Esprit

Genius is no more than the creative being of the individual.

In oppressive times, it waits; without opportunity, it makes possibilities; with nothing, it fills the void.

Always it projects questions into the space of the mind where restraints cannot take hold.

Everyone can do these things.  A few will.

Rise II

Consider the impossible.

Otherwise, the ponderous gravity of the mundane cannot be overcome.

The Ethereal and the Unexpected

Superficially, one hears style-- rhythm, percussion, instrumentation-- thus, music.

But, in terms of sound as aural phenomena, this is but an infinitesimal, though delusively ubiquitous, set of elements.  Those who perceive with vigor understand that the value of such things as texture, color, shading of tone, evolution of auditory imagery and nuance of movement, to cite a few obvious examples, vastly exceeds the quality of interest generated by bland repeated patterns (and puerile bombast) common to generic music, even in the widest diversity of its manifestations.

Rather much is made of the idea that "the internet" constitutes a watershed event in human culture and consciousness, and no doubt it is so as a medium of communication.  Consider, instead, the idea of cultural content surpassing that heretofore experienced, to the same degree that the digital domain surpasses that of the dominion of the printing press.

Borrowed Time

Perhaps machines will think for someone, but they will not think for me.

From the simplest to the most sophisticated creative problem, it is the artist who chooses to apply method and means to the solution. Whether the choice is a hands-on approach or one requiring the most conceptually obtuse digitally-facilitated engagement, it is consciousness that perceives, that imagines, and that impels the creative act.

Course of Culture

History and the moment now continually impact time future.

Simply put, the origins of present knowledge are indicators of possibilities. There will always be sound for dance and diversion, yet sound turned toward art is in perpetual flux, out of which comes constant evolution according to any responsive artist's perspective.

Curvature of Sound

Listening is as much an art as composing, sharing the same fundamental goals.

Change is essential in the rise and fall of things. The bright grows dim, the shadows fall back into light. Sounds traverse long distances through time and space to reach the inner ear.  And over this course of change, meanings and understandings are altered until, ultimately, nothing is as it once was.

Within a lifetime, the listener will hear this come to pass. It is perceptible, and irreversible, even now.

Advance, Thrive

Set aside ideas regarding convergent and divergent thinking as distinct but complementary.

This is not to wander in the wilderness, but rather to craft individual perspective. Consciousness exists outside of cultural mechanisms that stubbornly define and divide "Us" and "Them".

Complexity of thought is needlessly burdened by subjection to one diktat or another in pursuit of original integrity of expression, and the artist who is capable of doing so will consciously choose between lifting a uniquely personal torch or shouldering one borne by many.