cultural attitudes shape perception in multifarious ways.


Since social groups direct and are directed toward ideas and expressions, the arts may be seen to reflect acquiescence or opposition to these views.  Nonetheless, the way of the artist is not always one of engagement with the temper of the times, and the peculiar forces that shape creative vision may be altogether removed from affairs and questions in common currency.

From this perspective, i.e. that of artist as composer, sounds, tones, and the spirit of the work must emanate from direct experience and be advanced with aesthetic purpose toward their ultimate forms.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Connectivity III

Sound engages direct perception, and both composer and listener are conscious of its effects.


Aural atmospheres provide a sense of space that may be discerned physically, emotionally, and intellectually, which is not often the case with musical works in the form of songs and instrumental pieces that fully arrest and dominate listening attention.  In simple terms, a finely designed, deftly rendered sound environment extends the aesthetic pleasure of listening in ways that linear music does not, yet still functions as an artistic form and expression.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Time Must Have A Stop

Contradictions define themselves.


It is not "limits" that hinder vision, but the lack of them that renders choice futile.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Gesture and Flux

The reality of cultural expression is continuous change.


Even so, artistic choices remain those related to color, tone, mood, composition, atmosphere, movement, and all the other elements that delineate and expand upon emotions, ideas, and the representations, whether abstract or concrete in nature, of the facts of existence, the human condition, and the peculiarities of imagination.

Nothing else is more critical in terms of aesthetic expression-- neither the extravagances of the artistic ego nor the passionate impulses of social communities can make false works ring true.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Speculation Regarding Rhythm

A stranger passes through the street, nodding to some inner rhythm, and disappears from view.


Is the stranger conscious of the movement and the sound pattern, fixed in memory, that sets the physical motion in place?  What is its origin and nature?  Is it a good, bad, or indifferent thing?

How long has this aural illusion circulated in the stranger's consciousness?  How often do these patterns emerge, to play themselves out in the course of the day?  How widespread, then, is such experience?

What is the meaning?  Might it be a reflection of attitude, mood, or intent?  Can it not possibly be a mechanism through which self-reflection is stifled, and the voice of conscience stilled?  Or is there meaning at all?

Monday, April 21, 2014

Elevation or Decline

To be conditioned to experience sound in rigid forms is to lose touch with perceptual awareness.


By this I mean that the sensations of sound lose breadth, depth, and nuance.  A "sameness" of texture, tonal quality, and stylistic formula pervades the listening experience, and the ability to distinguish between the finely wrought and the merely competent is stultified.  Essential sounds of the surrounding world, with the exception of undesirable noises, are dimmed, such that they may even go unnoticed in the scheme of things.

Having experienced the joy of music and the beauty of sound, the faithful listener will find such a state of affairs unacceptable.  The composer would do well to accept the challenge of not only restoring a fullness of auditory awareness, but of improving upon the art of listening itself, and moving beyond the conformity of expression that diminishes listening pleasure.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

The Art of Sound

It reflects the way of nature and the human world.


Elusive, it cannot be followed.  It fills the silent spaces, yet reveals silence.  It surrounds without drawing notice to itself, emerges, evolves, and dissipates.  Listen, and its imagery is heard in the inner ear.