Cloud-Hidden

At the nadir of cultural decline lies ignorance and apathy and self-absorbed complacency.

Since neither art, nor its understanding, are effortless, intellectual curiosity cannot be neglected by those who would gain the broader, deeper perspectives on life the arts reveal.

This is a critical contemporary issue, and its most odious aspects are intentionally reinforced by the elite institutions and mass media under the guise of "populist" egalitarianism.  Since these conditions are, in point of fact, the direct results of social engineering aimed at producing an anemic, totalitarian, collectivist mentality, the resolution of this cultural crisis is far from certain.

In any event, the work of the artist moves forward, openly or underground.

The Mob Falls Silent

The artist is agent of change, the artistic work a reflection of cultural dynamics.

Speak of the modern and reference more than two hundred years of progress.  Observe the clamor and obsessions of the contemporary and the dim fantasies of the past two weeks, months, or hours glare in and out of focus.

Facing subjection to immediacy, the tyranny of contemporary whims, pseudo-intellectual fads, and academic political correctness, the modern artist will never yield.

Post 1500.

Subtleties at the Edge

Cultures, societies, and entire civilizations endure loss.

History and art remain to delineate degrees of perceptivity that once were within reach of those willing to do the work necessary to attain them.  None difficult, they are simply not effortless.

Existential concepts, Zen, mysticism, aesthetic elevation, Stoic equanimity, and direct awareness of objective reality are among these ways of being and living in the world.

History records and describes, art directs the mind and will.  Both sustain, and sometimes restore.

The artist as composer observes the world, hears the possibilities, and works to reveal.

Sonic Setting

Perception of sound registers far more than "music".

Yet cultural norms would have it that only "music" is the creative apex of sound composition. This is absurd on its face, as is the idea that "experimental" music must lead to meaningless noise.

Sense the beauty of sounds as they evolve without interference in all surroundings, whether urban or pastoral, and take this aesthetic into the context of artistic expression, for example, sculpture, collage, cubist perspective, or impressionism. Let "music" exist according to it's elements and techniques, but listen beyond into uncharted areas of imagination. There lies the future.

The Adventurous Journey

Limits present themselves.

It is never necessary to seek them.  It is always necessary to transcend them.

Listen ahead.

Past Immediate Perception

It is possible, I believe, to listen ahead.

The inner ear may perceive with foreknowledge of what is to come, and the composer can develop means by which to act according to such understanding.  This may have an impact on style, sound production, delineation of arrangements, selection of tonal qualities, and so forth.

It is common knowledge that large numbers of intelligent listeners have no interest at all in the state of contemporary music, for the simple reason that it represents unimaginative creative exploitation of well-trod territories. The music industry will not pander to independent thinkers, who must discover the possibilities on their own.

Four Minute Mile

One may be competitive in life, and ambitious.

As an artist, nonetheless, one challenges oneself, and oneself only. Anything else is nothing more than the appearance of a thing that has no reality in the truth of expression.