Art and Indifferent Things

Reality does not conform to the narrowly subjective point of view.

Yet to be removed from the simple order of things, from the course of natural events, and thus to lose awareness of the cyclical growth and decline of cultural conditions is a common state of affairs, one continuously reinforced by distraction and diversion of various kinds.  One need look no further than music and media encountered in the course of the day to confirm this fact.

Art fills needs for intellectual, emotional, and spiritual elevation, self-knowledge in the context of the human condition, clarity of perception and lucidity of expression.  With this in mind, the composer may do well to create with the purpose of fulfilling such needs through works that appeal to moral reason and the aesthetic sensibilities.

Prefigurations

Art inspires art, as experience and perception shape expression.

The nature of the art of sound is that it must expand, conceptually and in scope and gesture, with the vision of the listener and composer, outside the context of the so-called musical forms.

Each and All

Time Future is heard in Time Past; it echoes in Time Present.

Life continues, and expression of that beauty and that continuity may be heard with the inner ear.

Surface, Shadow, Symbol, and The Real

Art is human reality; thus within it, human error.

Observe digital media in various forms; consider these in the context of Plato's allegory of the cave.

Enliven

Exert the force of intellect; persist in intuitive thought, and sustain it; engage the moment now.

Discipline the faculties to observe and become cognizant of finer detail in a wider range of perception and experience is intensified, that is to say, heightened.  Open up the mind's eye and the inner ear, bringing imagination into being, in life and in art.

Undercurrents

Confine or limit cultural expression and it will appear in other forms.

Reason yields to instinct in the popular imagination until it reasserts itself out of necessity in opposition to confusion and error, just as primal emotion is brought to bear against rigidity of intellectual authority and control.

But these are simplistic reactions.  The way of the artist may be one of balance, and lucidity of intuitive expression.

Reign of Spirits

In the quiet landscape, near and distant sounds evoke uncanny presences in the imagination.

Listening, hearing, and contemplating the unseen, it is possible to perceive in the way of ancient or "primitive" people, alert to change of atmosphere and movement both subtle and extensive.  These are, in fact, highly refined faculties worthy of development for their perceptual and aesthetic virtues.

The composer may do well to create to this order of understanding.